Christmas With the Platts-

Temple Square at Christmas

All bundled up

Look at all the lights!

What did I get?

Making room for more wrapping paper

Guitar Time

Trying out the new toys

Daddy Time

Santa as a Type and Shadow

At church last Sunday, at my parents' ward in Herriman, the stake president spoke. He talked about how the many churches around the country are complaining and accusing "Santa Claus" of stealing Christmas from Christ. While he agreed that the focus of Christmas should indeed be Christ, he claimed that Santa was actually a type and shadow of Christ. He gave a couple of examples of this. First, he said, Santa comes dressed in red, just as Christ, at the second coming, will come dressed in red (see Isaiah). Second, Santa comes under the cover of night, while no one is watching, as a thief in the night. The scriptures tell us that Christ will come again, as a thief in the night. Then he challenged us to go home and come up with our own list of the ways that Santa is a type and shadow of Christ.

Here's our list:

1. Santa's white beard and hair represent purity. Christ is the only human being to ever have been perfectly pure.

2. Santa comes in a red sleigh. Christ will come in a Chariot of Fire.

3. Santa loves little children, who also believe in him. Christ loved the little children, and all of God's children, and bids us to have faith in Him.

4. Santa brings gifts. Christ gave us the gifts of salvation and resurrection, and is also the source of every good thing.

5. Santa has a workshop. Christ was a carpenter before his ministry.

6. Santa has a list of who has been naughty and who has been nice. Christ will stand as our judge and keeps the book of life where our names are written (hopefully).

7. Santa knows if you've been bad or good. Christ knows each of us, our actions, and the thoughts and intents of our hearts.

8. Santa employs elves in his work. None of these elves are named. Christ employs us in His work, and most of our efforts are done without recognition.

9. Santa lives at the North Pole, a kingdom of white which you find by following the north star, which has a fixed position. Christ lives in the Celestial Kingdom (or Heaven), a kingdom of white which you find by following the light of Christ, who is unchanging.

10. Santa comes with the Christmas Spirit. Christ grants us His Spirit.

11. Santa is generous with gifts to all, even the naughty ones, who receive coal, which is used to warm them. Christ's gift is to all men, even to those who do not yet know him, which receive the Light of Christ to warm their hearts and lead them to Him.

12. We rememberto leave cookies and milk for Santa. We remember Christ when we partake of the sacrament of bread and wine/water.

13. Santa is immortal, which gift he received from Christ, who overcame death and grants that gift to all men.

14. Santa has magical powers and is said to be able to perform "Christmas Miracles." Christ performed true miracles by the power of the priesthood.

15. We invite Santa to our homes. Christ stands at the door and knocks, waiting for our invitation inside.

16. We communicate our wishes to Santa with letters. We communicate our needs and wants to Christ through prayer.

17. We ask Santa for gifts. We ask our Father in Heaven for gifts in Christ's name.

18. Santa carries a bag filled with gifts slung over his shoulder. Christ carried on his shoulders the instrument of his crucifixion, and figuratively carries on his shoulders the sins of all men, which are his gifts to us.

19. Our fathers take on the role of Santa in our homes. When we are reborn, Christ becomes our Father.

20. Santa appointed Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer, to light the way. Christ appoints prophets to light the way for us.

21. Children put faith in Santa to deliver them gifts. We put faith in Christ to provide for us.

If you have any additions to this list, please, please post them in a comment.

The stake president encouraged us to make this list in a Family Home Evening. We encourage all of you who read this to do the same. Appropriately, the final FHE before Christmas is the night that Santa comes.

Toby Smiles on Tape!

Toby, 2 Months-

Feeding Time

Spit Up Time

Bath Time

Spidey Time

Our Christmas Stockings

This year we thought it would be nice to have matching stockings. What do you think? They were fun to make.

What Cancer Cannot Do-

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple love.

It cannot shatter hope.

It cannot corrode faith.

It cannot eat away peace.

It cannot destroy confidence.

It cannot kill friendship.

It cannot shut out memories.

It cannot silence courage.

It cannot reduce eternal life.

It cannot quench the spirit.

Author Unknown

Denise, a co-worker of Greg's, asked me if I would paint this photo of her grandson Dalton. A week after this photo was taken, Dalton died of cancer. I'm so glad she asked me to do this. It has touched me deeply and I hope Denise likes the painting. I did my limited best.

Cloth Diapers - The Verdict

And the verdict is --- not too bad!

I wouldn't use them for any trips lasting longer than an hour and I don't like using them for during the night, but during the day I use them and I think they work just fine.

Granted, I do have to change them more often and they leak if I don't but all I have to do is throw them in the washer (wipe most of the solid stuff off first) and they're good as new, ready to be used again.

Toby hasn't gotten any bad diaper rashes from them and as you can see in the above photo, he doesn't mind wearing them! We save a bunch of money using them.

By the way, how do you like Toby's spiderman tattoo? He cried a bit when it was done but now he loves it! j/k :)

Christmas is here in Vernal

Normally I'm not big on Christmas, but Greg is and he's showing me how wonderful this time of the year can be.
Greg loves nativity sets and after searching for weeks, he finally found one he really liked! Greg wants a collection of nativity sets and this is our first one.

Me, I'm a simple person (sometimes) and I like this nativity set that has been in the Nuttall family for years. It has just the essentials, and I love how baby Jesus is separate from the manger.




Well that's it for decorating. We'll do more next year when Toby is older. Merry Christmas!

Toby - One Month Old

Breakfast in bed

Yaaawn!

Tired Toby

A smile! - sort of

Visiting the Platts

Sleeping on Ben

Sleeping with Marlan








By the way - Happy 30th Ilene! Greg got her a diamond ring for her birthday. Do you like? He got it at DiamondNexusLabs.com

Another Painting -

I title this one, "Waiting for Toby".

It is a study of the artist Chris Donovan.

Toby's First BYU Football Game

Saturday Week in Review

Things are going well for our newest family member. He doesn't like to sleep by himself, but if daddy will hold him in the crook of his arm, he'll sleep halfway through the night. I find that I can actually rest in that position, and it's easier than sleeping with him fussing or sleeping with the light on (which is the other way he can sleep, poor, backwards kid).

Ilene is a trooper. I don't know why we use that particular epithet to describe someone who faces challenges well. Or perhaps, now that I think about it, I do. Anyway, Ilene is a trooper. Feeding is getting easier for her. I can tell that it doesn't hurt her quite as much anymore. She doesn't wince everytime Toby latches on, and she doesn't usually do the little chant to relax and convince her body to let the milk flow. In fact, she actually is leaking half the time these days--which is a small annoyance, but isn't nearly as bad as not being able to get things going, as she had problems mid-week. And she is getting used to all those motherly things she needs to do everyday now, taking care of Toby while I'm at work.

I think the worst is behind us. By which I mean the pains and the adjustments to family-life. Not the taking care of our infant, which is not the worst because it is not bad.

I've been playing with our blog, and you'll notice, if you care to, that I have combined my blog and Ilene's blog into this one. We've also added a feature where you can subscribe via email that I am testing right now, and I think should work. So if you'd be interested in receiving emails from the blog with the latest news, please, just enter your email in the box at the right.

The Long Version

To those of you who I know are devoted readers...a very elite group, I might add...I apologize for taking so long to post on the birth of my new baby boy! Most of you, however, I contacted by phone. And for anyone I may have neglected to contact, please forgive me for the oversight--it's been an eventful week!

I also would have liked to blog this earlier, but unfortunately there was no internet access at the hospital. I would have had to leave the hospital to post, and well, priorities.

So, here's the story:

Saturday night, October 6th, Ilene started having "cramps" around 5 p.m. After hearing a few complaints about these cramps, I decided I should probably check to see if they were rhythmic. Up to that point I had heard about the cramps on occasion, but it seemed like I was hearing about them frequently. (When I say complaints, Ilene would really just say "ouch" or "ah!"). So I started tracking them about 7:00 that night, and they were consistently 5-6 minutes apart. I suspected that the mystery cramps were really contractions, but Ilene said the pain was only mild, so I held off taking her into the hospital.

At 3:30 Sunday morning, Ilene awoke with a fairly painful "cramp". I decided that this was probably labor, so I got up, got showered and shaved, dressed, and had Ilene get dressed, too. I told her I thought we should probably walk around a bit because if it was labor, as I suspected, it would help to hurry things up, and if it was false labor, as Ilene thought, it would probably help the pains subside.

So we went to Walmart to walk around, because it was very cold that morning, and there's no other place in town that's open 24 hours. Well, it turns out the Vernal Walmart isn't open 24 hours either. We got there at 5:00, but it doesn't open until 6:00. However, one of the employees was on his way in, and we explained the situation to him, and he let us in to walk around. We were approached a few times asking what we were doing, but everyone there was very friendly and once they knew what we were doing, they had no qualms about letting us wander around.

In the meantime, I kept track of the "cramps" on my PDA. I kept a record of the time of the occurrence, the duration, and the severity of pain. The "cramps" were coming about every 2-3 minutes, and when the pain level started to reach upwards of a 7 out of 10, I decided it was time to go to the hospital. We left Walmart at about 6:50 a.m.

When we arrived at the hospital, a nurse took Ilene into an exam room. She examined Ilene quickly and determined that she had dilated to 3 cm, but that her water had not broken. She hooked Ilene up to a couple machines to determine whether or not Ilene was in labor. Then the nurse asked if Ilene had eaten, and she had not. So, she suggested that that would probably be a good time to eat, because if labor came on, she probably wouldn't have a chance to eat until after the baby was born. So I took the car and went to Smith's for bagels and jam and apple juice.

On my way back, I got a call from Ilene, just as I was pulling into the hospital parking lot.

By way of tangent, I am so glad to live in the era of cell phones.

I told her I was almost back, and within a minute or so I was back in the exam room. Ilene was on the verge of tears because she had "peed the bed". I took a look, and sure enough, there was a yellow-tinted liquid, in which she was sitting, all over the bed. We called a nurse in to help (the call button for the nurse had been too far away for Ilene to reach, so she hadn't been able to do it earlier).

The nurse came in to help and Ilene apologized profusely for peeing the bed. The nurse simply laughed it off, but it was traumatic for Ilene, who was embarrassed to the point of tears. Another nurse came into the room, took one look and one sniff and declared that Ilene's water had broken and that Ilene had made their decision of whether to keep her or send her home very easy, and they moved us into a delivery room.

Over the next couple of hours, Ilene had strong and frequent contractions. We were moved into the delivery room between 8:30 and 9:00. By 11:00 Ilene had moved to 8 cm dilated. The contractions were getting to the point where she was not able to handle them when the Anesthesiologist arrived to give her the epidural. She warned Ilene that there could be some scraping along the discs as she inserted the needle, due to Ilene's smaller stature, and that she had to stay very very still. But, fortunately, Ilene reports that none of that occurred, so she was able to hold completely still without any problems.

The epidural seemed like a miracle to Ilene. The pain subsided immediately, but there was really no loss of use of Ilene's legs. She was able to move them without problem, although they were a little shaky. We asked the anesthesiologist about this, and she told us that that is how she administers epidurals...killing the pain but not applying it so heavy as to deaden the legs.

In retrospect, we wish that she had done it a bit heavier.

As helpful as the epidural was in relieving Ilene's pain, it proved to be a disaster. Ilene had gone from 3 to 8 cm in only 2 hours. But the epidural seemed to stop her in her tracks. For the next 5 hours, not a thing happened. The nurse had said that they had applied the epidural just before she was to begin pushing, but there was no pushing to come for hours.

In some ways this was good because our doctor had been away at a conference and his flight landed in Salt Lake at about 8:00 that morning. He was driving back as fast as he could go, but it wasn't likely that he would get back in time to deliver the baby. The nurse even contacted the on-call doctor to let him know he would probably have to come in.

But Ilene was stalled. Our Doctor, Dr. Anderson, called at about 1:00 to let us know that he had made it back into town, and to see if Ilene had delivered. The nurse informed him that she had not, and said she would call as soon as Ilene started to push. But Ilene stayed stalled for a long time. In fact, she didn't reach the pushing stage until after 4:00.

The second part of the epidural disaster happened then. There was still plenty of medication left in the syringe, but Ilene started to feel the pain of the contractions again. The anesthesiologist pumped another syringe full of what she said was a stronger medication into Ilene's IV, but to no avail. The pain simply did not go away.

So, just as Ilene began pushing, the full pains of labor came on. I did my best to help her focus on her breathing, and the nurses and doctor did the same. It nearly broke me to see Ilene in the pain that she was enduring and to force her back into focusing on breathing and pushing. But I had to keep steady to help her, so I was fine.

When the baby came out, per our request, they immediately took him and towelled him off and got him cleaned up. I cut the cord, but then they took him away. Ilene couldn't handle the stress of holding a sticky, slimy baby (for those of you who don't know, she's a bit of a germophobe, but not in the traditional way).

It took the better part of an hour to get Ilene all stitched up and back in a more comfortable position on the bed. During that process I was at Ilene's side the entire time. They laid our new baby boy in the warmer (is it just me or do those things seem like the sandwich warmer at McDonald's?), several feet from me. I was able to keep an eye on him, but Ilene needed me there, pinching her hands to help her cope with the pain (something which I did throughout the pushing stages).

At one point they brought the baby over for Ilene to see, but Ilene was crying so much that she demanded they take the baby away, because she didn't "want him to see me like this".

At last, they brought the baby over and we got to meet our little Toby for the first time.

I'll pass on the details of the rest of the time we spent at the hospital, because it's pretty standard and relatively boring. Sufficeth to say that we have a boy who is so much calmer and so much sweeter than most of the babies I've known, and no, that's not just a proud daddy talking. I was actually amazed that he didn't cry more.

After we got him home, Toby seemed to turn a little yellow. Fearing Jaundice, we took him back to the hospital for a bilireuben test on Wednesday. His level was 12.5 (which really means nothing to me except by comparison). So the doctor asked to have us go in the next day. He checked his weight (only 2 oz. less than his birth weight, which is up quite a bit) and his size, and his color. He seemed to think things were headed in the right direction, but asked us to go back to get another bilireuben test. We did, and today we learned that his level had risen to 13.6.

So, once again, today, the doctor had us go in to get another test done, today to see if it had risen to dangerous levels which would constitute treatment. I am happy to report, though, that the level has fallen to a 9.5, so, we're out of the woods.

A couple things of note. I have the greatest job. The city allowed me to save up some time from work at meetings, etc. over the past couple of months, which has allowed me to be away from work for the first 4 days this week. I also was able to do a couple of important, time-sensitive tasks for work on my work laptop while at the hospital so that I could be with my family without getting behind. That has been one of the greatest things.

And my coworkers are so wonderful. The first evening back from the hospital (Tuesday night), two of them, Denise and Nikki, came to visit, bearing gifts. Denise also brought a fantastic dinner for Ilene and I and my parents. We are so grateful to them!

Additionally, our ward, and in particular, Ilene's visiting teachers were great, bringing us dinner on the two following nights. Both of them were warm and delicious meals which really helped us.

Ilene is back on her feet and moving around and working. I am having a bit of a struggle to get her to follow the doctor's orders to keep it to a minimum. She wants to be out walking and jogging off the "baby weight". But so far she's been good.

Toby is doing well. He likes to be awake at night and asleep during the day. But we found that if we keep a light on, he'll sleep at night. Last night Ilene was the one to get up with him when he needed attention, and she says that he slept for 4 straight hours. We hope to have him in a regular routine in a couple of weeks.

For those who care for the stats, here they are:

Toby was born at 5:05 p.m. on October 7, 2007. He weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. He was 20 inches long. He has a head-full of dark brown hair, and has dark brown eyes, which are slowly turning to a dark slate-gray, from the outside in.

And Now For the Excrutiating Details...

So on Saturday (oct 6) at around 5pm I started having contractions. They were really mild and the only way I could tell they were contractions were the fact that they came in regular intervals. We didn't want to get our hopes up - we went to bed.

At 4 am the contractions got stronger and closer. We decided to walk around Walmart and continue timing them. To my surprise (because I didnt' want to get my hopes up) they got stronger and closer still.

At 7am we decided to head to the hospital so the nurses could tell us definitely if it was labor or false labor. The nurse checked my cervix and found it was dilated to 3 centimeters, then left to set up the tests. Greg left also, buying us breakfast and getting a few things taken care of. Of course, what should happen next but all of a sudden I couldn't stop leaking all over the exam bed! I got so upset thinking I couldn't control my bladder and I couldn't reach my phone or the nurse button. So I sat there, miserable and in pain.

The nurse confirmed that I had broken my water and I was in fact in labor. Yay! I handled the contractions as long as I could, but eventually I asked for the anesthesiologist to give me the epidural. The nurse checked my cervix again and saw that I had dilated to 8 cm!

The epidural was wonderful! 5 hours later I was ready to push. Then I started to notice that I could feel the contractions again. Pretty soon they were excrutiating! They tried adding more medication, but it soon wore off too.

Well, it was the worst pain I ever had and if it weren't for great nurses, doctor, and Greg, I don't know what I would have done!

And now we have our Toby! Don't you think he's most perfect baby in the world?

He was worth it. Now I just have to learn how to take care of him.....

Finally!

Excrutiating details to follow....

Pernicious Absurdity

I recently posted a "Question" on my facebook account, free to all my friends to respond. I simply asked the question "who do you support in the 2008 election?" I was curious where my friends will land politically. I got the following response...no kidding.

"I am still undecided, There will be history made with a lot of them. First woman Pres? First black pres? or first LDS pres? I am still deciding who i support more. either Hilary or Romney??? I Dunno yet??? "

All I can think in my head is ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?!?!

I can understand if someone says they support Obama, or Clinton, or Romney, or McCain or whomever they decide. Presumably there is something which each of these candidates either espouses or claims to espouse which is inviting to people. For instance, one may support H.C. based on the idea that her health care plan will save America. Regardless of whether it will or not, if a person believes that she is right, then they can support her. Someone may believe that M.R.'s plan to run the country like a business will make the U.S. economy stronger (whether this is intelligent or foolish) and so would support him.

But to support a candidate based on the RECORD THEY WOULD SET! This friend of mine might support Hillary or Romney, she says. But these two individuals are very nearly polar opposites when it comes to their core beliefs and intentions for the future of the country. How can anyone look at the two of them and say 'I could support either of these candidates'? I can only think of one reason, and that reason is indicated in the statement "There will be history made with a lot of them. First woman Pres? First black pres? or first LDS pres?" This voter is not deciding her candidate based on his/her ideas, but rather on the most shallow of possible details: the color of the skin and the organs of the body.

And this person will be voting.

Which is WHY, to all those of you who have asked, I do not support the idea that everyone in this country should be voting in elections. As I have stated to some of you, I do support the RIGHT to vote being given to everyone. But I believe that anyone who cannot vote from an issues-based perspective, that is, intelligently, should willfully abstain from voting.

And my reason for that is simple. If people who vote are thinking about issues, if they're listening to debate and trying to understand the different perspectives, if they are ruled by values and reason together, and above all, if they avoid the politics of soundbites, then I believe that this country will move forward, will be safe, and will be great.

If instead, people vote for our country's leadership they way they vote for American Idol: that is, if they vote based on looks, based on the superficial elements of a campaign, such as soundbites, the 30-second media clips, the bumper-sticker "wisdom" that pervades political presentation today, we'll end up with leaders who are no more than pop-stars. A pretty face and a catchy tune, but who are so drunk with their own power that they forget about, or worse, ignore, the real problems and opportunities that our country is faced with, today. People who never get below the surface of "the first woman president" "the first black president" "the first LDS president" etc. etc. will be fooled by politicians instead of being led by them.

For example, a few years ago, due to a very successful self-promoting "ad" campaign (for lack of a better term), Britney Spears was believed to be clean, wholesome, and good. This was based not on facts or any demonstrated virtue, but on a very convincing image that was presented to mass media in little clips. Can you imagine what would happen if we had the same sort of insidious personality presenting the same sort of image campaign to become a leader of America? Perhaps you can imagine, or maybe, you need only remember.

Former President, Bill Clinton, presented himself as a "family-values" candidate. He certainly did not embody my family's values. With all the evidence against his statement as such a candidate, why did no one notice that his claim was false? Because this country elected him based on the 30-second media clips and the bumper-sticker slogans, instead of by looking at his record. And during his presidency I was condemned for watching "The Simpsons" while he committed unspeakable atrocities in the Oval Office. So, remind me again, how was he the "family-values" candidate?

We must not continue this trend of electing individuals based on '10 words'. We need to send our best and brightest, regardless of their party affiliation, to Washington to represent us to our country and to represent our country to the world. We have failed to do this, recently. Instead of sending our best and brightest, we've been sending our slimiest and most clever. They seem like the real thing on the surface, but once below the skin, the filth is obvious.

How many times, in recent months, have you heard that congress has a low approval rating? Or the president? How many times have you heard of judges legislating from the bench? Everyone seems to want to point fingers at the other party and talk about how the other is a hypocrite. And the regular people like me, that is, most people in America, point fingers and talk about how other people were fooled into voting for bad people. For instance, so many republicans point to Idaho and talk about how the Idaho republicans sent someone to Washington who doesn't really represent them, the Idaho republicans. What so many fail to realize is that WE ALL SENT THEM. While I do not dispute that a few politicians are good, and many are decent, the fact is, most of the time they are not who they seem to be in the media. We can sit and blame the media all we want for it, but the simple fact is that "the media" is a very small minority of Americans. What we all seem to miss is that we're all being misled, and we're all submitting to it by choice.

But most Americans never get below the surface of the television image. Not because they're not smart enough, but because they simply don't take the time. For whatever reason, very few take the time to really get to know where their candidates stand on all the issues which are important to them. Very few vote intelligently.

Which all brings me back to my point: I do not support the idea that everyone, or even that most people, in this country should vote. This is not an elitist view that only the people that have such and such education or such and such background, etc. etc. should vote. It is simply a very well-based view that most people in this country don't realize that they are being misled, and often flat-out lied to, when it comes to politics.

So please, if you're going to vote for someone based on the record they'll set (first black, first woman, first Mormon, first whatever), please, don't vote. But if you're going to vote for a person because of their position on immigration, AND the war, AND health care, AND the economy, AND every other position they espouse (taken in total), then please, please, please, do.

Belly Laughs-

The Belly, from Ilene's Point of View :)

New Going-Home Outfit

At the Nuttall Baby Shower, my mom brought 3 outfits she thought would be good going-home outfits. I picked this one.

I think I will find it fun to dress up our baby in all the nice clothes we got at the Nuttall and Platt baby showers. :)

A Possible End-

No baby yet -
So at our last doctor's appointment, the doctor said that I haven't dilated any more. Do you know how frustrating and annoying that is to hear when I have had cramps all week that apparently weren't doing any good?

Today I woke up with painful cramps and a bad mood. So Greg suggested that if Toby hasn't come by the due date - Oct 13 - then on that day we'll ask the doctor to induce me. Not unexpectedly my mood brightened considerably. I do realize that it is selfish of me to want an actual cutoff day. An end that I can see. But I still want to do it!

Here are some more selfish reasons to induce on the 13th:

*it's a Saturday so Greg (and hopefully family) will have an easier time getting work off
*it's not near my birthday (Oct 25) which I'm happy about (I don't like the idea of sharing my birthday with a family member, even/especially my own son)
*it would give me (and Toby) enough recovery time so we could go visit family in November (my sister Susan Ruiz is coming from California with her new baby girl then)
*I like the idea of Toby coming on Oct 13

What do you think? Any thoughts? Concerns?

Tempting!

Ok, so I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and the doctor said I am 2 centimeters dilated and my cervix is thinned. He also said that the Strep B test came back negative and I don't have Pre-Eclampsia (I thought maybe I had Pre-E because my feet and ankles swelled up till the skin was stretching, and stayed that way for about a week! Fortunately the swelling all of a sudden went down to practically nothing and my feet and ankles look normal again! yay!).

Well Greg joked to the doctor that I was hoping for some complication so I could be induced early, and the doctor said that actually if by the 39th week I'm still pregnant, he would be fine with inducing. Do you know how tempting that is?! To be able to choose the day and not have to keep wondering when Toby will be coming? If I am still pregnant by then, I don't know if I'll be strong enough to wait for when the baby's ready to come. To induce or not to induce?

Hopefully this won't be an issue and I will have had the baby before then. We shall see.....

It's been a long time since I updated this blog, and to those few of you who actually read this, I sincerely appologize. I've been so busy with work and school and everything else lately that posting here simply slipped my mind.

Ilene is doing pretty well. She has those normal end-of-pregnancy complaints that I listen to and then do nothing about (cuz, really, I can't stop her from having cramps, now can I?). For more info on that situation, see Ilene's blog. But the good news is that in spite of all those little things, she's also very excited (not just anxious) for the baby to come. Ilene gets these ideas in her head that she just loves...like painting a picture of the baby...that make this time pretty great for her, and for me as well.

We went to the doctor on Monday of this week and she was 2 cm dilated. And she's been having cramps since then, so when we go back next Monday, I suspect that she'll be quite a bit more dilated. We know that this doesn't really indicate when, really, the baby is coming, but it could be any time. Ilene keeps hoping for "today," whichever day "today" happens to be, but obviously, no luck yet. In the meantime I keep my cell phone on my body all the time for when the moment comes.

Work-wise, things are going quite well. I never anticipated the level of secrecy to which I would be bound concerning some things that go on in the city. Not the bad kind of government secrecy, e.g. Watergate, but the kinds of things that, for instance, developers want to do, but letting that get out would stop them from doing because of market forces. In a lot of ways it seems ridiculous the things they think will happen. But then, it also makes a crazy kind of sense why they want to protect themselves as much as possible.

I get asked about my thesis a lot. After a day spent in the BYU library last time we were in town, I was able to collect and then copy/print all of the articles that I'll need for the bibliography section of my thesis. That's a big step because that bibliography section requires a bunch of time spent reading and making notes and then writing the section. That process will also generate the question(s) that I'll be asking for my thesis. So that's the next step. Once that's done, I already have the data I'll be using, so then the testing to answer the question should go fairly quickly. Then there's the writing stage that is the bulk of the thesis. So, in short, the answer to the question is: I'm finally starting to make some headway into the thesis. No, Jon, I won't be finished in time to graduate in December (because I had to apply for graduation like last week if I wanted to be done, and I couldn't do that until I had defended my thesis, which isn't written yet.) However, I anticipate I'll be done with the thesis by the end of this year, and that will allow me to graduate in Spring.

Well, I think that covers just about everything.

No Baby Yet.....

Well, 23 days left until Toby's due date. I don't feel like he'll be coming early. I don't like waiting, but really, who does?

Now about the photo on the left. I found this stained glass design on the internet and I felt like painting it -- so I did. :)
This is actually painted in the center of my next painting I'm doing. I'll post it as soon as I finish it. :)

8 Months! September 2007

Ok, now that I have only 5 weeks left (or less), it feels like time has speeded up!

Ready or not, Toby's coming.

Lost and Found!

Aren't these photos beautiful!
Greg shot them on May 2005 at a family campout at Zion's National Park. Somehow he had lost them, but he still had the memory card they were originally shot on (long since deleted).

So Greg found a data recovery service and they were able to recover almost all the photos he had lost! (about 30 photos)

Don't you just love modern technology?

33 Weeks Down, 7 to Go!

Here we are at 33 weeks and I wanted to let anyone who cared know what I've been going through lately.

Recently I have ballooned out - from the stomach and down! I'll post another belly photo in September so everyone can check out my girth. I'm a bit swollen and even my feet jiggle. Not a fun feeling.

I am still walking an hour six days a week, but it's getting harder to do. I get tired and my stomach pretty much stays contracted the whole time. At least I'm not getting side aches anymore, since I started drinking a big glass of water with each meal. Probably was dehydrated.

I have to go to the bathroom 10 times a day, which is about every two hours. Other discomforts I have are; occasional heartburn, occasional insomnia, and Toby kicking my delicate organs. Really, I don't have very many complaints. Although Greg might say otherwise! I like to keep him informed on every little twinge. :)

Doctor Anderson thinks that everything seems to be going well, and is still scheduling appointments a month apart. But I'm sure after the next appointment he'll start seeing me more often. I'm really not fond of doctors, but this one seems okay.

Greg and I are so anxious to meet our Toby! It's almost as if we are waiting for Christmas to come.

Time is dragging by!

No Such Luck

Two weeks after getting my hopes up, my contact at Rio Tinto dashed them again, telling me that Kennecott will be promoting from within. That's a bit of a disappointment both on the pay and location fronts.

However, there are some good bits of news along with it.

First, we aren't in desperate need of a job, so this isn't a big hit to us and we're not panicking. So, yeah, we have to stay in Vernal for a while longer, but it's not like we're not making a good living--well, decent, anyway.

Secondly, I now have a contact at Rio Tinto, and therefore Kennecott, that I can check in with from time to time and submit my resume to from time to time. So there's potential to the future.

In the meantime, I'm going to be going to a couple of conferences over the next few months where I'll be making (hopefully) several professional contacts. That networking should help me to be able to get a different position back in SLC area at some point. Who knows, I've even heard that Herriman has expanded its staff from 1 to 6 over the past 3 years, and with continued growth in the area, it wouldn't surprise me if they end up needing more in the near future. So, I'm keeping my hopes up, my options open, my resume out there, and my eyes and ears pealed for new opportunities.

Our Baby Checklist

For those of you going to my baby shower that would like a hint of what Greg and I need/desire that we haven't bought ourselves, I'm posting this list of things we don't have:

For the Nursery-

Mobile, Digital Clock, Diaper Pail, Hamper, Toy Box, Crib Blankets, Receiving Blankets, Toys,

Baby Boy Clothes, all Sizes (and shoes, socks, etc)

Health and Safety-

Medicine Dispenser, Outlet Covers, Safety Gate, Thermometer, Cabinet Latches, Baby Medicines (like Tylenol), And whatever else we need; we don't have anything at all from this category

Toiletries-

Diapers (cloth or disposable), Diaper Pins, Diaper Rash Ointment, Diaper Bag, Shampoo, Lotion,

Baby Wipes, Wash Cloths, Nail Clippers, Brush/Comb, Bath Tub, And whatever else we need; we don't have anything at all from this category either

Feeding-

Baby Bottles, Bottle Brush, Bottle Nipples, Bibs, Bottle Sterilizer (?), Pacifier (?), Breast Pump (?), Nursing Coverup (?), Formula (?), High Chair, We don't have anything from this category either! And I'm not really sure what is needed.

Miscellaneous-

Quiet/Church Books and Toys, Portable Playpen/Crib

So that's what we don't have. In certain categories (Feeding, Toiletries, and Health and Safety) I'm sure there are useful and essential items I don't know about and have not put on this list.

Oh, and in case anyone wants to know, we have decorated the nursery in Purple, Green, Yellow, White, and Black. Only about 60 days left to go! Wish me luck with the delivery! :)

Going Home Outfit (Tentative)

I was checking out the "October 2007 Babies" message board on Baby Center online, and there was a post of the "going home outfits" that the pregnant women had picked out for when their baby will be born.

So I decided to post mine on the Ilene Report. I picked out a newborn size (left) and a bigger, warmer size (right). Bottom left corner is a baby blanket.

However, I haven't had a baby shower yet, so most likely this outfit will change. If it does, I'll post that one too!

The Baby Swing!

Okay, Greg and I are trying to spend our money wisely and not buy extravagant baby stuff. But this was the only swing that was electric!

Plus we loved the bright colors and neat features. The seat swivels so Toby can rock from side-to-side or from front-to-back. It plays music or jungle noises, and the mobile moves around.

It cost $100. At least we won't be buying batteries for it all the time!

A Better Belly Shot

Here is a better shot of my 7 month pregnancy. 31 weeks have passed!

Another Move?

I got a very interesting and unexpected email the other day. It was from a recruiter at a company called Rio Tinto, trying to fill a position with one of their companies, Kennecott Lands. Working for Kennecott Lands in their development projects is basically a dream job for me. I even tried to send them a resume earlier this year. So I was really excited to get the email, which I almost deleted without reading.

What are the chances of this actually materializing into a full on job? I don't really know. But, this could really be good for us. It would mean more money. It would mean living closer to family. It would mean living closer to some resources which we miss since moving out here. It would mean having a lower cost of living, particularly in rent, than we have in Vernal during this boom. It would mean being closer to BYU campus, which could really help in terms of finishing my thesis and MS degree.

Are there downsides? Sure. We would have to move again. It would mean leaving a job that I really like for one which I'm not so sure I would like. And I would feel a little bad about leaving Naples so soon after starting here.

But, I think the risks are well worth it. And, with regard to any loyalty to Naples, it's a greater responsibility to do what's right for my family.

So, if when I interview for the position it seems like this will be a job I would like to do, and if the job is offered to me, I'm going to take it.

Without trying to get my hopes up, this does seem like an answer to prayers. Money things are tight, especially as I start to look at repaying student loans. So we've been praying for help in these financial matters. Also, living in Vernal has been hard, particularly on Ilene, who would like to live closer to family, closer to good stores, and closer to a good library system. So this seems like an answer to prayers in that it would provide us with an opportunity to move back to the Salt Lake area. Especially considering the way in which I opened the email by mistake when I meant to delete it, and reading it instead of hitting back and deleting it, it seems to me that I see the hand of Providence moving and acting in our behalf.

Pregnancy, Aug 2007

Well, only 2 months left to go! This picture doesn't do my big belly justice. I swear I'm way bigger than that - at least it feels like it!

I have already gained 30 pounds! If I get pregnant again, I'll know what to do differently so I don't gain so much. In order to try to slow down the weight gain, I walk for an hour 6 days a week. It's been working, thank goodness! I'm hoping to gain only 5 more pounds before the baby comes - wishful thinking, I know!

Pioneer Day

For pioneer day, Ilene and I decided we would head up to Flaming Gorge, which is only 40 miles from where we're living in Vernal. It was a really nice day. I'm posting some photos from our trip.

DAM!!!

The most amazing thing that happened was when we were just about to eat lunch, out of nowhere we were attacked by this Sith. Ilene and I fought him off, but he got away.