Dan In Real Life

We meant to see this movie Friday night, but when the timing just didn't work out, we decided to skip it and see it Saturday. . . which also didn't work out.

So, when we had a free afternoon yesterday and really needed to get our minds off of the fact that we didn't have a baby coming, we decided to see a movie.

I have to admit, I have always been a sucker for the "funny guy" in a not so stupid comedy. I love watching the ones that can actually act when put into a slightly more serious situation. Steve Carell is at the top of my list of those guys, after this movie. He can really act! Little Miss Sunshine was no fluke.

There were so many things I loved about this movie. "family movies" tend to contain families that you never believe. The people are contrived, the houses are too perfect, and the conversations and situations are so fake. . . This movie didn't feel anything like that. It was well written, well acted, and you actually believed these people got together once a year to do everything you were watching them do.

Also, it's a very clean movie. There are a couple of suggestive conversations, but they are masked well enough that I wouldn't feel remotely uncomfortable watching this with my parents. Also, it's a bit of a tear jerker. And I don't think it was just because I'm very pregnant.

Go see it!

Waiting

We had a doctor's appointment this morning. . . Still nothing. If I don't go into labor in the mean time, we'll now wait to go in for a non-stress test on Thursday, and if that goes OK (the baby is still doing well), he'll induce starting Sunday night.

We had a rather dramatic weekend, but not for our sake. That's a post for another day. . . Let's just say it passed the time really well. And now I'm hoping for this week not to drag on forever. Send good vibes if you've got them to spare. The only way I'll be unpregnant in the next week is if the baby decides to come on his own.

Still Pregnant

As of 2:45 pm on my due date. . .

just in case you were curious.

Showers

I can't tell you how amazing it is to have a bunch of people gather to celebrate the little baby growing in your belly. It has been so much fun to get together with friends, old and new, and talk babies without feeling remotely odd about it.

In the past week 3 different groups of friends have celebrated with us. Last Saturday Korianne hosted a shower at her house with Vanessa & Lisa helping. It was a big gathering of wonderful theatre friends that was so much fun.

Monday night we went to a pot luck with Ben's work peoples. . . all of the Hall Advisors from Heritage Halls, and since there were 3 babies to celebrate in that group, they surprised us all with wonderful little gift baskets and some traditional baby shower games.

And last night, as a wonderful antidote to the funk I was in after our doctor's appointment, the ladies from Nu Skin (specifically Mary, Maureen, & Megan) hosted a get together at the Pizza Factory. I was shocked at how many of those great ladies showed up to play. Ben even joined us for that one. It was such a great evening.

Needless to say, this baby will be one spoiled child from the very beginning. Everyone has been so sweet and so generous.

Now there's just the waiting game. . .

But luckily, I'm working from home the rest of the week while everyone else is at convention, so I'm a little more comfortable in my waiting.

It'll Be A While

We all know one of those women. . . the ones who seem like they'll be pregnant FOREVER. . .

I am going to be one of those.

The news at the doctor's office this morning was not good. Turns out, despite what I believed, the baby has not dropped. Not at all. And the doctor thinks this should have happened almost 2 weeks ago. The fact that it hasn't concerns him. It also causes concern that I am no more dilated than I was more than a week ago. . .

Which most likely means that this baby is NOT going to be on time.

I guess that means I can stop wondering what every weird pain means, get some cleaning done, and drug myself up for some better sleep at night.

This kid has inherited his parent's stubbornness.

Great.

Dumbledore is Gay

Didn't see that one coming.

You can read the article here.

Pumpkin Carving

As a very last minute weekend plan (because I keep hoping the baby will show up, so I'm trying not to make any long term plans) we decided that Friday night was going to be pumpkin carving night. Or course, I made the plan before remembering that Ben had a midterm for his accounting class the next morning at 8 am, (bad wifey) so he didn't participate, and the crowd was smaller than usual because it was so last minute. . . but we had fun anyway.

Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Once again, I'm pretty darn pleased with what my camera can do. It was almost dark when we got to the pumpkin patch, but my little built in flash worked wonders. Isn't that a gorgeous sunset?

Tanner posing with the pumpkins and the scarecrows

Jeremy & Nathan working on their masterpieces

Tanner was very helpful, stabbing his mom's pumpkin repeatedly while she tried to trace out her pattern

The finished products out on the porch. I took the Martha Stewart way out again this year and drilled holes in mine. It's easy and I like the look of it. . . Nate did Scooby Doo, Jenny did a smiley face, Emily did a skull and Jeremy did a witch.

There was much argument as to whether it's cheating to use a pattern, as everyone did. . . I don't know if it's cheating, but it makes for much prettier pumpkins. :)

Dear XANGO custodial staff,

Does 12 noon, when everyone in the building is leaving for lunch and therefore wanting to make a quick pit stop on the way out, REALLY seem like the best time to clean the bathrooms?

EVERY DAY?

REALLY?

Love,
the very very pregnant woman on the 3rd floor

The Fancy Party and Pantyhose

Last night was a big celebration for the Romney Institute. George Romney, father to Mitt, and big contributor to the Public Administration program of the business school at BYU, would have turned 100 yesterday, had he lived that long. In reality, he died in 1995, but there was still a fancy birthday party for him last night. Ben worked for the Institute for 5 years while he was a student at BYU, and is now getting his MPA (masters of public administration) through them. He knows people there, so he got an invitation, and an excuse to miss class for the night.

That was the long way of saying that we went to a fancy party last night. . .

Fancy parties are no big thing for me in a non-pregnant state. I have plenty of dresses, plenty of things that fit and make me look cleaned up even if I need to hurry to get ready after a long day of work. I can just throw on a dress and some makeup and I'm good to go. Pantyhose are generally the least of my concerns. . .

But I'm 9 months pregnant. I have a great black maternity dress I bought in the summer that I knew would work perfectly for the party, so I didn't stress about it. Until I realized (10 minutes before we needed to leave the house) that it was no longer summer. It was 45 degrees and rainy last night. NOT sandal weather. NOT open toed shoes/no pantyhose weather. And I hadn't even CONSIDERED how I would cover my pasty white legs for such an occasion.

Do they even MAKE pantyhose for pregnant people? If I hadn't been pregnant (at least to the point of not fitting into things) during the hottest months of the year, I probably would have considered this before now. But as it was, we were late and I was bare legged.

SO, after some failed attempts at getting into some other pairs of stockings from my drawer, we decided to stop at Payless quickly on our way to the party. We quickly found a cheap closed toed pair of black shoes that actually fit my hugely fat feet (for $7) at that, and approached the sock selection. . . we bought a pair of knee highs that I PRAYED would be long (they SO were not), and a pair of larger than life pantyhose in black. . . for $1. That was a sign of trouble right there.

Now, putting on a pair of hose whilst sporting a 9 month pregnant belly, sitting on a chair or bed at home is tricky. Let's be honest, ladies, putting them on is never a lot of fun, but when you can't really reach your toes anyway. . . next to impossible. Well, I always manage to make things even more complex. My job was to get a nasty pair of $1 hose on in the front seat of a Saab in the parking lot of Payless. . . without flashing anyone. Good luck!

I managed to wrangle the things up to about my knees (this was easier than my previous attempt at home as they were much larger and had almost no stretch to them) when a family of small hispanic children and their mother came walking around the minivan next to us. . . right at eye level with the passenger side window where I was struggling.

I froze.

The little boy closest to me froze.

Ben broke down into hysterical laughter.

Luckily, I wasn't flashing anyone.

Ben calmed down enough to drive while the family stared at us, and he backed out of the parking spot and pulled out onto the road. As we drove I reclined the seat and got the hose up as far as I could, but I really needed to be able to stand up to get them on any further.

We take a sort of back road out of Springville to get to BYU, so Ben pulled over next to a little horse farm and I got out. . . Luckily, this time, no one drove by. The only witnesses to the last stage of this humiliation were several horses. . . and I don't think they cared much.

They weren't comfortable. They felt like sandpaper, really. But they fit around my pregnant tush and didn't fall down, though they rested precariously above my hips for the entire 3 hour event. Even at their very large size, they pinched nicely enough to hold on to my body through the night.

Do they make pantyhose for pregnant women? Probably. Should I have thought about buying some earlier in the day? Certainly. But I didn't.

Have you ever wondered if I truly love my husband?

Has this post answered that question for you?

I thought so.

Letters

For once I actually followed through and finished something i said I was going to do. . . I was dead set on getting the letters on the wall of the nursery tonight, and I actually managed to do it!

The big trend in nurseries these days (based on my extensive internet research) is to put a kid's name on the wall. This is generally done with wooden letters, and often the letters are suspended by ribbon or something like unto it. Personally I think the ribbon thing is a little bit girly, and I planned to go a totally different direction with the letters. I found an idea I loved on Martha Stewart's website that involved canvases and mixed media, but the truth is, I ran out of the necessary creative juices to make that happen. Instead, we found a set of wooden letters at Roberts that Ben approved of and decided to paint those instead. . .

This first shot is before I put the mobile back up.


The white shelves were a fantastic find at Pottery Barn kids. They were 60% off of their original price, so we got two for each side of the window. I haven't totally decided what will live on them permanently yet, so for now they are the home of various stuffed creatures.


This shot is after the mobile is up. I am a little bit frustrated that it blocks the letters. . . but I decided I didn't care enough to change the whole room around. We are framing some really cool prints from an Ellen Raskin book to put on the opposite wall, so the letters needed to go above the crib.

More pictures will follow when the other side of the room is organized and I have cleaned up all of the random junk that's all over the floor. . .

Mobile

For some reason we are making very slow progress in the nursery at the moment. It seems like we're pretty much at a one small thing at a time kind of pace. . . But we finally hung the mobile up and I wanted to post pictures, all by itself, just for fun. Hopefully I'll get more done in there tonight and I can take a picture of things a little bit more put together.

It was constructed with 3 sets of finger puppets I bought off of Amazon, 2 embroidery hoops, and a spool of chocolate brown ribbon. We suspended it from the ceiling using one of those hooks you use to hang plants. And I have to admit, I'm pretty darn happy with how it turned out. And a few years from now, when Nolan doesn't sleep in a crib any more, I'll just unpick the puppets and let him play with them as they were originally intended. . .

unless I can't bear to. . . it really took a long time to put together.

Elizabeth, Part 2

I have to admit to having been REALLY excited about this movie. I absolutely LOVE the original movie, and with the same director and same cast (and probably a lot of other "sames") I figured this movie was destined for greatness. I know a lot of other people felt that way too.

When the reviews started rolling in, they weren't good. On Saturday, Rottentomatoes.com gave it a 24%. But regardless, I maintained that I would watch Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen read the phone book, so I was going anyway.

We joined Kevin & Vanessa, Barta, and a few others for a 7:00 showing. I have to admit, it was disappointing compared to the first movie. But after having seen the reviews beforehand, I didn't expect as much, and still enjoyed it. It is beautifully done and the acting is great. The story needed some serious help, and the dialogue had moments of awfulness. It really did feel like the middle movie in a trilogy. I just hope, if they make a 3rd, that it lives up to the first again. It's such a talented group of people!

Also, I'm convinced Cate will win the Oscar for best actress this year, regardless of the quality of the movie as a whole. She was ROBBED in 1999, and I really believe the academy will make it up to her this year. Just a little prediction. . .

1 cm

After an entire weekend of contractions, I don't think a number could sound any smaller. . .

so depressing.

Sweeney Sweeney Sweeney

Sweeney Todd is one of two plays I've been involved in producing 3 times (the other is Secret Garden) It's dark and creepy and the music is tough. It's the first show Ben and I ever worked on together, and possibly the show that has tested my will and my sanity more than any other. It's Sondheim, and it's brilliant.

Back in the day we used to do a Halloween "in concert" production of it every year up at the Castle. It was absolutely the perfect setting for a show that dark. It was also REALLY bloody cold. We served hot cider and hot chocolate, and stuffed hand warmers in every possible crevice of our clothing, but there were still nights I thought I might freeze. And I wasn't sitting still on the stage for 2.5 hours!

It's been 3 years since we did this show. And every Halloween, I really miss it (at least in theory). So I was thrilled when I found out the Egyptian up in Park City was doing a production of it for Halloween this year. I was even more thrilled when I discovered that our dear friend Cecily had been cast as Johanna. She used a song from Sweeney as an audition piece for Secret Garden, and I have never ever heard it sung as well. In the end, it turned out we knew 3 other people in the show as well.

We knew we were going to have to go early in the run, before the baby made an appearance, so we decided last night was the night. Even though I had been having pretty strong contractions for almost 24 hours, we decided to brave the trip. (the tickets were a little bit pricey, after all).

I have to say, it was a really good production. There were a few people from our days at the castle that I really missed. . . mostly Marcie. Not that their Mrs. Lovett wasn't great. She was. . . but she wasn't Marcie. She couldn't sing it as well. I didn't love their judge, either, but their Beadle was the best I've seen. He hit notes that I've never heard a Beadle be able to hit, and it seemed completely effortless. A Tribune review claimed Cecily was miscast. . . I beg to differ. I thought she was wonderful. Unfortunately, I don't think the reviewer who wrote that had ever seen the show or heard the music. Johanna is meant to be very operatic. Something I can't say for Sweeney, but the actor that played him had plenty of vibrato as well (I liked their Sweeney, don't get me wrong). . .

I really enjoyed the production. It may just get me through the Tim Burton film later on this year. . . Maybe.

Hooray!!

We're getting a Cheesecake Factory!!

No one thought it would happen. . . but low and behold, they're putting one in Murray! Check it out!!

It says it's opening in November!

And that is a lot of exclamation points in one post. . .

Can you tell I have a love for the Cheesecake Factory?

Ethan is 6!

I remember very clearly the day I went to meet my first nephew in the hospital in Provo. It was fall (obviously) and we were in the middle of working on my first production of Sweeney Todd up at the castle. I had a pretty small window of time between work and rehearsal to go over to the hospital to visit Natalie and her new baby.

I have to admit, I was pretty enamored with him from the very beginning. I have always loved the role of doting aunt and, being first, he has always held a very special place in my heart. I was going through a really crappy emotional time when he came into this world and his tiny little self was a perfect reflection to me, at that point, of what real unconditional love looked like.

I wish I had digital pictures of his first couple of years. I was still in a film stage back then. But here are just a few of our moments together over the last 6 years. There are lots more out there. And, some day, he's definitely going to grow out of his willingness to have his picture taken with me. . . but in the mean time. . .

Happy Birthday, Bug!

Christmas 2004

Spring 2005

Fall 2005

Birthday #4-- 2005

Summer 2007

Conference Weekend

To me, conference weekend is a fabulous excuse to stay in my pajamas for 2 straight days. This is especially crucial to me in my 9 months pregnant state. Unfortunately, I ended up getting dressed both days. . . but it was still a good weekend.

Here are a few pictures as evidence:

Ben and I played with Aubrey in the kitchen
during the last session.
Ben was eating fritos and it turns out Aubrey really has a taste for salt.
She also has teeth.

All the cousins together.
Not focusing on one central point, but who expected that?

Batman paid us a visit
(this is Tanner's Halloween costume. . . this week)

Mom & Baby

Ethan's birthday is tomorrow, so we celebrated a bit early.
I can't believe he's 6!!
(but more on that tomorrow)

18 days

Assuming my due date is when the baby comes (and when does that happen?), I have 18 days to go. . .

FREAKY!

Seat #3

I am now in my 3rd cubicle here at XanGo, though the first one only lasted a couple of weeks and barely counted.

I have moved from a row of all girls to a row of 2 Mels and 4 boys. Quiet boys.

Life is going to be a little bit different here at work. . .

Sweeney Todd

Am I the only one who is a little bit skeptical about this?




I have no doubt that these people can act the parts, but I'm definitely not sure they can sing them. Especially after this trailer. It's tough music! And if all of them Rex Harrison their way through it, I will have to cry.

Johnny is fabulous, but based on this, I don't think he can sing it.

I hope I'm wrong.

Pushing Daisies

Everyone said this was the one show you HAD to watch this fall on TV. . .

They were right. It's great. The art direction is great, the writing is great, the acting is great.

This may be my new favorite show.

What Happened to Fall?

Did it really snow this weekend? Oh yes, it did. On September 29th. . . what IS THAT?!

We were on our way up to Salt Lake to go to a presentation by a time share company (don't ask. I don't want to talk about it) and do some shopping when the rain most definitely turned to sleet, and then snow. And by the time we made it home Saturday night, there was a nice dusting on everything. That's right, not only did it snow. It stuck!

And here's the thing. . . it's not that I really mind snow that much. And it's not that I really care that much that we had one little freak storm.
What I DO care about, is that we get to have fall. I suffered, pregnant, through the hottest summer EVER in Utah. I think I DESERVE at least a month of wonderful comfortable 70s and turning leaves and chilly, but not cold nights. I deserve that awesome smell that's in the air during the month of October.

It's my favorite season, for heaven's sake!

And also, I have no warm maternity clothes. . .