Hmmm...I like that

Ummm, I'm in love with this...and I just ordered it.

I'm getting back into my looking around/shopping phase and right now it's baby photos and hats.  It doesn't come around often so I thought I'd document ;)  On a side note, I've recently found a few modern names that I really like!  Woohooo! So the name pool is growing.

Life Quotes

"Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends"

~Shirely MacLaine

"Those who say it can't be done shouldn't interrupt the people doing it"

~Muffy Davis

"I'd rather love them to death and see how they react rather than hold back and start out on the wrong foot."

~Elder Bowen

Hello, March!

When I started taking prego pictures I had this lofty goal of taking cute weekly pictures of myself...and here we are at 25 weeks at picture #3 and I'm rockin' my morning exercise clothes.  Ha!  Well, at least I'm honest.  No one is cute 100% of the time through pregnancy!

I am feeling great!  I've been back on my regular workout schedule for a couple weeks now (with a few adjustments), sleeping well, no nausea. I do get backaches, but I have an amazing masseuse of a husband.  I am one lucky girl!

Baby is getting bigger and is kickin' it as usual.  His 'resting days' have shortened to 'resting day'.  I still catch my breath when I notice him not kickin' after a few hours.  To which he'll answer with a few reassuring jabs to lower right side (that's his favorite hang out for some reason) and that's enough to reassure me.  He's taking to exploring my ribs lately...that's an exciting addition.  The first time he did it I was assessing a patient...thankfully the patient graciously overlooked my crazy facial expressions till baby stopped.

 I'm getting all sorts of baby advice from my patients as well as oooo's and awww's, matronly glances, and "wow, you are so small!" (oh stop....no keep going ;) I don't think those comments will last for long, so I'll take 'em as long as they'll come!).

Everything is getting bigger and I'm lovin' it!  I decided a while back not to freak out or feel down about my changing size and I'm really glad to have that mind set.  Pregnancy hormones are irrational enough for three women without me making it harder on myself.  Bigger boobs, butt, and hips....bring it on!

Austin and I have had a lot of fun these past weeks and I really should write them down...tomorrow. Non-pregnancy related news to come!

Day 1: 20 Random Facts

A friend of mine started doing a 30 day blog topic of the day that I though was interesting.  The topics are things that I'd like show my kids and remember who I was in this stage of my life, so here I go!

Day 1: 20 Random Facts

1.  I love seasons.  All of them.  I'm not one to complain when it's too hot, and then complain when it's too cold.  It is what it is and I'm happy to take advantage of the differences.  Spring blossoms are my favorite (and I'm determined to get a family picture in them this year!),  summer sun is divine, crisp fall air is rejuvenating  and winter brings a whole gamut of once-a-year sports (favorites being AIRBOARDING, cross country and downhill skiing, sledding, and hot chocolate making)
2.  I express myself better in art and music than in spoken words.
3.  I like to people watch and analyse.  Kinda goes in hand with being a therapist, eh?
4.  When I'm uncomfortable/nervous I either over talk the situation and am too flamboyant/gregarious, or I'm  quiet and observe everyone.  Either way I try to cover up the fact that I'm feeling uncomfortable.
5.  I love game nights.  Definitely having a family game night tradition in my home!
6.  I love reading.  My mother started that love in me.  My favorite times with her growing up were when we'd have "just me" time together and listening to her read to me.  I love her voice.
7.  I'm a pretty open person, you just have to ask your questions.
8.  I love playing sports.  I prefer to play rather than watching and baseball is one of my favorites.  Can't wait to teach my son how much fun sports can be!
9.  I do not like planning parties.  Love attending them.  Hate planning them.
10.  I love colors and yellow is one of my most favorites.
11.  I have a wide range of taste in music.  I love jazz (Miles Davis, mmm mmm), scat, big band, country, rap, hip hop, AOR, acoustic, beatbox...like I said, a wide range.
12.  I have very specific, yet undefined taste in decorating.  In theory I know exactly what I want.  But when I go shopping for it I have know idea what to buy.  As of now my house is thoroughly mismatched.  I'm a work in progress :)
13.  I love animals!  As a kid I begged and pleaded for a dog and a horse.  It took me 8 years to get my dog and I married a husband who wants a horse, so I'm set!
14.  I laugh and smile easily....sometimes my timing is less than appropriate :)
15.  I am comfortable in my own skin.
16.  I'm pretty chill when it comes to most things, but what I do have an opinion on is strong...to put it lightly.
17.  I think education is important and want to go on to get my masters someday.
18.  I am a popcorn addict.
19.  I married the best man in the world!  Everyday I'm reminded of why he's so good for me.
20.  If I've learned anything about myself is that I'm always changing and improving.  In high school I was a partier (I admit it), in college I took myself and school too seriously, being married has softened my edges and I'm excited to see how motherhood will continue the evolution :)

The Becks at 23 Weeks

 He is resting his right arm across his forehead and his left on his belly.  The life of a baby can be so hard sometimes :)

At 23 weeks you:

-Are most definitely a boy!

-Kick, wiggle, and bump around constantly for about 3 days, then take about a 2 day rest.

-Like to wake me up at 4 am with your little dance moves

-Have been nick named "Wiggle Worm" at the doctors office

-I've felt your head...or bum rub, not just bump, against my hand.  It made my heart swell :)

-You are about 11 inches big

-You can hear us talk to you

-You are perfectly healthy in every way.  I couldn't be more happy!

At 23 weeks I:

-Gained 10 pounds

-Am finally passed the "maybe she's just getting fat" stage

-Get heartburn every once and a while.  But no stretch marks, leg cramps, or ankle swelling yet

-Exercising regularly again
-Lovin' the advantage of these prego hormones and their affect on my hair and nails

-Experiencing "pregnancy brain" more frequently as well :)

-Love feeling baby's wiggles getting stronger

At 23 weeks Austin has:
-Gained no weight.  Shocker.
-Been accepted into Des Moines medical school at half tuition
-Made a pay raise
-Felt baby's wiggles multiple times
-Is taking the "How to Live with Preganacy Hormones 101" course
-Has planned our Babymoon trip in March.  Can't wait!
-Staying as studly as ever

To Keep the Weirdos Out

Seeing as our munchkin is on the way we are making our blog private starting in one week.  If you would like to continue reading about our awesome chaos you'll have to message me your email address before then.  Happy Sunday!

Some Wise Preggo Advice

I was just talking to my friend, Cami (who is having her baby in less than a month! Woohoo!), and she gave some really good advice about baby names that I want to remember.  Seeing as I am in such an odd chatty/writing mood I'd better write it down now or else I may be retrospectively writing it when I'm 40 and finally getting around to it.

Advice #1  Don't tell the general public what you are naming your child till it is born.  I really liked this advice because I don't want people giving me their opinion on the name I picked out for my baby.  It's my baby, I'm carrying it for 9 months, and if you're not my husband I don't care to hear your commentary on the subject (Calm yourself preggo hormones...okay, now I'm good.).  Also names are bound to change.  Might as well keep it as simple.

Advice #2  Names with meaning.  I have always been on this bandwagon.   Give them a role model to look up to.  My brother was named after a king in the bible and I remember watching him as we grew up.  He was so proud that he was named after "one of the good guys" and it was endearing to see him trying to be like him.  And in a world where there aren't many gentlemen and manly men role models out there, we are going to have to create that for them.  True, you can do that without naming them after someone, but that is one way I choose to do it.

Man I am annoyingly opinionated today.

Also (that's as good as my segues get today),  here is a video to watch about becoming more like Heavenly Father:

Drum roll, please

We're having a boy!  

For Austin's birthday we had his family come down for dinner.  Afterwards we stopped by my sister's house where we opened our "present" of balloons to tell us the gender!  It was a surprise to see those blue balloons float to the ceiling.  Tricky baby, we though you were a girl!  But it was a happy surprise :)

It was so nice to open and celebrate it all with family; to feel their support and happiness for one of the newest members of the family!  

Hey, buddy! At 18 weeks you are 15.2 cm, a little over 6 inches, and boy you are a mover and a shaker!  Every time we've had an ultrasound, even at 10 weeks, the technicians have commented on your wiggles.  It makes me happy to feel you everyday now and have gotten used to your schedule of wiggle time and resting time. Your dad felt you for the first time this weekend, which was surprising cause I thought it was a little early, but hey! We'll take it!  I have finally grown too big for my first piece of clothing.  But I don't feel too bad, it was a pencil skirt ;)  I'm trying to keep up with your growing body and have started feeling VERY hungry every 2 hours.  The nausea bug has turned it's ugly head and now I get sick if I don't eat soon enough! Oh dear. I love knowing now that you are a boy and am very excited to have you come!

How to Make Healthy Lunches and Not Go Crazy

You can't be married to Austin and not learn to love nutrition.  Really.  In college it was one of our main topics of conversation and needless to say, it's on my mind A LOT. So, per his recommendation (and as part of my own "find-out-everything-about-children-before-I-decide-to make-one" course) I took a nutrition class the last semester of college.  Best class ever.  Everyone should take one.  It's a whole lot easier than people think.  It only gets complicated when someone is trying to sell you something.

Prego side note: Although it feels like I can eat a boat load of food now that I'm all prego, pregnant ladies only need 300 extra calories a day...that's like eating an extra yogurt and slice of bread (while nursing you'll need 800 extra calories....crazy, eh?).  So eat more often not necessarily bigger portions and please don't slap me with your crazy prego hormones.

Go here to check out cool nutrition stuff.
Here is a healthy meal planning site
And here are some free delicious recipes from that awesome site (the veggie tostadas and chicken tortilla soup are my favorites)

Back to the story.  A result of taking a nutrition class was that I began packing lunches for Austin and I everyday during college.  Now that Austin works in the mornings I still get up to  pack his lunch and can say that I've got it down to a science. Literally takes me 3 minutes...I timed it this morning.  

So for those of you who are stumped in the lunch department or want to eat more healthy I will share the wealth:

Tip 1 and only:

Make it convenient.  One difference between eating healthy food and junk food is its convenience.  How I've handled that is not buying junk food and make healthy food easy to grab and in plain sight.  Thank you Mom for brainwashing me with that mindset since childhood!

How to build it:

1.  Main dish. 

a)  Learn to love left-overs.  I don't particularly love cooking all the time.  So, if I cook enough in one dinner to last us two days and do that about 3 times a week, we will have enough lunch variety for about a week and a half.  We usually get backed up (like this week) and I end up not cooking for a couple days.  Bonus! 

b)  Always always always always put the left-overs into individual Tupperware containers while cleaning up dinner! You're there, it's there, and you're not going to want to do it in the morning while you're rushing out the door.  Just do it right then and there.

2. Veggies.  

I always make and store a vegetable with the main dish.  We really aren't picky in this house so it can be as easy as opening a can of green beans.  If I'm feeling real go-getterish I'll put together carrot and zucchini ziplock baggies while making dinner to just throw in the lunch box in the mornings. 

3.  Fruit.  

Easy to just pick up and throw in there. Apples, bananas or oranges are my fruit of choice.  Grapes and strawberries take a couple more seconds since you have to put them in a bag.  But for the sake of tossing it up, I'll do it sometimes.  

4.  Yogurt.  
Like I said, it's convenient and gets a serving of dairy in there.

5.  Something to munch.  

A roll, muffin, granola bar, baggie of trail mix.  Something that is easy to grab.  I try to make it whole grain.  I loved having this in between classes in college.  It kept me away from vending machines.

6.  Dessert. 

I usually do a pudding, cookies, maybe a candy bar if they're on sale....like I said, something convenient, that Austin or I will look forward to, and that is a good portion size.  Ya gotta do good in the dessert department!

Literally takes me three minutes to throw this all into a lunch box and we even calculated how much it costs: $3.25 a meal.  Not too shabby.  

Therapize me Cap'n: Life lessons

Getting into the professional world was a semi frustrating experience for me.  At first it was nothing I expected it to be.  When I say "nothing" I mean I was asking myself, "Did I really go to school for 4 years to end up playing board games with people all day??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!".  Nothing was organized, nothing was evidence based, bla blah bla, whine whine whine.

I felt so stuck and alone.  There are other therapists working for my company, but we only work one at a time.  So when I am there I'm literally the only one.  It felt a little lonely.  So many different populations to work with: geriatric, adolesent, women, men's military, women's military.  But no one to ask for advice, no one to bounce ideas off of.

Yes, it can hard putting on the big girl panties.  But, it's amazing what can happen when I decide to be humble and wait.

A couple weeks ago I started training a new therapist.  Part of that training is that I let her plan and run a few sessions while I observe and critique her.  She was the answer to my prayers!  She was not new to the field and I was so grateful to be able to observe her experience.  Just the way she set up and ran her group turned a key in my head about how to take my  therapy groups from just doing activities to actually providing therapy!

Here are a few new standards for Heidi's patients:

1.  To begin each session in a way that is calm, individual, establishes a rapport with each patient letting them know that I do care about them and their treatment while at our facility.
2.  To establish baseline rules of conduct at the very beginning of each session.
3.  To provide the patient with comprehensive and easy to remember tools they can use once discharged
4.  To incorporate an element of fun into at least a part of the session.  Laughter can sometimes be the best medicine.
5.  To challenge my patients to examine themselves and find parts that they are proud of and like.

It's amazing what one example can do!  And as a result I have been more effective in my therapy sessions.  My patients are more engaged and I present myself in a much more confident and capable manner.

Although nothing physically has changed in my department this experience alone has changed how I see everything with how I do recreation therapy in this setting.  I used to blame my problems on the facility, "They've set it up so the patients only expect games from the recreation therapist   So they're not even in the right mind set to do 'real' therapy!".  What a lame excuse.  It was because of the way I ran my groups that the patients felt it was okay to act the way they did.

I wish I knew some great concise quote that inspired you all to re-evaluate how your actions effect those around you to nicely wrap up this post....but nothing comes to mind and I'd rather be spending time with my hubby right now.  So....peace out.

A little distracted

Today I was going to do a post about what I've learned about being a therapist.  Quite interesting  really.  But then I got distracted by yellow and grey...some of my favorite color combinations.

I love everything about this room...just need to remember it.

Love the fabric. 

Such a cute wall.  If I had a room of my own to decorate I think I could paint that by hand.

And so it begins...Week 16

I got home from work, looked down at my belly and thought "Hmmmm, I think that something is bigger down there!"  So granted, just-home-from-work-dead-tired-on-my-feet picture is not the most flattering but I decided that honest is better :) 

Some things I have recognized is that it can be hard not to look ahead and wish to be in 'such and such' stage of pregnancy.  So instead of wishing I was big enough to show and then wishing that this baby would get here sooner once I was I decided to just be happy where I am now!  Instead of rushing through I want to celebrate the happy milestones Baby, Austin, and I are making now both in pregnancy and just in life!  To live in the moment.  It feels pretty good :)

June in Waiting...

Whelp!  What a better way to start our 3rd year of marriage than with a baby?  Austin and I will be expecting baby #1 on June 23rd :)

My Missionary

My brother Benjamin is serving his mission in the Long Beach, California Spanish speaking mission.  This letter he sent to my little sister, Becky and she shared it with the rest of us.  It was so powerful that I wanted to share it with everyone else.  He is giving Becky advice about how to best prepare to go on  a mission:


The best way to prepare for a mission is to put Heavenly Father's will before you're own. We each have our own individual way of being instruments in the Lord's hands, but not even we have the mental capacity to understand what it takes to really do the Lord's work. If you are willing to do what God wants you to do, He will show you and guide you. He won't tell you things to study, He'll tell you things to DO. You MUST be willing to serve and act, you MUST be willing to correct your own mistakes, and you MUST rely on the Spirit. That takes a lot of work. You have to study, you have to be converted to the Gospel, but most importantly, you have to LOVE people. So, what you need is faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the Glory of God. You have to thrust in your sickle with your might, being willing to do whatever it takes, whatever God requires. And you can't have pansies, you've got to be a hard core, weathered, blistered farmer to know how to plant, water, and reap. 

Ultimately, the motivation for going on a mission is out of love for your fellow men, and out of love for God. As a missionary, you are becoming more like God than you have ever been in your life. You are doing what He does all the time. If you have an eye single to that glory, and are willing to submit yourself to His will, and you qualify and are called by His voice, He will give you the necessary power in the very moment that you need it. You will progress faster and learn more quickly, and you will also be shown your weaknesses more painfully. I need to be a missionary, or else I don't learn. I have to be willing to share the Gospel, or my social skills will die. God called me to be a missionary because I would basically shrivel up and die otherwise. 

When you study, if you study with the mindset of "I'm going to use this so that others can understand, or for the benefit of others" and you truly intend to do so, God will bless you, He will inspire your mind, He will more readily answer prayers about people you are willing to help, and He will be closer to you than ever. He'll be right at your side because now you and He are a team. When you do talk with the person, you must follow the Spirit. He will use your skill sets and the skills of your companion to make the best lesson possibly available to Him from each of you. If you weren't inspired to speak, it's because He didn't want you to speak. If He wanted to you say something, it's because He trusted you and your knowledge, and He knew that what you would say would have a greater effect on that person than the words of any other person in that moment. That's why we go to Church. That's why we read the scriptures. For other people who need it more than we do. If we truly are thinking of others, and are planning on helping others, then He will inspire you in your studies, and He will piggyback revelation for other people little things that you needed to know. If you set goals so that you can be a better teacher, a better missionary, or a better friend or more Christlike, then Heavenly Father will bend over backwards to help you with those goals. He'll remind you of goals that work, and he'll tell you that something isn't working. If we become a more selfless people, we will be a people of God. But first must come conversion. 

That's the practice what you're planning on preaching part. Study the doctrine for others, willing to do as God wills, then set goals for yourself, so that you might be more converted to that principle, then pray so that you might have the Spirit as you preach, and then pray that you might be more converted and be more like Christ. Conversion is the key to effective missionary preaching. A natural fruit of conversion is a desire to do good, and to preach the gospel.

Becky, I know that this gospel is true. It is the most substantial truth. I know that God lives and gives us opportunities to be like Him in missionary work, and that He can and will work through you if you have a testimony and are willing to do what He asks, even to the smallest degree. You can and will be the source of great goodness brought about in this generation, and I'm proud to know you. You will have greater power in your conviction and your testimony of living Gospel principles and the blessings that come from them as you work to be converted to the gospel by learning and applying the principles of the Gospel, looking anxiously for the fulfillment of that faith, which is the blessings of being righteous.

This very letter is a great example. I'm writing intending to help you, but God is also giving things to help me as well. So, will you print this out for me, and send it to me in the mail? and then will you print another copy out, and give it to someone thinking of going on a mission? I love you, Becky. 

Elder Bowen

I'm not a groupie...right?

Last Christmas Sarah Sample was doing in home concerts so that she could stay close to her family but still perform.  So my sister Michelle invited her to our house. At first I was a little skeptical, but it turned out great! She has such a spunky and fun personality :)  Her voice was so rich and full...it gave me the chillies (more than one chill, har har).  I decided I like her voice much better in person than on a recording...but I still like her.

For those who don't know Sarah she started singing to audiences in Ellen Eccles Theature while she attended USU around 2000ish.  Since then her career has taken off.  Awesome to know that someone like that came from the same place as me :)

Anyway.  She has a new album coming out and here's a free download of one of her songs!!! Who doesn't like free things? She is more on the folky side so if that drives you nuts (I understand) just go look up the lyrics for it, they are so touching.  Click here for the download. 

I love how she writes about real life. About being a mother.  About going through med. school with her husband.  About missing her kids when she is away.

Plus I think she's gorgeous and can pull off that pixie white hair like I wish I could ;)