Sub Zero

Today Chantal told me about some ice cream place in Federal Way that uses liquid nitrogen.  I immediately looked it up on yelp and asked Andy if we could have ice cream for dinner.  My only knowledge of liquid nitrogen is when my high school chemistry teacher dipped marshmallows in it and offered it to the class to try.  Me and my two other hooligan friends that sat in the back row with me were the only ones to try it, and it was awesome frozen powdery fun.  I figured we couldn't go wrong with ice cream.

We got there and there were so many choices.  They had the steps listed out for people like us.

We got a large to share and picked Premium, with fudge and marshmallow flavoring and brownies and oreos as mix-ins.

They start with the liquid base, and throw in the flavoring.  Here she is putting in marshmallow.

Then come the mix-ins

They give it a stir so it is perfectly blended (take that coldstone!) and place it in the little sink-looking things.  Then...BLAST!

It comes out of those faucet things.  The smoke flies everywhere and was fun to play with (even as adults!)

You get to pick one of 3 freezing styles.  They have funny names so I can't remember but the first one is like soft serve, the middle is what we got and is like regular coldstone style (I think they called it numb tongue or something) and the third gets really hard almost like dippin' dots, which is convenient if you are bringing it home.

Since it freezes so fast, it is so smooth.  In the words of Sawyer, "ITS DELICIOUS!"  It is weird to have such smooth ice cream in a harder style.

It was kind of pricey with the amount of flavors we got and waffle bowl ($7 something), but it was PLENTY of ice cream for all 3 of us...which is cheaper than DQ for us lol.  She had an ice cream scooper and it was like 5 scoops.  Plus, the experience and quality was definitely worth it!  We will be back!

Phone a friend

I just about died laughing.  The toilet paper sits on a shelf where Sawyer had set one of his play phones (those display phones that aren't real in case someone steals them at the mall).  He reached over from the toilet and grabbed it yesterday.


"Hello?  I go poop.  Ok.  Love you.  Bye"

I wonder who he was "talking" to?

Ho Ho Ho

I feel weird doing so much Christmas stuff when it is still fall for another month, but I guess that happens every year.  The atmosphere just feels like fall still.  I think it is the fact that time has been flying lately that makes me hesitant.  I still haven't put up the Christmas decor, but it should be up by next weekend.

We have been doing Christmas things lately, in the name of deals.  Today we got the Santa pictures done.  They are cheaper if you buy them in the month of November.  He is still terrified of him, but as with last year and his mocha bear, we were able to distract him with this year's favorite toy, Mack from Cars.  We already had the Christmas pajamas tradition, but we might have to move to favorite toy too lol.

We are really done with Sawyer for Christmas now, thanks to online deals.  We really did well with black friday and cyber monday combined.  I thought we were done when we ordered from kohls.  We got two $60 toys for $21, one $60 toy for $16, and a $50 toy for $16.  We got him a cute hooded frog towel regularly $30 for a low price of $6.80, and 3 sets of pj's regularly $22 for $7.50 each.  I was sure we were done when we took a trip to the Disney store yesterday.  We found a complete set of Cars, even the little characters from the movies, and they were slightly bigger than the normal cars we buy.  I knew we were going to buy them, Sawyer loved them so much.  My heart was breaking when we had to tell him he couldn't have it.  He didn't even get mad, he was just really sad and kept saying "but I want it" in the saddest voice you can imagine.  The problem were they were $120 which made me hesitate.  I found codes for cyber monday on my coupon site, and texted Andy what I found.   Turns out they were already marked down for today, and adding my code it brought it to $73!  Boom!  He needed a couple more dollars to get free shipping, so nabbed a "Red" firetruck from the movie originally $6.50 for $3.50.  I can't believe the deals, we got $453 worth of stuff for $180!  Sawyer is going to freak out on Christmas, I can't wait!!!!!!!

Oh, and I will end with another funny Sawyer quote.  As we were leaving the mall today, he saw the "macy's" sign.  He goes "M-O-C-Y-S spells STORE!"  At least he gets the idea lol. (The lower case "a" in Macy's looks kind of like an "o" if you were confused)

Strictly for girls

*** Disclaimer: If the title wasn't obvious enough, this is a post for the female variety.  Though I am doubtful there are many males keeping up with this, I had to post.***

The following post contains info that just may change your life.  No, seriously.


The first subject I will briefly go over is dry shampoo.  Have you tried this?  I hope it wasn't Tresseme because I have heard only terrible things about that brand, but I have been using Suave with great success.  It is pretty cheap as far as dry shampoo goes, too (like $3?).  I decided I would be gross and try not to shower for awhile since it was the weekend/holiday.  I finally washed myself today (and will for work tomorrow), but I haven't washed my hair in 4 days and used dry shampoo.  My hair used to get greasy by night time, but since I have been holding back on the hair washes, the oil production has lightened up.  Here is my hair on day 4, nice and fluffy.  If this were without the dry shampoo, it would look like it was wet! :

The second thing I will go over, is probably more life-changing.

You are wearing the wrong size bra.

Yes, you.

I have read over and over about how 80 or 90 percent of women are wearing the wrong size, and said "yeah yeah" knowing it is those busty women that are too embarassed, monetarily poor, or simply unaware they need to search out special places to find sizes over DD.  I blamed the whole obesity epidemic blah blah blah.

I was wrong.

I was browsing reddit and found the subreddit called a bra that fits.  It told you how to properly measure yourself (not the Victoria Secret way that will place you into one of their small range of sizes).  I have never been a busty individual, but after Sawyer and now pregnant currently, I have changed sizes at least slightly (though I was never fitted by anyone) and was a bit curious where I would be placed.

Here is how to do it in a nutshell:
- Measure (with a tailoring measure tape, or use a piece of ribbon and cut it at the right spot then measure) under your boobs.  There should be no tissue under the measurer.  This measurement should be snug because *surprise!* this is the number of band size you are!  This is probably way smaller than you thought.  It needs to be snug because this is the SUPPORT part of the bra.  Also, when you try on this band size, it should be on the loosest hook, because the elastic is going to stretch after about a month and you'll need room to move in hooks.
-Measure around the fullest part.  Generally, you need to bend over at the waist to do this because it ensures any tissue waiting in your armpits or around to your back gets put in the right spot. This is not a tight measurement, but just loose enough that it doesn't move around.
-Subtract measurement 1 from measurement 2.  This will leave you with a number of inches.  Each inch is a cup size (0"=AA 1"=A 2"=B etc) and go in this order adding an inch each size. AA | A | B | C | D | DD/E | DDD/E/F | DDDD/F/G | G/H/J | I/J/K | J | K.  You generally go up if you are in between, but this is why you want to find a place to buy that you can try on several sizes (like a Nordstrom) or online with a good return policy.

Ta-da!  You have your new REAL size!  Most people (me included) say.  "Ummmm no.  You are clearly wrong"  Most people end up going down some band sizes and up some cup sizes (maybe even 3!)  I did not believe it because I CLEARLY do not have basketballs attached to my chest, which is what tends to be the social perception of my new found size.  I had to find out for sure.  I was actually embarrassed to tell Andy my results until I found out for sure because it sounded ridiculous when it came out of my mouth.

*One thing to note is the proper way to put on a bra.  You should put it on, then "swoop and scoop"  this is when you literally push (in a rub-like motion) all tissue etc from your back, under your armpits, and push it into the cup.  This will probably increase the volume right away.  You can find youtube videos if you are confused.  It should eliminate that spillage or back/side fat appearance and is the correct way to wear one!*

We headed to the Southcenter mall and I went to Gilly Hicks.  Nope, didn't have the size (what?  this is a first for me.)  I went over to Pink, and they have 32 (smallest) bands up to a D.  I felt like an idiot walking to the fitting room trying on a D.  After the "swoop and scoop," I found myself to be spilling over, but the band was tight and supportive.  Uhhhhhhhhh?  I could have sworn I was a B that morning, and here I am spilling over in the D.  Embarrassed, I asked the lady, and she said to go to the main store because they have bigger sizes.  I went to the main Victorias Secret store, and yes, the DD's fit much better.  I put on my old bra and it felt like it was falling off and useless (a 34 band on the tightest hook).  

I swear I am not making this up.  If you don't believe me, come over and I will walk around in my perfectly fitting DD bra and show you the tag.  There is no gaping or anything.  Now, I am about "average" (maybe slightly smaller?) around the rib cage, and always usually smaller in the bust than normal for a 5'6" girl.  If THIS is my size, I can't imagine how many people smaller than me should be special ordering their bras!  So many people on reddit were posting about how they are now 28 F's or whatever and after getting new ones, they look and feel (less back pain anyone?) AWESOME!  I used to just move up band sizes when I was pregnant with Sawyer, which effectively was adding 2 inches of cup sizes each time, but also would make the band unsupportive- not good!

I hope this helped one of you and changed your life like it did me.  Talk about a boost of self-esteem for the smaller folk, yeah?

Now you can browse any pics of me and realize that what I am toting are  NOT BASKETBALLS!  See how we are ALL probably wrong?  Now go measure yourself and go shopping!  For those of you that are bustier or tiny in the ribcage, brastop.com (I think it is in UK measurements) has been raved about as the best place to buy online.

Oh, and since one I bought today was "Pink" I got a free doggie for Sawyer!  He was so excited and kept making it woof.

Snow Day

We didn't have plans today so we decided to go play in the snow.  Crystal Mountain opened on Wednesday so we headed that direction since we knew there would be at least some snow.

Andy and I used to go on drives all the time.  We would just hop in the car and see where we ended up.  I always loved driving around by Orting. It is just a bunch of fields and farms with barns falling apart and tiny towns, but always looks so pretty.  We took the back way to Enumclaw to enjoy the view.
By the time I would get my camera out, all the good views were gone :(

After driving through the forest for awhile, we finally reached snow!

We ate at the lodge and headed back.  We were home by 5.  It was definitely a fun little trip!  The funniest part of the day?

Me: Sawyer, are you going to go to ski lessons when you turn 4?
Sawyer: No, I'm a monster!

I guess monsters don't ski.

Thanksgiving '12

It was a usual Thanksgiving.  Went to mom and dad's house.  Erik, Destiny, Grandma, Grandpa, and Janet and John were all there. I made Erik take pictures of us before we ate (since I love to coordinate for holidays).  He is always the designated person because somehow anyone else tends to mess them up (you just push the button halfway on one of our faces, not sure how they manage) but I'm glad he doesn't complain. We had all my favorite foods. Sawyer even went straight down for a nap when Andy told him to go.  We eat early, but I am annoyed at the stores this year for starting their black Friday deals at 8:00 on actual Thanksgiving day because it cut our night a bit short (before anyone freaks, no I did not risk our tiniest member and go in those crowds pregnant, but the rest o' the clan always goes)  We got our deals online last night at Kohls and Sawyer is set for Christmas with new toys and jammies for under $100 (and we get $30 Kohls cash, woot!)

LOL I love him.  We told him to say cheese.

He ate all the yellow out of his egg

His new thing is that he has to show you what he's eating...yuck.

The only way to eat olives

I am thankful for everything I have, but to name the main ones:
-Andy, who does anything for us that we need or want, and does everything to make my life easier.
-My smart little guy, that surprises us almost daily with what he can do
-The Monson on the way, that is currently prodding at the computer as it rests against my stomach (not the hot part)
-Our house and cars
-Having well paying jobs we actually enjoy with the best benefits in a time where any job is hard to find
-Family & friends

Updates 11/19/12

Oh my gosh.  Time is flying lately.  I think between work, various appointments, events, and regular day-to-day happenings and errands, there isn't much time to sit back and let time just take its time.

It is definitely November here.  Today was a ridiculous rain and wind storm and I just kept hoping the power would go out so I could get paid to do nothing ;)  A few flickers, but no such luck.  My parents just got back from Hawaii (I know, they go a lot don't they?) and were sending us pics of them eating tropical things and I wish they'd take me just once lol.  It is the perfect time with this storm!  We are excited for Thanksgiving, even though the area manager made us all work 5 days this week so I had to work yesterday to make up for Thanksgiving day off. Let's just say with all the OT, holiday pay, and Sunday differential, I should have a nice check in time for Christmas.  Speaking of Christmas, we got our cards already!  I had a Groupon that expired the 8th :)  Otherwise, I am one who favors taking holidays one at a time!

ANDY: He is doing so well at work.  He got a new boss that actually notices all the work he does, appreciates it, is impressed, and sends updates to HIS boss.  Andy has got quite a few emails lately from "higher ups" praising his work and dedication, and pretty much apologizing for not realizing he had so much earlier.  His boss even said that he was pretty much the reason the plant was still standing for the past year, and they had no idea.  I'm so proud of him!

ME: Just the usual.  I got another new phone (what's new lol) but google always loses some of my phone numbers each time. I haven't even felt pregnant for a few months, which I welcome.  Well, apart from that whole get-winded-while-walking-up-stairs-or-across-a-parking-lot thing that tends to happen the minute the embryo appears.  And the whole big tummy with a wiggle worm inside. I'm wearing maternity work pants (early ones that don't fit by the end) most of the time.  Otherwise I wear black skinny jeans, which is funny to say skinny because I wear them when I am not.  They are just stretchy so they work.  I still have fitting jeans in regular jeans, I just have to pull the ol' "rubber band button" trick.

SAWYER: He just likes to watch jungle junction ("joo-junction") and play with his cars.  They talk to each other which is super cute.  He still makes us "watch this" way too often.  He is starting to raise his voice a lot which I do not enjoy.  He tries to sing along to songs which is cute but usually just turns into "ahhhhhhhhhh" in different notes. He is still pretty well-behaved though, and immediately says sorry if he does something wrong.  He is super bossy though...today I heard him tell LJ (who is 4, maybe almost 5) to go to time out.

BEBE: He just sleeps and does karate all day.  It is still pretty comfortable, but sometimes he'll get the bladder which I do not enjoy because it tickles like I have to go to the bathroom.  I think the name in the lead at the moment is Brody Pierce.  Brody because it is still modern and Scottish (Andy wanted a Scottish one if possible), and Pierce because that is where we met and the college means a lot to us since we both put so much into it (our names are actually on a plaque at the campus gym).

Here is a pic of me now at 21 weeks.  Definitely growing. I am trying to do these pics even though I hate them because people told me I would regret if I didn't have any pics being prego in the future...and since I have zero from when I was prego with Sawyer (and still no regrets I have no documentation of me in cow-form)  I thought I should in case someday I want to remember how tubby I was.  I reserve the right to stop though ;)

Why I should start saving for the teen years.

Sawyer eats on his own clock, but he can eat a ton.

Here is what he ate 2 days ago for ONE dinner meal:
-6 inches of sub (went bite for bite with Andy on his footlong, half meatball, half turkey)
-Bag of chips
-Entire top ramen
-Then asked for (and ate) another peanut butter and honey sandwich

Yesterday for dinner he ate:
-4 eggs, scrambled
-good sized pancake

I don't want to know how much he will be able to eat once he's a teenager.  Along with him, Andy, and chompy-chomp-already-eating-in-the-womb, I think we will have to go grocery shopping every other day!  My dad texted me after seeing the "talking" video of our tiny one "He must be a Monson, he's eating already."

On a fun note, we went and got little man a present.  I had my eye on the dino onesies for months now, and wanted to go get them yesterday as soon as we found out it was a boy.  The mall Target didn't have newborn size, so we got him the pocket monkey shirt at Old Navy instead.  Of course, I went to the Target next to my work today to pick up a dino set :)

I can't believe how tiny they are!  I remember the newborn sizes were really big on Sawyer when he was born too.  I can't believe he is only 13 ounces (less than a pound) so he still has to grow about 8 times that amount to barely fit in these.

Ultrasound

We did it!  We made it through the ultrasound!  I thought I was going to throw up all day I was so nervous there would be parts missing.  Though the radiologist still goes over everything later, the u/s tech didn't seem concerned about anything, phew!

Sawyer was adorable.  Andy was holding him and he kept saying "baby okay."  Yes, the baby is ok.  Then he fell asleep after about 15 minutes.

Baby was very cooperative and got in all the right positions.  I had to turn on my side for the profile shot though, but I'm glad it worked since that is more for "fun" so if they didn't get the shot, they wouldn't need us back.  Baby measured a week early actually, and she estimated the due date to be March 26th instead of early April.  I guess we grow them quick around here.  I was hoping to have another early one since those last weeks just suck lol.

While she was doing the legs, me and Andy totally saw a little peen.  When she asked if we wanted to know, I think we didn't have much of a choice since we already saw it lol!  We weren't 100% though since we aren't pros.  She went back to look and said "I think that's a boy" as it flashed a little on the screen.  I said "think?  we need a little more to go off than that!"  but later on we got a better look at what was indeed, his little wiener.  We are so excited, and Andy totally called that one.  I think little brothers are so cute (well I think 3 little brothers are the cutest, but not sure I can go for another).  I can't wait to dress them alike ;)  I am SUPER relieved we don't have to buy anything else. With our schedules, a lot of preparation isn't always possible.  Sawyer's room wasn't even started until he was over a month old and I was home all day doing nothing and could work on it.

Since little dude was so cooperative on the side, she even pulled out the 3D ultrasound machine...which I would never waste money on and makes them look super creepy but when she did it, he totally looks like infant Sawyer.

Here are our brief videos and pictures.

Here he is trying to wave

Here he is talking to us

And here are some sort of hiccups

Warning: these ones are creepy and are what the computer estimates him to look like.  The blobby ones are because he was so wiggly.  He is only 13 ounces so its mainly just skin and bones at this point.

He was pretty wiggly for this one, but I liked the hand positions

EEEEk!

There are a few things to eek about now.  I just saw in the news that if you get the flu during pregnancy, a recent study shows it is linked to DOUBLING the risk of autism for the baby.  I hope when I was sick that it didn't affect the little fetus :(  I just got a flu shot, so hopefully it will help with the bugs this season.  There is a 1% chance of a baby born with autism regularly, 2% if mother had the flu, and up to 3% if they had a fever for 7 days.

Tomorrow is our ultrasound which is another eek.  I get so nervous.  I am afraid they are going to find things wrong every appointment, and this is the one where they analyze the growth with pictures instead of just a heartbeat and uterus measurement.  The plus side is we will get to find out tiny Monson's gender.  Andy's guessing boy.  I'm guessing girl.  Andy wants girl.  I want a human.  I am so curious!  I know so many people that KNEW they were having a certain gender to the point they bought them clothes or bet money and were wrong (though I know just as many that were right, making it obviously the 50/50 odds already) so I am taking any guesses with a grain of salt.  I was right with Sawyer, but then again, the odds are good at 50% haha.  I'm glad I bugged them to make the appointment a few weeks ago.  Otherwise I think we'd be waiting a while since our last appointment was only last Thursday.

I also wanted to post that Megan and Andrew came up for the Utah/Washington game so we got to go out to dinner with them yesterday.  We met them in the middle at Bellevue Square which was awesome because we ate my favorite, Red Robin, then walked across the sidewalk to get my favorite dessert, banana cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  We love visiting with them and always get the latest Utah gossip lol.

So, I'll be back tomorrow with the ultrasound news :/

Weekend so far

Yesterday Andy invited Kyndyl and Joe and Erik and Destiny over for dinner.  He forgot to tell me he was though so I didn't know until later in the day hah!

Anyways, he made a big dinner and it was quite good, except my part of the chicken didn't cook though like the rest of it so I was afraid of it.  He made 2 beer can chickens, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and we had rolls.  It was so good- especially the gravy.  He poured some of the seasoning stuff from the chicken in the gravy and it was good on EVERYTHING.

Sawyer was hyper as usual when people come around.  Something hilarious was that he had to go potty so Andy took him in to the bathroom and left the door open.  We are all sitting in the living room when we hear a little voice from the bathroom yell, "HEY GUYS!  I'M POOPING!!!!"  It was the funniest thing.  Only a 2-year-old can get away with that!

We got to sleep in today, but it wasn't much.  Sawyer had a nightmare at like 5am and was screaming bloody murder so we let him in our bed.  You only get so much sleep with a small guy that takes up 2/3 of the bed.

Andy had to go to a gas leak when we woke up and I thought Sawyer looked cute in his hat he made me put on so I took a picture while he watched Dora.  I liked the episode because it was all about bananas and Sawyers new pronunciation of them "bow-nanas" cracks me up.

Andy got back and we had to get ready because he needed to set up the propane connector to Rob's generator.  (Rob is kind of my uncle- he lived next to my mom's family growing up and we still hang out and go camping with them at least once a year).  He lives in a really cool house.  He has a little koi pond out front, and his "backyard" is actually just a forest hill that goes down to a river.  If you look out the back window it looks like you are in a cabin in the woods!

Sorry that's over exposed, I forgot to change the settings when I got out of the woods.

Afterwards we went to the Tacoma mall because I wanted new shirts.  I checked the maternity store and nope- still no good 2 years later.  All the maternity clothes look like they are for 40-year-olds...which is too old to have kids anyways *sigh*.  We hit up Papaya and Forever 21 and luckily big baggy shirts are still in style.  The only problem is now they mostly have really short fronts so it was hard to find any long enough.  Luckily I found some that are still my style!  P.S. the maternity section at Forever 21 is a joke.  The models are all 5'9" and size zero with no bump...and the clothes fit accordingly.  The only maternity shirt I actually found was too tight on my stomach already and I'm only half way though (my regular shirts still fit!)  I ended up finding 5 shirts (in the regular section) and due to the cheap nature of the stores, we only spent $40!  Note to any pregnant women: don't waste money on actual maternity clothes!  You can find ones actually in style for half the price.  Plus you can wear them afterwards!  The plain colored shirts at the maternity store were at least $15-$20 a piece and have those dumb bunching on the side.   I only had one actual maternity shirt with Sawyer, and I plan to continue that tradition :)

We went home and I felt like it was midnight.  It was like 6.  Meh.