Maui on my Mind

Today is the day that we return to the reality of work and responsibility and no more sand in our toes. Sad, sad, sad. We had a super fantabulous time in Maui with the family- we played lots of games and got some sun and just relaxed the whole week.

Jazz got to snorkel and even pet a turtle! My main job was to successfully float in the pool, which, I'm not going to lie, I did pretty well. We went to all of our favorite Maui places and tried some new ones too. Mostly we just spent time as a family- our numbers are growing and I don't know how much longer we will be able to coordinate everyone's schedules.

And of course, here is a small sampling of the 3 million pictures I took:

Sunset

Me and Jazz at Whaler's Village

Mo and the Rat

Ladies on our balcony

Jazz named this the best cheeseburger of all time. Thats kind of a big deal.

Mom and Jazz at our little lookout point

Our favorite place to eat

Flora

Games games and more games

Madilyn June

Me and Jazzy on our last night

View from our room

Scott and JaNae celebrated their 3rd Anniversary

Baby and Grandma just chillin and discussing important things

En route to snorkel, always time for trying on hats

Now its the boys turn

Mom and Baby watching the fishies

I'm sad to be home, but it will also be nice to be back into the normal swing of everything. Not to mention, we are getting closer and closer to welcoming our baby into the world, so that is always exciting. So much to do!

26 Weeks

Dear Baby,

This weeks marks our 26th week of pregnancy! Horray! You are about 14 inches long, and weigh at least a pound and half- or about the size of a large eggplant. Your eyelids, previously fused closed, are separating into top and bottom lids. You are breathing in and exhaling out tiny amounts of amniotic fluid, practicing for your Big Debut. The network of nerves in your little ears are developing more and more and now you can recognize the difference between my voice and your dad's voice.

Earlier this week, your father and I were spending a lazy Saturday morning just waking up in bed. You were still sleeping, I think, and your dad put his face to my belly and started singing a silly morning song. You woke right up and moved around and kicked his hand. I thought he was going to explode with glee.

We are all on vacation together with the family, and it is totally fantastical. Aunt Mo and Sabs and Grandma all got to feel you move so far and they feel very special that you want to say hello to them! You are becoming more active and I can feel you more and more as you continue to grow and run out of room in there.

Also, baby, we have reached the point in this whole thing where I am feeling more pregnant. Since being in Maui, my feet have reached record size and my bones are slowly disappearing into the edema of my kankles. No more salt for me! We have been swimming too, and it feels like FREEDOM compared to the grumpy rules of gravity.

Whoa, I just looked at the countdown we have on the sidebar of this blog and OMG WE HAVE LESS THAN 100 DAYS. When did that happen, seriously, I feel like your dad and I were just staring wide-eyed at a positive pregnancy test. I really can't believe the miracle of this whole process and I think about holding you every single day.

Let's make a deal, okay? You keep growing and developing, and I will get your nursery done, and let's meet in about 14 weeks and compare things. How does that sound? Pretty good? K, deal.

Also, this is probably the only time in your life where it will be okay to kick me, so have at it.

Love you,

Momma

The Day the Sun Won

We are vacationing in Maui this week with my family and it is great to get away. We have been eating and playing cards and watching movies and did I mention eating? It is glorious to be away from work and away from the daily routine of life.

Yesterday we went to church, like we always do, and afterwards we enjoyed some time poolside in the sunshine with a book. It was heaven. Until it was not heaven and it was more like a fiery punishment in hell. Today I have the single worse sunburn I have ever had in my life.

Let me preface this by saying this is the first year I have packed sunscreen for this trip, and it is primarily for my anglo-saxton husband who moonlights as a reflective surface. In previous years I would sit and worship the sun from dawn until dusk, rotating like a rotisserie chicken, until my bronzing timer would *ding* and I would be rewarded with a glowing tan.

Apparently, being pregnant causes your hormones to go haywire, and a common side effect is sensitivity to sunlight. Of course, I thought this would be one of the things of pregnancy that I would just avoid, much like morning sickness and rapid uncontrolled weight gain. (ha! haha!)

Today I am paying for my 40 minutes of regret able sunshine by sitting on the couch COMPLETELY IMMOBILIZED. My arms and shoulders don't feel too bad, but my legs feel like they are being stretched by a medieval torture device. At any given moment my shins are probably going to pop right out of my skin and detach from my body, causing me to bleed out and die.

When I absolutely have to move from the couch, I walk on my tip toes hunched over like Quasimodo, hobbling up the stairs or to the bathroom. I'm hoping that by tomorrow my hot neon red legs will have faded to pink and my SPF 5,000 will protect me from this EVER happening again.

Add this to the list of Weird Things That Happen When Pregnant.

Today...

Today is going to be great. It's Thursday. I don't work tomorrow. In fact, I don't work until June 30th. It's basically like Christmas around my house, I'm so excited and giddy and smiley. Is smiley a word? Smilings my favorite. (Ten points if you know the movie)

We have been running around, gathering last minute items for our trip to Maui. We have a few more errands and appointment's tomorrow (gestational diabetes test, horray) and then we are on a much anticipated vacation.

I have loved this rainy weather that Utah has been hosting for a few weeks, but it will be soooo nice to be in the sunshine for awhile. Some REAL sunshine. I found a maternity swim suit that I semi-like. Again, let me just reiterate how difficult it is to find clothes when you are pregnant. Last night looking for new comfortable pajamas was basically impossible, and the ones I did find make me look exactly like Santa.

That suit is cute, right? I can wear that? Obviously with a potato sack to cover my giant pasty whale body, but you get the point. Realistically I will be wearing flip flops and a t-shirt around the whole week, but its fun to pretend to be glamorous at the pool. I ordered some new books to read (Thanks amazon) and can't wait to just sit and relax and do nothing.

The best part of the trip is the whole family will be there. I know we just saw each other about a month ago at Disneyland, but they are my favorite people in the whole world. Going on vacation without my family would be weird and hardly a vacation at all.

This is why I am as happy as a bird with a french fry. If the bird was pregnant though, she would definitely need more than one french fry. Just sayin.

One Whole Year

This weekend, Jazz and I celebrated the day we became husband and wife. Can you believe how quickly the year has flown by?

On Saturday, between the downpour and thunderstorms, we went for a picnic up Little Cottonwood Canyon. We found a perfect little spot right by this adorable little river and enjoyed our finger food and each other's company. All weekend long we kept saying, "Remember at this time last year, I was doing my makeup..or I was walking down the aisle...or we were married!...or we were enjoying our reception.."

Saturday night we had reservations at The Roof, a restaurant on the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I had been once before, about a hundred years ago, and Jazz had never been. Let me tell you, it is fantastical. We had seriously the best table in the whole restaurant, here is our view:


We dined on yummy salads and prime rib, mashed potatoes, vegetables, shrimp, cod, chicken, literally all of my favorite foods. And the best part- buffet style! No one even looked twice at the pregnant chick heading to the buffet for round two.

This is me and my half devoured salad course.

Probably the best part of the meal was the desserts. When we went through the dessert line, we didn't notice that they had dainty dessert plates next to their spread- Jazz and I both grabbed regular plates. Maybe that was a mistake? It was so fun to try the different desserts (even if we didn't finish all of them) and kind of sample this and that. Jazz's favorite was the white mousse, and my favorite by far was the creme brulee. Sweet creamy heaven, it was so so delicious.

Jazz with his dessert choices.

I can't help but compare that picture to the one below- taken almost a year ago to the day, on our honeymoon in Cancun.

As we ate dinner we remembered all of our favorite parts of our wedding day and our honeymoon together. It is really hard to believe that a whole year has come and gone! After dinner we walked around temple square and held hands and talked about the upcoming year, and what it will be like to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary with 9-month old.

Sunday was our *actual* anniversary and we did normal Sunday things. We went to church, and had a 12- hour nap, and then Morgan invited us down to Provo for a special anniversary treat. We didn't want to freeze the top layer of our wedding cake, so Morgan had recreated our favorite flavors. Chocolate and cream cheese for me, Yellow cake with chocolate filling for Jazz. She even patterned the outside to match our wedding cake.


And of course, a selfie on our anniversary. It is weird not living with other people- no one is around to take pictures when you need them to. Quite the change for me.

*Can you see my lovely anniversary gift from my husband on the top of the fridge behind us?



Happy 1st Anniversary Jazzy!

Can't wait to celebrate 100 more!

The Theory

Mo and I have this theory.

Stuff comes in waves. The good, the bad, the ugly- everything can be measured in waves.

She and I use this to explain certain times in our lives when whatever is going on simply can not be explained by anything else. She will just text me "Waves." and I know exactly what is going on.

For instance: April through June ish last year was a super-crest of a wave for me. I was in the best shape of my life, I was tan, my hair was long and gorg, I had graduated with my Bachelor's degree, I was getting ready to marry the man of my dreams, and I visited Cancun, Europe, and Hawaii within six weeks. I mean, ridiculous right?

Right now I feel like I'm in the trough of a little tiny wave. I feel, sort of out of sorts. Maybe muddled is a better word. Maybe just a bit behind?

- My magazines on my table are unread and months old.
- My eyeliner is sharpened down to one little inch
- My makeup brushes have not been washed since before our wedding (ew foul)
- My last CD was created August of 2008
- My harp Odette has been covered since March
- My clothes don't fit very well. Stuff isn't cute. Gaining weight is so hard, no matter what.
- My creative side is longing for an outlet, a project of some sort (baby nursery?)

Maybe this is just the beginning of the "Nesting Phase" I have heard so much about. I don't really know.

Yesterday our apartment had a tiny flood. Nothing was seriously damaged- our carpet was pulled up and the padding will be replaced. Our greatest loss is that Tivo will be unplugged for a few more days. We have the carpet lifted and fans running to get everything dried, it really was best case scenario, it could have been a lot worse.

In light of our situation, Jazz and I decided to get some exercise and walk down to the snow cone stand on the corner of 23rd and 94th. This place just opened and Jazz got a snow cone this weekend and I ate most of it because it was SO GOOD. I usually don't like icey things, but his was delicious. Whatever, I'm pregnant, stuff changes.

So we embark on our journey, and I hef my pregnant self around for about 40 minutes (I told you it was exercise.) and arrive at the snow cone place....only to find the shack closed. For no apparent reason. All closed up nice and tight like a big wooden slap in the face. I was crushed.

I almost cried. Jazz heroically bought me a cherry slurpee at 7/11, but it just wasn't the same. We walked another 40 minutes back home to our construction area/living room. I texted Mo to tell her of this travesty, and of course, she replied, "Waves."

She was totally right.

This little tiny wave is just a wiggle in a big wavelength of my life, and sometimes it takes a few off days to realize that you need to suck it up, get it together, and change the things you wanna change. That is the whole point of being here, right?

The silver lining in every trough is that I know I will figure out what is causing me to lag, and fix it, and everything will be right in the world again. (Well, as long as the snow cone shack is actually open.)

SYTYCD: The Season Rundown in 500 Words or Less

1. Cat Deely wears some amazing/crazy/fugly/awesome outfits. I always look forward to the look of the week. (Tonight's verdict- a tiny bit spiderweb looking but in a glam way)

2. Mia Michaels. MIA MICHAELS. I love her with all of my non-dancing heart. I not-so-secretly wish we were BFFs and she would call me to tell me everything about the show. But she doesn't. Her pieces are always thoughtful and passionate and entertaining, which is the most important part. Also- her hair is just as fierce as her commentary. Missed her tonight, but I know she will be around this season.

3. Brandon (bio: Black, ballet dancer, cut last year just before Top 20, hated by aforementioned Mia Michaels) is a GORGEOUS dancer. He is a-m-a-z-i-n-g to watch. Not super amazing to listen to once he opens his mouth, but holy hot cheese he can dance. (A little wasted on his foxtrot tonight, but stay tuned, for real)
4. Randi (bio: Blond with a bob, from Orem, Utah, famous for the unitard) is super adorable and I will be voting for her. There always seem to be LDS dancers in the Top 20. What does this mean? Mormons are talented, obviously! Tonight, Randi was cursed with unfortunate song choice. Great choreography, sad sad music.

5. Hot bodies running amuk. If you ever need some motivation to get your saggy bum to the gym, turn on this show. Everyone is rock hard, super toned, long and lean, with like 1% body fat. If watching them doesn't make you vomit, at least it will make you go work out.

6. Two days of entertainment- right in a row! Totally gets me through the mid-week sad slump caused by the impending doom of work. Tivo makes it super easy to breeze through the two hour shows. What did we ever do before Tivo?

7. Anyone else see some of the Top 20 tonight and go, "Um, who are YOU, I have never seen you before." Definitely missing some of my very favorites, such as Natalie. Or Jessica. What was her name? Natalie. Her time was cut too short in my opinion.

8. Jeanine and Phillip danced Tabitha and Napoleon's "Mad" tonight and it was killer. You expect T and N to be kinda of ghetto with the stuff the lay out on the table, but no, don't be fooled, a happily married Caucasian couple. Definitely keep your eyes open for more of them. *My performance pick of the night.

9. I miss Chelsie. I will always miss Chelsie.

10. There will be a Fall Season in addition to the current season! Bring on those 3 AM feedings, thanks to Tivo I can watch whenever I want.

Who will be kicked off tomorrow? I predict Tony or Vitolio for the boys, maybe Paris or Asuka for the ladies.

Week 24

Dear Baby Girl Sorensen,

Today you are 24 weeks and 0 days, and according to all literature I have been pouring over, you are considered viable at this point. What does that mean? It means that if you were to come now, that there have been records of babies surviving as micro preemies born at your same ago. Don't get the wrong idea baby, you need to stay in there and cook. If I am right, and I usually am, you are stubborn like me and you probably won't make an appearance until December. I am kidding, if you wait that long you will definitely be put in time out.

You are at least a foot long now from head to toe and weigh about a pound and a half and are about the size of a papaya. I believe that a cantaloupe (20 weeks) is larger than a papaya, but I am not in charge of the fruit to baby ratio so I can't really change it. Your lungs are developing little branches and your brain is learning at a rapid pace. Your skin is red and wrinkly and your eyes are almost fully developed- soon you will be opening them.

Baby, I can feel you squirm and move and flip around and it is really fun to know you are in there. You move the most in the morning about 9:30, and at night when I am at home with your dad. You rode in an airplane for the first time last weekend, and you were pretty active, rollin around in there like you owned the place. We also went to Disneyland and I wouldn't be surprised if you were born with a churro for an arm.

I am still feeling great for the most part, just getting bigger everyday. Remember that one time when we went to Anaheim and I brought pajamas that I hadn't worn in awhile, and I put them on, and they didn't even come close to fitting? That was funny- great joke baby, really a good one. Your sense of humor must have developed recently.

So listen kid, six months down, four more to go. Who ever coined the "9-month" pregnancy term is delusional and should be shot. It's 40 weeks people, 40 weeks. Your dad still likes to find your heartbeat on the doppler at night, and he is actually better at it than I am. We can't wait to see your tiny fingers and tiny toes and your little face. I think you will probably have your dads eyes and lips and my nose and brown hair. What do you think?

Talk to you soon little baby.

xoxoxox

Momma

The Peg

You guys.

I fell in love today.

With a stroller.

Jazz and I spent the day registering and looking at baby stuff and fainting over ludicrously expensive prices. Of course it was basically a dream come true for me. I'm not going to lie, I was less than impressed with Babies-R-Us. They didn't have that many strollers to try out, and it was kinda crowded, and I had the hiccups which always frustrates me.

We registered, and by that I mean Jazz went around zapping anything that had obnoxious butterflies or cheesy pink themes. ("Look, its just genetics, our kid will be cheesy.") I was a bit overwhelmed looking at the display of bottles- how many bottles does a nursing child need? And which kind? Tall ones, angled ones, baggie ones, easy flow ones- too many options. Not to mention, it is inevitable that we will stock up on one kind, and this baby will come and she will hate the ones we have purchased and we will only have to buy more.

Also, the bedding that we ordered from Target.com arrived in the mail this week. I was so excited to have found a girly bedding that was still stylish. Well, it came, and the color resembled pink Hawaiian barbecue vomit. It was way too hot pink for my tastes and we returned it today. I was very optimistic about that bedding and now we are back to square one. Dang.

I digress.

The brand of stroller/carseat that I have been reading about and looking for is Peg Perego. Babies R Us had one stroller (not the style we want) and didn't even carry the car seat. Consumer Reports rated the car seat as super safe, which is important, and all the reviews I have read have said encouraging things. We found a store called USA Baby that carried the Peg Perego line so we zipped over there after registering at Target.

I literally squealed in delight when I saw that they carried every single product created by Peg Perego. We got to test out the cars car seat and all the stroller styles- we rolled them around, folded them up, played with the seats. I was in heaven.

The stroller that we love is called the Peg Perego Switch. It is a newer stroller, and the main selling feature for me is that the bassinet part can be completely removed so the infant car seat clicks right into the stroller frame. It is called the switch because you can arrange the seat so the baby is facing you, or facing the world. It has good storage, folds up pretty small, and isn't too heavy.

I literally did not want to leave the store without it, but my more logical husband reminded me that we don't need it yet because our child is still in my womb. Good point, honey. The greatest drawback on this stroller is the price, which is always hard. Another customer in the store today said "Oh, we love that line of strollers, my kids all have them and they have lasted through all their babies." Look, if this lady was bold enough to interject into our conversation, she must know what she is talking about.

So question. 1) How much did you/do you use your stroller and 2) is there a specific one that you love?

PS: Using spell check used to be a luxury, now it is a neccesity. What is happening to my brain?

Disney Sumsionfest 2009

73 degrees average temperature
35 thousand dollars spent on each fireworks show
11.5 people in our party (10 adults, 1.5 kids)
8 rides I could go on in my pregnant state
5 churros consumed. Look, I shared two, so it really wasn't that bad.
2 Bob Saget Sightings
2 season passes upgraded (we will be back, Disneyland!)
1 tiny pink onesie purchased
1 person in our party who puked..and shall remain nameless

Well, we have safely returned from our whirlwind weekend in Anaheim. I'm so glad we got to go and see the whole entire family- we haven't been together since Christmas! 6 months is a long time for us.

We ate churros and ice cream cones, stood in lines, rode a bunch of rides, walked approximately one million miles, went to bed late and got up early. It was a great little vacation.

It is hard for me to convey how much my mother loves Disneyland. She brings her little shoulder bag full of m & m's and she is good to go for the whole day. She isn't huge on the crazy coasters but she loves Big Thunder Railroad and I'm pretty sure she rode it about five times. Maybe more. She has more energy than all of us put together- she gets sad if we leave the park before close. Sometimes I think she will retire from her life and move to Disneyland to play a pirate.

I had a non-riding buddy- our little niece, Madilyn. Everyone would go ride the big rides and she and I would eat sweet potato puffs and walk around trying to pick up dirty things. She is honestly the smartest little girl I have ever seen, so smiley and just a happy baby. It was great because it gave me something to do, and I was content to accept compliments from strangers on her behalf. Although, I'm sure people thought I was nuts to have a one year old toddler and a 6-month pregnant belly.

Of course, what would this post be without some pictures.

But first...

I realize I owe you a post about Disneyland, and it is almost finished, minus some necessary pictures from my home computer... but I cannot. stop. thinking. about. this.

Yesterday, Jazz and I got up quite early to make a 7 AM flight out of Long Beach. We both had to work, and needed the earliest flight possible to make it home. So- we get to the airport, we check our baggage, we even board the plane and sit down. We are getting comfortable, and I am trying get to that stage of sleeping when your head bobs around uncontrollably, when this horrific smell overtakes me.

I'm not talking like a mild, your-coworker-brought-tuna-for-lunch smell. We are talking about a borderline nuclear pungency hovering near death smell. The kind of smell that makes you want to cut off your own nose to get away from it. Eye-watering, breathing through your sweater, contemplating trying to break the thick airplane window plexiglass to just reach fresh air smell.

A group of gentleman had taken up seats behind us. I refuse to say their ethnicity because someone will inevitably leave me an anonymous comment citing me as an extreme racist. Which, of course, I am. These men had clearly never heard of a toothbrush, or Listerine, or deodorant, or a shower, or any type of hygienic practice that would result in the freshening of one's own fumes.

I dealt with the toxic cloud like a pain threshold, counting numbers and doing mouth breathing techniques, nothing was helping. Jazz donned his superhero cape and went to work.

Soon after Jazz left, a blond flight attendant approached me and moved us to row 1. As in the front row. The one with the extra leg room. And easy access to the exit. Most importantly, the one without stinky offensive men sitting behind it.

I offered our first born lady baby to this blond stewardess, but she declined.

Thank you, Jet Blue, for putting personal televisions in each seat, for not charging me $65 for bringing my STUFF with me (heaven forbid we travel with personal belongings), and for having an open row on flight 232 service from Long Beach to Salt Lake City.