new places and spaces

Chris and I found an apartment for when we come back here and I have already started pulling ideas together for it. I love being able to create my own space. It will be so fun to decorate a nursery and a huge living room. Seriously the living room is very open and lovely. I have been looking around for couches. We have one, but it's only big enough for two people. 

Some ideas for the living room..

I love this color on the table

curtains?

I know it seems kinda crazy but it will come together. 

Blue's, greens and lots of bright colors. I want a happy, bright home.

Baby America

Yesterday was a great day! I finally changed my name to Sarah Hendrickson. Super exciting :) It wasn't that awful sitting in the SS office.. we just wondered how much those people get paid to work there. I can't imagine having that job. It sounds horrible. Sit there and listen to people whine about how they "can't work" or they "don't have enough food" so they think the government should pay for it all. When our number got called the lady looked so tired and annoyed so Chris tried to make her smile. It worked of course. 

Anyway, I am officially a Hendrickson. 

We made a pit stop at Wal Mart and while Chris was looking at movies, I ran to the baby section. As I was looking, I came across this! 

Chris came over and gave me the best reaction to it. He had a huge proud smile and said "Ya, that's right." 

There wasn't a Thor one so we settled for this. :) 

I think our little man will look pretty good in this outfit don't you? 

Baby America/Thor is having a blast kicking the crud out of my bladder. I think I pee a little every time he kicks. They say he is the size of a large spaghetti squash this week. But we have an appointment on Monday so we will find out how big he really is. 

Also I need to thank Amber Heywood for letting us use her car! She is so kind and generous. Seriously, she is a keeper. Thanks Amber!! 

22 weeks

Not a whole lot has changed since I last posted.. I think my bump has gotten a little bigger and I have been getting really hot but I've heard that common. Other than that things are great! This pregnancy has been wonderful so far. And I am so so grateful for that! 

He is now starting to move around during the day. It was only at night and right before I got up in the morning but now it's off and on all day. Chris thinks he is practicing egg-beating to become a water polo player like his uncles. 

Side note: It was nice enough outside yesterday that Chris and I went for a picnic at the park! I am loving this weather! 

 I looked at this picture after I put it up and my arms look extremely long to me.. anyone agree? Like a Gorilla or Chimp?? 

The Unexpected Happenings of Pregnancy

I realized there are a lot of things women don't tell you about pregnancy. I don't think anyone has been hiding these things from me, I just think maybe they forget about it. 

For example, 

1. The amount of hair I have started growing all over my body. At least it's just peach fuzz.

2. Exactly how often I have to pee. Two, three, four times an hour.

3. My emotional state. I cry over anything remotely serious and I laugh at everything else.

4. Sometimes the baby doesn't move for a while.
 This is the one I had a very recent experience with. I think I said in an earlier post that he is getting a lot stronger, well he kinda stopped moving. Sunday night I went to bed without feeling him at all. Which worried me, but I thought I would wait and see hat happens. Monday night, Tuesday morning and nothing. So after calling my Doctor they told me to come in and listen to the heartbeat. We went in today and listened to a clear, strong heartbeat. It was probably one of the best feelings I've ever had. To hear him. Alive and well. Sometimes I guess they just need a little break.

5.  I was born with a very small amount of patience. Chris has been working his magic and helping me to be more patient but I feel like now that I have all these hormones running through me, all that work disappeared.
I have never had any patience for people who are mean or in my opinion "dumb" and I swear it's gotten worse. I usually just try to ignore or avoid certain situations but sometimes..
Today Chris took me to lunch (he's so sweet) and after we got our food, one of the employee's started complaining about his job and about other employee's. About how he only gets paid $10.75 and hour and that isn't good enough. He started arguing loudly with a co-worker about her attitude, which I found was just fine. After a while of  listening, I couldn't take it anymore. I asked to talk to him. He stared at me and when I told him to either shut it or take it outside, he locked himself in the freezer.
I could see him through the glass doors and just waited. Who does that? It was the most weird confrontational experience I've ever had. And if you know me, you know I've had my share. :)

 I probably would've left it at that but I think him hiding from me confused me more than anything.

 I asked the girl he was yelling at if he is always like this, she said "Yes, so go ahead and yell at him". haha After a second of just staring at him, he came out and apologized. I told him to never talk to woman like that no matter how mad he is, especially in a public setting and to stop complaining about his job. I told him to be grateful for it because lots of people don't have them. The girls behind the counter just smirked along with everyone else at Panda Express. I got a few smiles and silent "Thank You's".

He deserved it.
And Chris and I ate the rest of our food in a nice public restaurant instead of a boxing match.
I asked Chris if he was embarrassed of me, he said "No, I was thinking someone should say something to him and of course it would be my pregnant wife". 

21 weeks

Here's the latest! 

Baby Thor is getting really strong. I can now feel when he is just moving around and when he is throwing a punch. Chris felt his little kick for the fist time a couple days ago. He just looked at me like "Did that really happen?" 

Just so you all know, Thor is a complete joke. I am not seriously about to name my kid that. We just haven't thought of anything good yet, so we use Thor. It was either that or something really hard for people to say in Hawaiian. 

All foods are welcome except for BBQ sauce. I have the urge to pee a lot more and I've heard it only gets better. :) I'm excited to feel him get bigger and even more stronger. 

Side note: I hate it when someone asks how I'm doing, I tell them I can feel him getting stronger and they always say "Oh you just wait honey, it will get worse". 

Thanks. I know. I've heard. But this is what's going on NOW. 

Anyway, it's amazing the things people say to pregnant women. It's like there is no sensor anymore. 

 "Oh look at you getting so big!" 

That's when I say "Oh you too!" 

They usually stop after that. 

Baby BOY and a change of plans

We got to go get the 20 week ultrasound yesterday and boy was it fun. Chris has obviously been hoping for a boy and I didn't really care. We get in the room and she started trying to find him. I said "Oh man he just kicked me". Then she said "Oh him?, You know?". Chris sprang up and asked if it really was a boy and she then showed us his little "turtle". That's what she kept calling it.. Don't ask me. 

 I told her I really had no idea and that I had just decided to call him a him because I hated calling him an "it". 

Anyway, she took almost 70 pictures of his tiny little body. He would not stop moving. She had to catch up to him moving all over. And she said he was a little bit bigger than normal. Not surprised, I just pointed to Chris. We got some really cute pictures. 

He was giving us a thumbs up :) 

 This might be my favorite. His little leg! 

The brighter spot at the bottom is his hand holding his bum. 

His close up. The black hole is his little mouth and his nose above it. Crazy huh?

His little leg extended. 

 Our sweet baby Thor, with some hair. 

I really think Thor will end up being  a nickname whether I like it or not. It's either Thor or Tony Stark.. 

About the whole change of plans.. 

Chris and I have weighed out options for what to do this summer and everything kept pointing towards Provo.. no, not just because my family is there. (Although that's a plus) 

We have been trying to figure out how Chris would be able to take an EMT class this summer and nothing was looking up here so we looked at Provo. 

There are a heck of lot more job opportunities. 

Chris would be able to get some shadowing experience with doctors.

I will have mom with me for the first month after having baby. 

And we will get out of our apartment!

And since we are now able to live with my parents we will save lots of money. 

We could not be more grateful for my parents to let us live with them, even with a new baby. 

Isn't family great?! 

So that's what we will be doing this summer. Having a blast down in Utah! 

This is going to be a wonderful summer. 

Love At Home

There is beauty all around. 

Oh the joys of being married. 

Don't get me wrong, Chris and I have an amazing relationship. 

Unfortunately we don't quite have the same luck with other people. To be honest, I don't even know where to start. To say the least, Chris and I are really talented at drawing in the crazies or as Chris says "socially inept people". I'm just going to dive right in, our neighbors are different. They have been very loud, very, very loud. (It's still an understatement, no matter how many "very's" I add). They own four dogs and three of the seven kids still live at home. The three are all high school and college aged so they happen to have many loud friends. The four dogs are those really ugly, what my family calls "rat dogs" that bark all the time. So you can imagine how lovely it is. 

We have had a few weird run-ins with them lately.

1: In passing, whether at church or in the front yard, our neighborly gesture of a smile or a simple "Hello" are completely avoided and ignored.

2: One morning upon using too many appliances in the bathroom, I blew a fuse. When politely asking them if they knew where the circuit breaker was, we were treated with a scowl, a "no" and a door that couldn't get slammed fast enough. 

3: On more than one occasion, after listening to dogs barking and running through the house, pounding footsteps and a TV that rattles our windows, we have tried to enjoy a normal conversation in our bedroom. Only to be interrupted by three hard stomps on the ceiling which could only be interpreted as that "we were disturbing the peace and needed to keep it down". 

4: After another typical Sunday evening of listening to them party upstairs, we were kicked off of our internet connection. Only to find that the network and password had been changed with the network name being "WeCanHearYou2". The password (which we can only interpret as their "excuse" for being loud) was set as "FourDogs&AFuneral". 

That last one just happened to occur tonight. After discussing this over with our landlord, we learned that any problem we have, we have to settle it on our own. About an hour after being locked out of our internet, one of the daughters came down to give us the new password. Chris mentioned to her that he liked the name change, she said "Oh my mom's friend did it". I added "So mature". And that was that. 

Needless to say that was my last straw. Yes, we are looking for new housing. 

what's the skinny?

Holy skinny jeans.

 They are everywhere. Normal jean colors and now hot pink, bright orange and stop sign red. What's the deal?! This is all just my opinion so if you already think my opinion sucks then stop reading. 

So here it is: The only way I think skinny jeans should be worn are inside boots, being that they are the only jeans that won't come "untucked". I admit I do own a pair and the I only wear them with my boots. 

They just don't look good. 

For girls with real woman hips and thighs, they made our behinds look about ten times bigger than normal (which really is not attractive, you think it is but it's not). 

And for the skinny ladies out there, I don't understand why you would want to make yourself look smaller. Are you aiming to look like a middle school girl? My opinion is, that instead of buying yourself those skinny jeans, go buy yourself a Big Mac. Please. Oh and let us not forget about all the boys out there who think looking skinny is hot. There is a reason you are still single. (Seriously I don't think I've met a boy that wears skinny jeans and is married).  Trust me when I say it's not attractive. I think I can speak for all the women out there when I say we want men who are big and strong, not guys who shop in the same department that we do. Am I wrong? 

Just my opinion. 

But seriously, when will this trend end? 

watching

This blog post is not meant to creep anyone out but I thought it was kinda funny when Chris and I were talking..  

To start I have to say this blog is about watching people.. Not stalking people, just watching people. 

You can tell a lot by a person by just watching them. 

Like my momma always said "Watch what they do, not what they say". 

When I was in high school, I was a life guard, my job was to watch people. I learned a lot about different people in my community. I knew who was related to who, who was a bully and also who was modest or not when they came to the pool. 

The reason I bring this up is because I have had a few experiences with watching people lately that have either made me laugh or made me think twice about who I am. 

For example, Chris and I were at Subway the other day and there were two single guys in front of us. The girl behind the counter looked exhausted but still was very polite when asking what kind of veggies they wanted on their sandwich. Chris and I just laughed as we watched the boys try to "flirt" with this poor girl. She was not at the least bit interested so it was funny to watch them try so hard. P.S. I love being married. 

Chris and I usually walk up together to school if he has a test to take, I blog or something while he takes his test. Anyway, I was sitting in a lounge area while Chris was in the testing center and there were tons of kids walking around. I saw a girl had dropped her phone and didn't notice at all (Honestly, that shocked me). I just sat back and watched and sure enough some other guy ran over to it, picked it up and took it to her. I'm not saying I was shocked or that I think he deserved a gold star, I just thought for a second about myself. I thought about my actions and how I hope that when people are watching me, they will be pleased. 

Anyway, just my random thoughts I guess. 

Oh and also it's so weird to watch single people interact with the opposite sex. They are so funny sometimes. 

A lot to catch up on:

So I've been thinking about a few things lately.. 

Life and this baby. 

I know, again with the baby. You know what's funny? I swore to myself I would never be that mom that won't shut up about her kid. I always thought it was annoying. 

Well guess what? I am turning into that mom. Let me say this right though.. I will not be the mom that brags about her kid but I will be the mom to talk about them. 

Right now it's the newest and coolest thing going on so of course I'm bound to talk about it. 

Speaking of which, we are down to four days until we find out! I dream about this baby, but every time it's different. Last night she had dark black hair, a couple nights ago he had bright orange hair..

 So really who knows? 

And the orange hair thing is totally possible too thanks to our mothers :) 

More about baby.. Chris and I had been looking at strollers and car seats, seeing we will need them soon, and holy crap everything is so expensive. I did my researching and came to like a stroller/car seat combo. It turned out to be on sale at Target so after talking to Chris, we ordered it. It came the other day and I love it! 

Originally I had asked a few friends about different brands and I just decided to go with my gut. I kept telling myself, "It's not like they make unsafe ones", "they all have to be approved, so I really don't have to get the most expensive just because it says it's the safest". 

It's here and Chris and I love it. It's a pretty plain Jane grey but that's what I wanted. I have never wanted a hot pink or bright blue one. 

We got them for such a great deal and I love, love, love them! 

Onto more baby related things, when we told my family we were expecting my mom got started on making baby blankets, burp rags and more.. When I was down at my parents for a week, we finished up some more blankets and then on the way back up here we stopped at Ikea in Salt Lake and picked a couple baby things. Like this baby highchair and baby tub. 

Blankets

  

Our first newborn diapers and wipes. They are so tiny!

Burp rags:

Ya, I guess you can say she is excited. :) I think we all are. This is me at 19 weeks!

Oh and baby kicks now almost every night from 9:30 to 10. Usually when I am laying down. Sometimes I wish Chris could feel this..It's the most unreal, weird, and cool thing I have ever experienced. I wish he could experience too.. I just wonder sometimes how he would handle it. haha I think we, as women, were given this gift because the guys wouldn't have been able to handle it. Just saying. 

I am liking this stage of pregnancy. The first trimester stinks and I didn't even get very sick. To wake up everyday feeling like you got hit by a train isn't the best. But now I have more energy then I know what to with. I have been very proud of myself lately. And ya, I'm gonna brag about it. To start I have made every meal this week. I know, sad that that's an accomplishment but it sure is! I also cleaned the house like crazy! Dishes, laundry, vacuum, all bathroom, all kitchen (including mopping), inside stove, dusted, and even did the baseboards. I felt very on top of things. :)  

And last but not least I, Sarah Hendrickson, finished a book. I don't think anyone know's how extremely rare this is. Seriously, like all joking aside, I DO NOT read books! Never have. Wonder how I got through school.. spark notes. It's not cheating, just summarizes the book. :) Anyway, I really did finish it. What book? Of course The Hunger Games. I can say that is the first book I have not been able to put down. Stephanie Meyer almost had but I couldn't take it seriously. Vampires? Really? Come one! At least The Hunger Games could be real. I guess I'm a lot like my dad, in that our imagination extends about as far as.. well.. it doesn't really. So anyway, I do expect a "congrats Sarah that's awesome comment"! :) 

In other news:

Chris and his counselor/mentor came up with a grad plan finally! He tried in Hawaii but we must have just tried on every Aloha Friday (everyone leaves work, school, etc to go fish or play at the beach). 

Anyway, they came up with this plan, he came home and told me about it.. it consisted of us staying here another two full years. Both of us looked at each other and just about lost it. Then we came to terms with it and decided it needed to be done so let's suck it up. 

The next day he came home with a whole new plan that ended with us out of here by next July. We both prayed that it would get approved by his counselor and sure enough, a couple days later it did! We went from  two years to one! It's coming together! 

I had a thought today. I thought it was a pretty good one. Chris and I are planning to attend Med school and it's kinda scaring both of us. Not enough to back out but it's just a long, long commitment. Anyway, Chris came home from a Pre Med club meeting and he said that a lot of the other guys weren't being too nice towards him because he wants to attend a D.O. school instead of an M.D. (which is the same thing). He said they just talked down to him like getting a D.O. isn't good enough. 

So I was thinking about it. And the thought I came up with is if Chris and I care what those kids think, we won't get very far. Sometimes you just have to ignore the world and carry on with what you think is right. I have a feeling we will run into this more as we get into school. But I just kept thinking about it and I believe this apply's to almost everything in life. You can't afford to care what other people think about you. It will get you know where but discouraged and down. 

So there is my thought for the day.

   Thanks for reading! 

pregnant rantings

I just read an article that was about a man in Utah being sentenced to 1-15 years for punching a pregnant woman. At first, I was shocked! Who does that? Then I read on.. she had asked him to help her have an abortion for money and he got mad. Then I thought, right on! I would've punched her too! Hard! If you aren't looking to raise a baby or want the responsibility of a child then close your legs! I'm sorry but it breaks my heart to hear what some people are doing to babies and children. It makes me want to adopt from every irresponsible girl out there. It makes me sick.

 Are you serious?

I can't even look at or watch the news without tearing up (partially due to these awesome hormones). I just can't even believe the world I have to raise my children in. I thought it was bad when I was in high school, just two years ago. Sometimes, I think about locking my (future) kids up in a tower..

Then Chris reminds me it's important for them to learn and grow through crappy experiences. (He said it a lot better than that). I think the scariest part is that it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

My mom and I were talking about how aggressive the girls are becoming these days. How they use their bodies in such inappropriate ways and how sad it is. And how low self esteem has everything to do with it.

 I can remember when Jeff (my brother) was in middle school and we would get phone calls all the time asking for him. Honestly, I thought it was outrageous. What the heck do you need to talk to him about? You're not going out, you're 12..  I never once called a boy at that age. I had no reason to.. I had girlfriends and sports. 

I guess I'm just ranting but seriously can you believe this world? Scary right? 

But to focus on the good for a second, we are down to 11 days until we find out pink or blue! We couldn't be more excited.

 Side Note: I think a lot of this ranting and thinking stems from being pregnant with one of Heavenly Fathers' angels.. That's a little scary to me. Anyway.