It's a BOY!

He's due October 29. :) The ultrasound looked good (at least to us!) and he seems to be a pretty big dude, weighing in at 12 oz at 19 weeks 5 days!

Updates!

I say "Updates!" like it's something exciting that I'm going to tell you all about, but let's be honest here, people...I don't have anything interesting to say! So...another brief rundown of our lives:

Christopher graduates next month, and believe me, this is a time we never thought we'd see coming! It's a lot of fun to see the progress on his big capstone project, and I can't wait to show all of you the finished product, with the help of a wonderful voiceover talent, Rob Williams, and his daughter Kandi. There have been a lot of late nights here lately, and I'm so proud of him for all of his hard work, especially because it's definitely not easy to sit inside and work on the computer with the beautiful weather outside!

Things with the photography business are...slow. Hopefully I can get a few high school models so I can have some senior-type portraits to post as the summer hits. I'd like to do some advertising at Village green as the concert season kicks up! [This is the part where if you're a high school student, or the parent of one, you can get an AWESOME deal on pictures...as in ONLY pay for prints, and even that at a VERY reduced rate!]

Besides that, nothing else interesting going on here. If you ever need maternity clothes, go to the GAP outlet in Hebron, Ky...almost everything was in perfect condition! I was amazed! (And pleasantly surprised! It's nice to have some clothes that don't push on my belly. It may just look like fat, but I promise it's not because I'm eating too many doughnuts! In fact...I don't even really like those!)

We're switching to a new doctor, so hopefully I'll have details before too long about when we'll know the gender of this little nugget. Any guesses?

This is getting ridiculous!

Could someone please tell me why the second someone finds out you're pregnant, they're the top authority on your life? I get that you've been there before, that you "Know exactly how I'm feeling," but would you just shut up unless I ask you for your input? I do have examples of this:

Example number one: Fetal Demise

Well Meaning Woman (WMW): How far along are you now?

Me: 11 weeks

WMW: Oh. That's about how far I was when I had a miscarriage.

WHAT?! Why would you tell a hormonal woman in her first trimester about your miscarriage? Yes, it happens. Yes, if I have a miscarriage, I would love to know that you've been there, but right now, I don't need the solid assurance that every woman miscarries in her first trimester! Seriously!

Example number two: Pregnancy Safety

Me: I'm going to dye my hair.

WMW: You need to make sure you talk to your doctor before you do that. Hair dye is bad for you in pregnancy, it can hurt the baby.

Guess what? It's really not. And there's NO evidence to suggest that it can affect the baby. None whatsoever.

Example number three: Morning Sickness

WMW: How are you feeling?

Me: I'm okay.

WMW: Still sick?

Me: Yeah.

WMW: Shouldn't you be about over that by now?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Guess what? I'm not. Isn't that enough? It's not like I can say, "Ok, fetus, it's been a few weeks now, it's time to be over this!" Apparently my body will stop being sick if and when it's ready to stop being sick. Don't tell me that I should be over it by now. Really. It won't go well.

Example number four: Still Morning Sickness

WMW: I know EXACTLY how you feel. I was sick until 17 weeks. I even threw up once. It was horrible.

This I didn't even gratify with a response. You threw up ONCE?! I would have given up my right arm to only throw up once! I throw up once a day...at least. Usually twice, and there were days that the number reached 4, 5, even 6 times. So no. You don't know exactly how I feel. I know that you were sick for all those weeks, and I would never want to make you feel like your sickness wasn't as bad as mine, because I'm sure it was horrible. But...don't you dare try to console me by telling me you threw up once during the first trimester. That's not the same as throwing up multiple times a day, really, it's not.

I say this, because as we speak, my sickness seems to be decreasing, at least a little bit. My multiple times a day is down to about 1 a day, and that's a lot more doable for me...but the constant nausea still hasn't lifted. I feel better when you tell me that you were sick too, and that you sympathize with my pain. It's okay to leave it at that. Really.

In other news, I'm looking for a new doctor who accepts medicaid. Anyone have recommendations?

Life at the Feldmanns'

So if you haven't already seen it on Facebook,

We're going to have a baby!

Before you start asking when my due date is, I'll tell you that we thought I was at 4 weeks, but when I talked to the doctor's office to make my appointment, they told me I was at 11. This blew my mind...and means I'm almost 3 months pregnant, and just thought I was tired, crabby, and having acid reflux!

If you want the gory details on why I thought I was at 4 weeks or all that weird stuff, naturally just ask!

Photos

So I know I'm doing a LOT of self-promoting, and it's probably getting annoying, but I'm really trying hard to build my portfolio. If you, or any of your friends are looking for pictures of your kids, selves, or whatever...let me know. I only have a couple of slots left!

Perfection

I had the wonderful opportunity to go on my first youth temple trip as a leader yesterday. It was wonderful to see those girls coming out of the font and wrap them in towels and feel the beautiful spirit that was there, but the most profound thing was what I was able to witness while one of the girls was in the font.

One of the girls in our ward has special needs, and was doing baptisms for the first time. She wasn't sure what to do when she got in the font, and was very clumsy. Sometimes she had to do the baptism twice, and it was very difficult at times. The next girl who stepped into the font did it perfectly. Here's what stood out to me:

It doesn't matter how clumsy we are, how difficult it is for us to do things, our efforts still count. The people the first girl was baptized for will be just as grateful as the people the second girl was.

Sometimes in my life, I feel like I'm so clumsily making my way through things, and like that means I'm not good enough, but the real blessing is in the atonement, and the fact that it makes any clumsy effort good enough.

I wanna be a part of it...

We're going to New York!

So, tell me what you love about New York...

Places to eat?

Places to shop?

Tours?

History?

Public transit?

Entertainment?

If you only had a few days to experience your favorites, where would you go? What would you do?