I'll start by saying that I am pregnant! A lot of people already know this, but I still want to announce it officially. I had suspected being pregnant for a little while when I was in school (partly because I always suspect it after the last time) but I was not willing to take a pregnancy test until I graduated. I guess I had enough to deal with. So one Sunday morning I took the test and confirmed the suspicion. It explains me being more tired lately anyway.
Since it was a few weeks before Christmas I thought it would be cool to go get an ultrasound and wrap that and the pregnancy test up for Jared for Christmas. But logic got the better of me (unexplained doctor's appointments, unexplained fatness, etc.) so I decided to tell him that night. I still wrapped it up and put it on his pillow. Then I asked him if he wanted an early Christmas present to which he responded, "No, that's okay. I'll just wait till Christmas." Me: "Well, I already wrapped something... it's on your pillow." Him: "No, I think I'll just wait." Me: "Um, I just really want you to open this one now." (I know, what's with this guy? Who wouldn't want a present anytime?) We had actually bought him two things already for Christmas that he was either reading or wearing, so I guess that's why he didn't want anything else. I finally got him to open it, reluctantly.
We were excited to go down to the Maternity Center where I had Alex and Marissa, but when I was almost done filling out all the papers they realized that my last two were VBAC's (vaginal birth after cesarean) and they told us that they can't do those anymore. I guess the state won't let any maternity center in Florida do them anymore. That was a definite bummer to hear, but I was also just sitting there wanting them to listen to the heartbeat or something to make sure it was real. So we got them to do a little ultrasound where I saw a heartbeat, arms, legs, etc. and it looked like it was about 15 weeks at the time. We should get another one in the next couple of weeks to pin down a due date and find out what it is.
They recommended another doctor who does a lot of VBAC's and breech babies, some crazy Russian guy, and I hope he works out this time, even though I have to start from scratch again and even though he told me my white stomach needed some sun. News for you, the only two people who ever see it were in the room. The best part about him is that he is right by Jared's work, so about 3 miles away as opposed to 45 minutes away.
We decided to "announce" the pregnancy through signing our Christmas card "Love, Jared, Laura, Erin, Alex, Marissa and ? Daniels". Evidently our subtlety passed by some people. My parents said that they already knew who it was from so why would they need to read that part? It was also fun to deliver treats to neighbors and people in our ward and have them open the card in front of us. It was interesting to see who got it right away and who never quite did. Our next step was to add the baby counter on the blog, which may or may not be correct.
And now, it's for all to see. I just wish I could tell people when I am due. I will keep you posted!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Christmas Day
Well, here you have it. I am finally putting up the Christmas pictures. I'm still debating putting up the Halloween ones, although Erin's first day of school and our summer vacation seem a little extreme to be posting now. I think I might want to do better this year. My favorite gift for Christmas was a blog book that Jared ordered for me. It was from 2008 with a nice cover and nice pages. It was so cool to see the kids and remember the things I felt back then, like finding out I was not only pregnant, but 20 weeks pregnant. Good times. This is why I feel like adding the things I meant to blog about, but we'll see how much energy I have.
Here are the new Christmas pajamas. We are still playing with our new camera, thus the yellowness.
Marissa is so funny. She is constantly "completing the circuit" as we like to say, meaning she sucks her left thumb and puts her right hand on her belly button. The pajamas were a little tricky for her because there was a big elastic band that we had to fold down over her belly button, but I think she eventually found it.
Christmas day was a success for most people. All Erin asked for was Jewelry box and some makeup which was pretty easy. My favorite present for Erin was incidentally not the makeup that I keep finding smeared on the mirror, but was the new trundle bed. It's for Erin and Alex right now and works pretty well for guests too. I love that you can just push it in and have all the floor space to play. And, unlike a bunk bed, they can still jump on it.
Alex asked for a Super Duper Computer (from Super Why?) and some dinosaurs. Seriously, these kids are so easy. I've got to enjoy this before real laptops, iphones, and expensive gaming systems show up on the lists. The Super Duper Computer has been a big hit. Here's Alex in his Super Why? costume. That's definitely his favorite show and truth be told, I'm pretty sure that's how he learned his letters. My favorite gift for Alex was a huge pack of underwear that I almost opened many times before Christmas when he kept running out.
Marissa didn't actually ask for anything so I sort of did a bad job on her. I just figured she wouldn't care too much about what she got, which was mostly true because all she wanted was what Erin and Alex got. They both got scooters, and she didn't; they both got umbrellas, and flashlights, and Super Why? costumes and she didn't. I just figured she was too young for that stuff, which she is, but I feel kind of bad anyway. Poor kid. Hey, she's lucky Santa distributed a pack of gum for everyone... he knew that would definitely be a problem. Here's the bundle of cuteness.
I did sort of a bad job on Jared too. I had good intentions but that's about it. No surprises either. Better luck next year. His favorite gift was probably his new racquetball shoes. Let me rephrase that, those were his only gift. Here we are playing Twister. You can see Erin's lovely makeup, which I think got half way used up in one day.
And just to prove how grateful we are to have stayed in Florida for Christmas this year, this is what we got to do.
Hope you all had a great Christmas too!
Here are the new Christmas pajamas. We are still playing with our new camera, thus the yellowness.
Marissa is so funny. She is constantly "completing the circuit" as we like to say, meaning she sucks her left thumb and puts her right hand on her belly button. The pajamas were a little tricky for her because there was a big elastic band that we had to fold down over her belly button, but I think she eventually found it.
Christmas day was a success for most people. All Erin asked for was Jewelry box and some makeup which was pretty easy. My favorite present for Erin was incidentally not the makeup that I keep finding smeared on the mirror, but was the new trundle bed. It's for Erin and Alex right now and works pretty well for guests too. I love that you can just push it in and have all the floor space to play. And, unlike a bunk bed, they can still jump on it.
Alex asked for a Super Duper Computer (from Super Why?) and some dinosaurs. Seriously, these kids are so easy. I've got to enjoy this before real laptops, iphones, and expensive gaming systems show up on the lists. The Super Duper Computer has been a big hit. Here's Alex in his Super Why? costume. That's definitely his favorite show and truth be told, I'm pretty sure that's how he learned his letters. My favorite gift for Alex was a huge pack of underwear that I almost opened many times before Christmas when he kept running out.
Marissa didn't actually ask for anything so I sort of did a bad job on her. I just figured she wouldn't care too much about what she got, which was mostly true because all she wanted was what Erin and Alex got. They both got scooters, and she didn't; they both got umbrellas, and flashlights, and Super Why? costumes and she didn't. I just figured she was too young for that stuff, which she is, but I feel kind of bad anyway. Poor kid. Hey, she's lucky Santa distributed a pack of gum for everyone... he knew that would definitely be a problem. Here's the bundle of cuteness.
I did sort of a bad job on Jared too. I had good intentions but that's about it. No surprises either. Better luck next year. His favorite gift was probably his new racquetball shoes. Let me rephrase that, those were his only gift. Here we are playing Twister. You can see Erin's lovely makeup, which I think got half way used up in one day.
And just to prove how grateful we are to have stayed in Florida for Christmas this year, this is what we got to do.
Hope you all had a great Christmas too!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas Festivities
Well, we went a little crazy with the Christmas lights this year. Jared even took some time to program the lights to music that people could tune in and listen on their car radios. I think it turned out pretty good.
All right, just kidding. That was a house a few blocks away. This is what our house looks like.
Yeah, it's a little sad in comparison, but I'm just happy that any lights got up at all. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but the lights don't quite make it to the end of the house. We had another 13 foot strand and just bunched them closer together in years past, but this year Jared thought he'd solve this annoying problem once and for all. He cut the remaining strand to the right length, spliced the wires back together and ta da, a five foot strand of lights just perfect for our house. And they worked too, for a minute... until they all blew up. Lesson learned: V=I*R is still true. I keep thinking we should hang the bum lights up so people can at least assume that small portion is burned out instead of thinking we miscalculated or were too lazy to complete it. It's certainly made me think about designing our future house specifically to fit the standard length of lights, that's for sure.
I saw an amazing display of Christmas trees and decorations on a friend's blog and thought I would show you our feeble attempt. First, our tree is rotting and way past dead. I don't know if we bought it too early or if it's just the fact that things rot when it's 80 degrees, but nonetheless I haven't enjoyed it all that much this year. This may partly have to do with a certain 18 month old who has undecorated the tree over and over again and broken anything breakable within her reach. She loves throwing the balls on the floor and then is bewildered when they shatter instead of bounce or roll. I wonder why I even have those things anyway. I'm not sure what it is with her, but we have had trees in the past and toddlers her age and we've never had this problem (serves me right for posting about what a great baby she is, I mean was). I guess it doesn't help that Erin also plays Easter with the ornaments. Here's the sad half decorated sight.
This is the extent of my Christmas decorations.
This is Erin's contribution. She made this lovely wreath at school, came home, got a chair and some tape, went outside and put it up. I love it.
Our display of Christmas cards. I like this tree better than the real one.
One of my favorite family traditions (fifth year running) is getting a cute family ornament. The envelope is this year and the car was two years ago. These are also breakable so you never know how long they'll be around, but so far so good.
Our other tradition is driving around to see Christmas lights. Nope, it's not Temple Square, it's just a crazy family who loves Christmas... a lot. 
This was before they opened the gates. The kids were amazed!
Erin also had a "Holiday" program at school where she and the five other classes of kindergarteners sang Rudolf, Dreidel songs, Feliz Navidad, etc. It was fantastic. I can't believe they taught them all those songs. I also can't believe that half of the kindergarteners are over 5 feet tall (slight exaggeration). Erin was on the short row. The other thing that made me laugh was that during the program Erin kept shewing the kid next to her away. I asked her about it later and she said it was because he smelled bad. Poor kid, both of them. Erin has a very sensitive nose.
I'll post another about Christmas day. Right now I'm just counting down the hours till we can get the stinky tree out of the house!
All right, just kidding. That was a house a few blocks away. This is what our house looks like.
Yeah, it's a little sad in comparison, but I'm just happy that any lights got up at all. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but the lights don't quite make it to the end of the house. We had another 13 foot strand and just bunched them closer together in years past, but this year Jared thought he'd solve this annoying problem once and for all. He cut the remaining strand to the right length, spliced the wires back together and ta da, a five foot strand of lights just perfect for our house. And they worked too, for a minute... until they all blew up. Lesson learned: V=I*R is still true. I keep thinking we should hang the bum lights up so people can at least assume that small portion is burned out instead of thinking we miscalculated or were too lazy to complete it. It's certainly made me think about designing our future house specifically to fit the standard length of lights, that's for sure.I saw an amazing display of Christmas trees and decorations on a friend's blog and thought I would show you our feeble attempt. First, our tree is rotting and way past dead. I don't know if we bought it too early or if it's just the fact that things rot when it's 80 degrees, but nonetheless I haven't enjoyed it all that much this year. This may partly have to do with a certain 18 month old who has undecorated the tree over and over again and broken anything breakable within her reach. She loves throwing the balls on the floor and then is bewildered when they shatter instead of bounce or roll. I wonder why I even have those things anyway. I'm not sure what it is with her, but we have had trees in the past and toddlers her age and we've never had this problem (serves me right for posting about what a great baby she is, I mean was). I guess it doesn't help that Erin also plays Easter with the ornaments. Here's the sad half decorated sight.
This is the extent of my Christmas decorations.
This is Erin's contribution. She made this lovely wreath at school, came home, got a chair and some tape, went outside and put it up. I love it.
Our display of Christmas cards. I like this tree better than the real one.
One of my favorite family traditions (fifth year running) is getting a cute family ornament. The envelope is this year and the car was two years ago. These are also breakable so you never know how long they'll be around, but so far so good.
Our other tradition is driving around to see Christmas lights. Nope, it's not Temple Square, it's just a crazy family who loves Christmas... a lot. 
This was before they opened the gates. The kids were amazed!
Erin also had a "Holiday" program at school where she and the five other classes of kindergarteners sang Rudolf, Dreidel songs, Feliz Navidad, etc. It was fantastic. I can't believe they taught them all those songs. I also can't believe that half of the kindergarteners are over 5 feet tall (slight exaggeration). Erin was on the short row. The other thing that made me laugh was that during the program Erin kept shewing the kid next to her away. I asked her about it later and she said it was because he smelled bad. Poor kid, both of them. Erin has a very sensitive nose.
I'll post another about Christmas day. Right now I'm just counting down the hours till we can get the stinky tree out of the house!
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Graduation Smock
I'm done. I'm really done. It's been a long, long road, but I finally made it. I graduated and now have a degree in architecture that I can proudly hang on the wall next to the others. I was driving home after one of the last classes and I thought "why did I do this?" Don't get me wrong, I am glad I did it. I enjoyed it, I excelled at it, and I know it was the right path for my life. But let's be clear. I would never, ever, under any circumstances encourage anyone in their right mind to study architecture, especially anyone with kids. You would really have to have something wrong with you to try that. Take me, for example.
Here's the thing. I didn't know when I nonchalantly signed up for my first architecture class what an architecture degree entailed, and I don't think most people do. Let me try to explain. It's not that you have to be the least bit smart, or read a lot or write brilliant papers or even take huge exams--you don't. You are just required to do an astronomical amount of work (and give up any social life or sleeping requirements you may have thought you had). And not just any work, it's time-consuming, tedious work. Every week you must come to class with new models, new drawings, new research, new conceptual ideas, new sketches, new layouts, etc. Okay, it doesn't sound like much, but you can spend 4, 5, 8, 12 hours on just one drawing and even a little cardboard model could take you all night to build, let alone the final drawings and models. Then you pin your hours of work up on the board and try to explain meaning into your model while teachers and classmates tear you to shreds. This begins the next round of changes, new models, new drawings, more all-nighters, more stress. And then you do it again the next week and the next, and the next year and the next, until you find yourself driving home one night wondering why on earth you did all that! Like I said, nobody in their right mind would do it.
I don't wish to put down any other degree. I know some of them are very demanding. Medical school? Dental school? An MBA? And Law school? Heaven knows I could have never lasted three weeks trying to digest any of that. All I know is that when I did my first bachelor's degree, I only stayed up all night when I was hanging out with my roommates passing around the pan of communal mac and cheese or when we had cleaning inspection the next day (those were the days). Architecture? People have refrigerators, microwaves, blow up mattresses and razors at their desks because they literally stay at school for days working on projects. I still don't understand why they haven't installed showers yet. It's insane. Just listen to me when I say that nobody should do architecture!!! Spare your friends.
All that being said, I did do it and I feel proud to be able to say I did. I only have a few pictures of graduation because, as life usually goes, the camera ran out of batteries while I was walking across the stage. When I went to get my robe (the day before), they were out of my size (5'6"-the most common height) so I tried on the 5'9" and was about to take it when one of the workers insisted the sleeves were way to long. So she convinced me to get the 5'0"-5'2" size which pretty much looked like a lab coat instead of a graduation gown. Looking at the few pictures I do have, maybe it's better there aren't more of me looking so ridiculous.
Of course it doesn't help the the one-size-fits-all hat kept sliding off my puny head. And no, we did not take "crazy baby" to the 2 1/2 hour ceremony, thank goodness. Not sure what's up with Erin's face.
This is a picture of about half of the architecture graduates this semester and some of our professors. Also shown is my "smock" which stands out even more next to the normal length, and might I add ironed, gowns (was that lady at the bookstore trying to make a laughingstock out of me or what?) And of course I stand in the front. Also just so you know, that is the actual color of my legs, not white nylons. Yeah, I live in Florida but I can still blind people with the pasty's.
The best part of graduation for me, besides finding out that we had a school song and what our mascot was (Owls--who knew?), was the fact that I got to wear those cool cords. I didn't think about it till I got there and saw my name card which said Magna Cum Laude. I was the only architecture student to graduate with honors (unlike the 50 million nursing students... not to compare degrees, but seriously, something's got to be different if that's the case) and the director said there have been very few architecture students to do that. To me, those dorky yellow cords gave me a small sense of satisfaction for all the hard work I've put in. And not to dwell on technicalities, but I was .02 grade points away from being Summa Cum Laude and yes, I am still bitter at a couple of teachers for giving the undeserved non-A's. But I guess Magna Cum Laude is still pretty cool.
I also found out last week that I won the thesis prize for all of the Design 10 projects this semester. At least I think that's what I heard over my screaming children. For future reference, 18 month olds do not belong at university GALA's (hence the term "crazy baby"). I guess that was pretty cool too, especially after my lousy review, but not like wearing the goldenrod cords. Here's a condensed version of the final project.
P.S. I promise to spare you of too many more posts about architecture. It's almost out of my system.
Here's the thing. I didn't know when I nonchalantly signed up for my first architecture class what an architecture degree entailed, and I don't think most people do. Let me try to explain. It's not that you have to be the least bit smart, or read a lot or write brilliant papers or even take huge exams--you don't. You are just required to do an astronomical amount of work (and give up any social life or sleeping requirements you may have thought you had). And not just any work, it's time-consuming, tedious work. Every week you must come to class with new models, new drawings, new research, new conceptual ideas, new sketches, new layouts, etc. Okay, it doesn't sound like much, but you can spend 4, 5, 8, 12 hours on just one drawing and even a little cardboard model could take you all night to build, let alone the final drawings and models. Then you pin your hours of work up on the board and try to explain meaning into your model while teachers and classmates tear you to shreds. This begins the next round of changes, new models, new drawings, more all-nighters, more stress. And then you do it again the next week and the next, and the next year and the next, until you find yourself driving home one night wondering why on earth you did all that! Like I said, nobody in their right mind would do it.
I don't wish to put down any other degree. I know some of them are very demanding. Medical school? Dental school? An MBA? And Law school? Heaven knows I could have never lasted three weeks trying to digest any of that. All I know is that when I did my first bachelor's degree, I only stayed up all night when I was hanging out with my roommates passing around the pan of communal mac and cheese or when we had cleaning inspection the next day (those were the days). Architecture? People have refrigerators, microwaves, blow up mattresses and razors at their desks because they literally stay at school for days working on projects. I still don't understand why they haven't installed showers yet. It's insane. Just listen to me when I say that nobody should do architecture!!! Spare your friends.
All that being said, I did do it and I feel proud to be able to say I did. I only have a few pictures of graduation because, as life usually goes, the camera ran out of batteries while I was walking across the stage. When I went to get my robe (the day before), they were out of my size (5'6"-the most common height) so I tried on the 5'9" and was about to take it when one of the workers insisted the sleeves were way to long. So she convinced me to get the 5'0"-5'2" size which pretty much looked like a lab coat instead of a graduation gown. Looking at the few pictures I do have, maybe it's better there aren't more of me looking so ridiculous.
Of course it doesn't help the the one-size-fits-all hat kept sliding off my puny head. And no, we did not take "crazy baby" to the 2 1/2 hour ceremony, thank goodness. Not sure what's up with Erin's face.
This is a picture of about half of the architecture graduates this semester and some of our professors. Also shown is my "smock" which stands out even more next to the normal length, and might I add ironed, gowns (was that lady at the bookstore trying to make a laughingstock out of me or what?) And of course I stand in the front. Also just so you know, that is the actual color of my legs, not white nylons. Yeah, I live in Florida but I can still blind people with the pasty's.The best part of graduation for me, besides finding out that we had a school song and what our mascot was (Owls--who knew?), was the fact that I got to wear those cool cords. I didn't think about it till I got there and saw my name card which said Magna Cum Laude. I was the only architecture student to graduate with honors (unlike the 50 million nursing students... not to compare degrees, but seriously, something's got to be different if that's the case) and the director said there have been very few architecture students to do that. To me, those dorky yellow cords gave me a small sense of satisfaction for all the hard work I've put in. And not to dwell on technicalities, but I was .02 grade points away from being Summa Cum Laude and yes, I am still bitter at a couple of teachers for giving the undeserved non-A's. But I guess Magna Cum Laude is still pretty cool.
I also found out last week that I won the thesis prize for all of the Design 10 projects this semester. At least I think that's what I heard over my screaming children. For future reference, 18 month olds do not belong at university GALA's (hence the term "crazy baby"). I guess that was pretty cool too, especially after my lousy review, but not like wearing the goldenrod cords. Here's a condensed version of the final project.
P.S. I promise to spare you of too many more posts about architecture. It's almost out of my system.
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