Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Service Opportunities

So I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, right? And as a woman over the age of 18, that means I belong to the Relief Society, okay? With that established; as a member of the RS, there are certain service opportunities one is asked to accept from time to time. Generally they can be grouped into four categories, visiting someone, cooking a meal for someone, babysitting small children, or cleaning something.
When all is said and done, I can be called on to do any and/or all of these, but is it okay if I prefer one type over the other? What if one type kind of scares me and another just sounds completely unappealing? Does that make me a bad person?

So I am conducting a very informal poll. I'm not asking that you reassure me that I really am a good person after all. What I'm asking for is for my readers to fess up to their preferred method of service. I'll be the first one. I don't mind cleaning, but my preferred service opportunity at this point in my life is visiting someone. I enjoy meeting and getting to know new people. And with all this extra time I have these days, it just isn't a big deal, but I'm terrified of bringing a meal and have never truly enjoyed babysitting.

Okay I've told you mine, now fess up to yours. What I'm hoping for is that just like with everything else in life, there is a balance, and if everyone does their part, maybe all the needs will be met? That maybe it's okay that I prefer not to sign up for bringing a meal to someone because someone else would prefer to do it, and let's face it, would probably do a better job? Is this an okay fantasy? You tell me.

Monday, March 19, 2012

On Being Pregnant

Things about pregnancy that are not so fun:
  • Going to the bathroom 4 times by 9:45 in the morning.
  • Grunting every time I need to bend over or get in or out of a seat. Actually the grunting is kind of fun and I do it with some panache, but the need to grunt is not exciting.
  • Pregnancy induced carpal tunnel and serious leg cramps that make getting any exercise difficult.
  • When baby decides that using my bladder as his squeeze toy or exploring my ribs sounds like good fun.
Things I completely relish about pregnancy:
  • Feeling life inside me. This never gets old. Every movement, even if it's painful, reminds me that there is a baby growing and wiggling and getting ready to meet the world. The only problem with this seems to be that Wee Babe does not perform on demand and never seems to want to do much of anything when I excitedly place Matthew's hand on my tummy.
  • Having an excuse to sleep whenever I want. I get home from seminary and take a nap, whether I need or not. I sleep in far beyond a normal sleep schedule on the days I don't have to wake up for seminary, just because I can. Just because, in a couple short months I will not have this luxury, so I might as well take advantage of it while it is still available to me.
  • Blaming anything I want on being pregnant. Whether its erratic emotions, mental lapses, grunting, or any pain whatsoever, I find it extremely convenient to have a one-size fits all scape goat.
  • The growing anticipation of entering that heretofore unattainable world of parenthood. Both Matthew and I have been enjoying scheming about all the semi-naughty things we'll do with our future offspring. I'll make cookies only to share them all with Wee Babe before Matthew gets home from work. It will be our little secret. Matthew, on the other hand, fully intends to indoctrinate his son on "good" rock music. The kind I would prefer him not listening to in the house. That will be their very own don't-tell-your-mother moment.
  • Rubbing my tummy. I don't know why this is fun for me. Maybe it incorporates all of the above. At times, I look down and I think, this is so bizarre, and somehow unnatural for my body to look like this, and other times I look down and grin at my babe underneath all those layers of tub.
  • And of course, who doesn't love having a built-in shelf on which to place all kinds of fun items, my mug of hot chocolate, for example, or my bowl of ice cream, my phone, or the remote control.  Matt too has found this extremely fun, maybe more so than me and takes to finding items at hand to place there.
So that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Just thought I would share.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Sara at 28 weeks

This is me at 28 weeks. I was looking back at my pictures from 20 to 24 to 28 weeks and its hard to believe that I was ever so cute and small at 20 weeks. Not that I'm feeling gigantic, at least not yet, but it's definitely a change.
So how am I doing? I've heard it said that the first trimester is hard because you're sick all the time, the second trimester is great, because you finally have energy again and you're not huge, and the third trimester sees you increasingly more uncomfortable. The first trimester, I was definitely tired a lot but other than that it was a cake walk. Second trimester, more energy and more cake. But I think the day I hit my third trimester, I became uncomfortable. It was as if a switch was turned on. Wee Babe knew he hit 6 months and decided to make his presence known by pushing his wee little head into my ribs. It hurts. Thankfully, for both of us, he doesn't do it all the time. I think we can be best friends as long as his head stays out of that general area.
Matthew continues to stick up for him and gets mad at me every time I poke, jiggle, or in any other way mess with my tummy. "Leave the poor kid alone, would you like it if someone were constantly shaking your house?" I try to tell him that it was my house first and he is merely a guest with an expiring welcome, but he stands firm, this was my choice, and I gave up the right to my house when I decided I wanted to be pregnant.
Thankfully, he is at school most of the day, so I have all sorts of time to both coo over and harass my unborn child as much as I like.