Baby Lucas is finally on the way!

So after six years of trying to get pregnant and saving up our money to do in vitro, we can finally share the good news that we are pregnant! I wanted to post it way sooner since I dropped out of the blogging world and I thought this would be big enough news to make an appropriate re-entrance, but we did not want to tell the general populous until we were past the first trimester. And now we are, so I'm back.

We are due at the beginning of August, which seems like a lifetime away since we have known since the day before Thanksgiving. But we are loving all of the little milestones and slowly believing that there is actually a baby in there. It's looking more like a human every time we see it on the ultrasound, and I'm starting to feel less like I've just had the flu for the past four months. Blair is still not used to pregnant me, and I can't really say that I am, either, with the crazy mood swings and irritability. But we are both so excited, and Blair is going to make the best little daddy-o around. Our doc thinks from our latest ultrasound that we are having a boy, but the ultrasound was not super clear, so I'm going to wait until our next one to be sure. Jonah told us that 'astinky' is a good name choice, probably because he already gave 'stinkyface' to Aimee for her baby and tried to convince her that it's a nice name. So maybe we'll keep that on the back burner in case we can't come up with something. Either way, though, we're having a baby! And it's about stinkin time!

And while I'm writing about it, I have to say thanks to everyone who prayed for us, thought of us, or otherwise sent us good karma during the whole terrifying experience that was in vitro. I have been scared to death of doing in vitro for the past two years leading up to it, so it meant a lot to have the support of our family and friends. We are surrounded by great people in our family, friends, and neighborhood, and our baby will be so blessed because of it, notwithstanding the fact that I will be his mother. And I also have to say, although I know I say it all the time, how amazing Blair is. I say it as much as I do because it's true, but also because I don't know how I got so lucky to have him. Not only did he give me numerous, much-needed pep talks during the in vitro, he continues to give me pep talks on a weekly (or daily, let's be honest) basis when I freak out about how we're going to do this, along with putting up with my exponentially increased level of weepiness and general insanity. We feel so blessed to finally have the chance to be pregnant and become parents, and we are so excited to meet our little man this summer.

Really?

Ha ha. I've been thinking about what I could write about for a new post since it's been way too long. I found this post that I wrote a year ago but never actually posted. I thought it would be fitting since I've had some weird stomach bug this week. Not quite like the one referenced below, but stomach bug nonetheless. Apparently April is the time to get the stomach flu. I'm warning you, though--the material below is not appropriate for all viewers (or readers, actually), so stop now if you're one of those people that is always appropriate.

I recently found out that a few of the readers of this blog, including Blair, really enjoyed and have been missing my "Really?" posts. Well, let me remedy that right away by telling you about the last 18 or so hours of my life and how many times I've said that very word. But let me warn you right now that I will not be posting about social injustices or ills or some other topic that I usually favor. The thing that has made me say "really?" the past day (mostly in my head because I haven't had the strength to say it with appropriate gusto out loud) is that I have had the stomach flu. So if you are sensitive or opposed to hearing about diarrhea (rest assured that I had to look that up to figure out the correct spelling) or vomit, stop reading now. For real. If you are one of the brave few who can handle or actually enjoys (ew!, what's wrong with you?) talking about these subjects, forge ahead.
So my Sunday started out normally. We drove back from Fool Creek fairly early that morning so that Blair could make it to his 9 a.m. meetings on time. We had enjoyed a weekend of fabulous weather in Millard County that included a softball tourney for Blair and a family picnic for me. I also had a meeting on Sunday at 11:30, and I had to speak in sacrament meeting, so I was working on my talk before and after my meeting before our church started at 2:30 (yep, jealous, aren't you?). I get uber-nervous when I have to speak in public, so I could feel my heart beating in my stomach starting at 1:30 until about 4. What with my meeting and preparing for my talk, I didn't eat too much before church except oatmeal in the morning, 2 muffins, and a string cheese. My talk went ok, and my parents actually showed up for it unexpectedly. I know, they are pretty much the greatest parents ever, but that's the subject of another post. So they gave me a ride home from church and hung out for a bit while I started getting dinner ready while Blair had more meetings. I was making sweet and sour meatballs (which I really love), and I ate a few of them plain after I baked them. My stomach was pretty ticked about that, but I just figured it was being picky about what things I am allowed to eat on an empty stomach (not much, really). That's when the fun started. My stomach started cramping and just got worse and worse as time went on. We invited some of our friends over for dinner, but by then my stomach hurt so bad that I couldn't eat. Normally I would just eat through it, but I was feeling nauseous, so I decided not to. And I felt bad, because who wants to eat at someone's house when the person who made the food doesn't eat it? Not a good sign generally.

Our guests left shortly after eating because they knew I wasn't feeling well, but before they did, I had to excuse myself rather quickly at one point so I didn't poop my pants in front of them. I mean, even I know that that is not polite company.This is when I started in on the reallys. Nothing like the stomach flu to remind you that, no matter how smart or sophisticated you think you are, if a tiny virus takes control of your bodily functions, you are at its mercy. One minute we are talking about how great C.S. Lewis is, and the next I'm thinking "Really?" and sprinting up the stairs hoping I make it to the bathroom before I lose it. So after the bathroom break, I figured I got it out of my system and would be feeling better. We chatted for a few more minutes and then they left. I was pretty nauseous by that point, so I decided that I would be proactive about things and make myself throw up so that I would feel better. My body has a pretty strong anti-barf mechanism, so I was in the bathroom for probably 20 minutes gagging myself with the only result being that I spit about 50 times into the toilet and then ultimately threw up about 2 tablespoons of the contents of my stomach. Really, digestive system? Even when there's something beating the crap out of you (literally), you can't just barf everything up one time? Before last night, I hadn't vomited since my appendix ruptured in 2006, but for some reason I thought I could make myself do it. Nope. I decided that 8:15 was not too early for bed, so I got my pj's on and went up and laid in bed. Not that I could fall asleep with the cramping in my stomach, but every time I would even get semi-comfortable, there's the signal, and I'm like "Really?! Again? How is there anything left?" as I run to the bathroom so I don't poop the bed. My very own colon cleanse, for free. So great. One of the times that I laid back down after round 6 or something, I thought, "Man, a colostomy bag is sounding better and better. Those guys have it made." So obviously the virus was impacting both my intestines and my brain.

Around 9, the virus finally talked my stomach into releasing its contents. I sat back down on my bed after one of the 23 bathroom trips, got the vomit-induced neck heat, picked up my bucket, and threw up approximately a gallon of stuff. At the same time, my nose started bleeding from the force and the lack of fluid in my body, so I was vomiting and dripping blood into the bucket. When I was finally done, I went into the bathroom to dispose of the mixture of my stomach contents and my blood while holding my head over the bucket dripping blood from my nose so I wouldn't get it on the carpet. I asked Blair to bring me some water to wash out my mouth, and when he got up there and saw me, he was probably thinking "Really? This is what I'm married to?" But he didn't say anything like that. He just gave me the water and said, "Make sure you brush your teeth." I love that man. So practical. I talked to my mom on the phone shortly after that because Blair and I were thinking that it must be food poisoning, so I thought I would check and see if they were feeling ok since I had been eating the same things as them for two days. They were fine, but my mom suggested that maybe I had the same thing that my niece Taryn and my nephew Jonah and sister-in-law Darci had last week. Really, immune system? I saw Taryn for about five minutes last Monday, and she didn't sneeze or otherwise breathe on me, so what the crap? Really, I can't fend off a virus from a two-year old? Really?

I finally fell asleep and woke up this morning feeling a little better. But I thought it would be rude to go to work in case anyone else has as sweet of an immune system as me, so I stayed in bed drinking Coke, water, and gatorade (separately) and eating saltines and sleeping a lot. I finally got up at 4 and brushed my teeth and took a shower. And somehow, I still smelled like the flu even after my teeth-brushing (with toothpaste) and showering (with soap). Really? What does one have to do to get the death smell off? Bathe in lye or acid or something? Really?

So there you go. And now you're the one who is thinking, "Really? You thought that was appropriate to share on a blog?" Yep. I mean, honestly, who can't relate to that? And I appreciated it even more since I've had another round this week. And don't worry. Next time around will be cleaner, maybe. No guarantees, though.

Still here

Just wanted to let you know that Blair and I are still here. In the blogging world and in the real world. Nothing too exciting happening in either. Although, baseball season has started, spring is kind of here, and I went on my first horse ride for the season. And I'm off sugar, again. For three months. Don't worry, though, because I've already started planning a couple amazing desserts that I'm going to make at the end of June--chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate mousse filing and chocolate whipped cream, anyone? Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we're alive. And working on some good material. Coming sooner or later. Assuming there is anyone who still reads this, I mean.

Don't Worry

In case you thought that 'soon' actually meant close in proximity to the time that Blair made the last post, I'm sorry to tell you that you were w-r-o-n-g. Clearly. It is sort of like a movie premier when they tell you that it's coming soon, but happens to be two years out. You should actually be grateful that it didn't take two years, huh? Count your blessings. But now is the time that you have been waiting for. And don't worry, it will be worth the wait. Or maybe not. You decide. I'm not making any promises.

So in case you didn't know, we went halfway around the world for a week in October. We went to the Ukraine so that I could teach law students there about jury trials through an organization that is based here in Utah. It was an amazing experience, and if you're dying to hear about it, don't worry, because you are going to right now.

First of all, if you have ever wanted to feel sheer panic, go ahead and ask the airline to lose your bags when traveling to a foreign country. But don't worry, because when you lose them, some chick in a military uniform who barely speaks English will be the one in charge of recovering them for you. So rest easy knowing that you don't have any clothes to wear and that you could end up wearing the same undies for several days in a row.

So when we landed in Kiev after our fifteen hour flight and discovered that we, in fact, did not have any baggage in the country, we were briefed on our responsibilities for the coming week and then got on a 6-hour train. And if you've never experienced a European train before, don't worry, because when a fellow American tells you to not use the restroom on the train, she's not kidding. Turns out the toilet literally flushes out onto the track. Once you realize that, you'll understand why they lock the bathrooms about 10 minutes before you get to the station. But if you wanted to work in some toning exercises on your trip, you're in luck, because you'll never sit on the toilet seat (if there happens to be one), so you'll be doing a perma squat for however long it takes you to use the restroom. But again, don't worry if you feel like it's not up to your cleanliness standards, because there's a toilet scrub brush in the corner that you're free to use. If you want to re-create the experience of peeing while on a Ukrainian train at home, go ahead and squat while standing on a basketball, with your pants down, obviously, and attempt to pee into a bucket while holding onto a doorknob. That should make you feel like you are there. But go ahead and don't use toilet paper. Instead, get some extra crepe paper from the last party you threw or a piece of a brown paper bag. That will do it. And then next time you go to a public restroom that has actually seats on the toilet and provides you with real toilet paper instead of pieces of a grocery bag, be glad that you live in the U.S. and realize that maybe public restrooms aren't as bad as you thought they were.

So the first night, the train we were on was a speed train, which in fact does not mean that it's fast, in case you came to that conclusion. Don't worry, though, because if the train derails or something, you won't get injured because you're traveling approximately thirty miles an hour, except when it gets fast on the straightaways and tops out at 40. But the other two trains we rode were "sleeper trains," where you have four bunks in your cabin and you sleep in it. Obviously. One of the sleeper trains we were on was a 14 hour ride, and we only had a box of juice and a loaf of bread. Our guide thought we were really weird because we wanted to eat every 5 hours or so. But don't worry, we didn't. We usually ate only twice a day. So every time we had a meal, we were both in starvation mode and ate as much as we could since we weren't sure when our next meal would be. We tried a few of the traditional Ukrainian dishes like dumplings and borsht, but we decided to forego the salad with cod liver oil, the fried lard, and the sour cream/mayo combo that was a topping on most items. Turns out dumplings are about the only way Blair will eat potatoes. They are pretty tasty, though, especially when you're starving.

Anyway, back to the train. This is a picture of our cabin. Luckily, it was just the two of us because the institute bought all four tickets for this cabin. Although it may have been fun to share it with two random people, right? It actually wasn't too bad to sleep on, except when the train went over what had to be logs lying on the tracks and you felt like you were going to get bucked off. Fallen tree type logs, I mean. I thought it may have been helpful to have seat belts to belt you in while you were sleeping.
When we were heading back to the U.S., we calculated that we spent about 30 hours on a train and about 30 hours on a plane. But aside from the actual traveling, it was an awesome country to see. After our first train ride, we got to L'viv, which is the second largest city in Ukraine. We stayed there for two days. This is the opera house in L'viv, and it's their most famous building. We discovered a couple things about Ukrainians while we were in L'viv. They have no concept of personal space. But don't worry about them picking your pocket. They actually just want to stand in it. Seriously, standing in line at the bank to exchange money and some dude was standing about 6 inches behind us. But everyone did it. And they are really concerned when taking pictures that they get your entire body in the picture, feet and all. So here we are in full-bodied glory in front of the opera house.
And all of the buildings had really amazing architecture, too. This gigantic awesomeness of a building was just one of the universities that I taught at. You can't tell very well from this picture, but the big statue on the top was Lady Liberty. Turns out, they really love statues in the Ukraine. If you do anything noteworthy there, you can pretty much guarantee they will make a statue of you.
After our two days in L'viv, we took the first of our two sleeper trains to Chernivsti, which was in the southern part of the country. After our first class, we went to a local museum. We had heard that the national token in the Ukraine is the egg, and turns out, we hit the jackpot at this museum. This is the first case that we found in one of the last rooms we went to in the museum. They are super intricate and detailed, and they are actually real eggs that have been hollowed out. Blair was intrigued, as you can see.
We thought that was pretty cool, then we turned the corner and went through this giant room with a lot of weird tapestries, only to discover another room filled completely with cases of eggs. It was rad.
The two highlights of our stay in Chernivsti were the University and the pedestrian walkway. We went on a little tour of the University, except they call it an excursion. So we paid an extra $1.20 for an excursion, and he told us all about the church, the main building, and the grounds out back. This is the view of the University church/monastery from the street. And don't worry about the face I'm making, because I was in survival mode and that is the corresponding facial expression. Plus, I think it was about 3 in the afternoon, and we hadn't eaten since 8 or 9, so I was a little cranky. Turns out, Blair and I are kind of like infants as far as the regularity with which we must eat.
This is the church from inside the grounds. The buildings were really amazing because the whole place was built in the late 1800s, and they were really tall, as you can tell. And Blair was pretty excited to be there, if you can't tell from this picture. Actually, our guide/interpreter Lenna told Blair to smile for this picture because she thought he didn't in the last one. So this was his response.
This was inside the main building, which was also really amazing. This hallway is on the second floor, and the domes were all tiled and the columns were marble. And in case you're wondering why we are wearing our coats in every picture, it's because it was about 35 the whole time we were there.
Most of the sidewalks were about 6 inches from the traffic, which was pretty scary since people drive like crazy and park on the sidewalks. But there was a pedestrian walkway in Chernivsti that was really great. I think this was the part that felt the most like we were actually in Europe--walking down cobblestone streets with the beautiful pastel buildings on both sides and flower planters and benches in the middle. It was very cool.
This is our classic vacation self photo.
Another thing that we really loved was all the churches. It seemed like there were huge cathedrals every few streets.
This one might look like a Dr. Seuss church, but the columns on the outside towers are just slanted. We were very impressed with how religious the people were. Every time we stopped in to check out a church, there were people there worshipping or ceremonies being performed. It was nice.
After two days in Chernivsti, we took a sleeper train back to Kiev and spent one day there before we flew back to New York. The highlight of our trip was that night, because we were able to go to the Kiev temple and spend some time there. It was just dedicated in August, so it was really a great experience to be able to go and see it.
The following morning, we had a couple hours to do some sightseeing before our flight. There was a park fairly close to the apartment where we were staying that had some monuments. Both of these are monuments to the Ukrainian people who died of starvation at the beginning of World War I, something like 13 million people. There was also a WWII monument not far from here with an eternal flame and a monument that looked a lot like the Washington Monument in D.C.
So at this point, you're probably thinking, "Well that's all pretty neat, but can you tell me anything about the smallest elevator in the world?" To which I will respond, "Yes, I can." As it turns out, the apartment building where we stayed for a night in Kiev had the world's smallest elevator. Ok, maybe not, but definitely the smallest elevator that I've ever seen, roughly the size of a very uncomfortably small shower. We had three humans in there with four decent size bags, and it was incredibly snug. We would have preferred to take the stairs, but we were five flights up with all of our baggage, so we just got in and hoped it didn't stop. And it didn't.
So then we came home. After our 15+ hours of traveling from Kiev to Salt Lake City, I have never been so glad to be in the Salt Lake airport in my entire life. And don't worry, because they lost our bags again. And let me just say that Blair was less than pleased with the situation. Consider that my diplomatic way of describing what happened when everyone else left the baggage terminal Saturday night at midnight and we were there without our bags. Again. The lady at the Delta counter probably felt like Blair looked like this when he was speaking loudly and in a frustrated tone at her:

And although we weren't really fans at the time, it worked to our advantage because our trip to California in February will now be sponsored in part by Delta Airlines. Which is great, until they lose our bags again. But don't worry, because we eventually got them back, just an entire day later and crushed. The guy who dropped them off probably thought Blair looked like that picture also.

By the way, if you're wondering what the deal is with Blair's face in that picture, Dan painted it for Halloween, which Blair loved because he scared all 5 of the trick or treaters that we had this year.

So that's how our trip was. It was awesome while we were there seeing stuff and while I was teaching, but the travel was a total nightmare. And 60+ hours of traveling in one week is just not awesome. We took a lot more pictures and experienced some fun and crazy stuff, but you've probably had enough for now. Just remember the next time you go to the Ukraine to pack everything in your carry-on and bring your own toilet paper. Don't worry, you'll love it.

coming soon...

Another post from Sara will be coming soon. It will be quite the treat, I promise. We love you all.