The House of God

Time for another insomnia blog!

Tonight Gaivn and I went to the temple together. I'm ashamed to say that it has been far too long since we've been there, but since General Conference (and President Monson's talk; read it on lds.org; it's called The Holy Temple--a Beacon to the World), we have made a new resolve to make temple attendance a high priority. He said,

"Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome, or too much discomfort to endure... Make whatever sacrifices that are necessary to attend the temple."

Those words had a big impact on me. Although my husband and I have both received the ordinances for ourselves, we need to whatever it takes to continue to attend the temple. The gospel is all about eternal progression, and that starts now. I realized from President Monson's words that even though it may make an extra effort to get there, and although I may be extra uncomfortable (being exceptionally round in the middle), it's worth it. More than worth it.

President Monson is a prophet of God, and so of course he was absolutely right. The spirit alone that we both felt as we sat in the Lord's house made it all worth it over and over again, and I can't wait to go back. God's blessings are always worth our petty little sacrifices.

Two-Faced

It's the middle of the night and I can't sleep, so it's time for another rant!

By the way, let me be clear that I only intend to be funny, maybe a bit cynical, but these rants are usually nothing I dwell on... it's just fun to rant sometimes!

So the rant of the night: two-faced people. I'm talking about the ones (almost always women, BTW) who are all sweet and complimentary to your face and say nice things to you, but once you leave, tear you to pieces. Unfortunately, we live in a society in which it is taught that conflict with other people is wrong, and that saying anything negative about a person to their face is unacceptable. But saying it behind their back is okay? Apparently.

If you've read my previous posts (or know me at all) you know that I whole-heartedly disagree with this. I value genuinity in people very highly, and I believe that honesty is the only way to build healthy relationships. Now of course, there are some things (even if they are true) which are better left unsaid, but that applies both to the face and behind the back. Leave it alone.

But if you really need to say something negative to a person, think it through, get it out tactfully and constructively, only once and never again. Once you've said what you need to say, stop there. It's that simple. Most mature people will appreciate your openness and honesty, and will appreciate it even more that your criticism is limited to those occasional incidents and isn't repeated when you're not around.

True, it takes a lot of guts to approach someone and talk to them about the issues you have with them. But believe me, it eliminates the bigger issue of having things stretched out over a long period of time, blown out of proportion and given the potential to ruin trust, and ultimately, friendships. So buck up, speak up and then let it go.

Testing

I'm trying to figure out why my blog is being retarded, so I'm writing a quick test blog to see if I can figure out what's going on, and hopefully make my future posts more legible.

We're in the last week of school, and that is so nice! Next week is finals week, and then we'll be free until the end of June, when Gavin starts his Calc III class. Yikes!

We're getting a stationary exercise bike today. We've been shopping for one for a couple weeks and found a used one for a very good price. I just hope we both use it! I know I will.

I'm getting excited for my upcoming baby showers! I feel so spoiled. I already have almost everything I need for Zoey, and it's so exciting to think she'll be using it all soon!

One more month, I think. Maybe 6 weeks. :)

Midnight Vent

It's midnight, and I should be asleep. I'm working in the cadaver lab tomorrow morning and I'll be on my feet the entire time. So as I wait for my (ahem) Unisom to kick in, I'll vent about the silly incident that happened today. If you don't want to listen to it, skip it. I won't be offended. :) We have new neighbors who recently moved into our complex. There is assigned parking in our little lot, and the first week or so, they kept parking in our spot (which happens to be the closest to the complex), sometimes overnight. It wouldn't normally have bugged me much, but I do happen to be 7 months pregnant, and the closer I can park, the better! However, we were patient with it, seeing how they were new and probably unaware of the assigned parking thing. The last time they parked in our spot, the apartment manager actually called us on the phone to ask whose car it was. We said we weren't sure, but thought it was probably the new people. It never happened again. We never complained about it, but I was glad to have our spot back. My younger brother and his wife are in town, and they decided to stop by to visit us. They parked in some random spot and we figured it was no big deal for a couple hours. We saw some neighbors double park their own car and asked them if they'd like us to move my brother's car. They shrugged it off and so we left and firgured it could wait a couple hours. We went out to dinner nearby, and when we got back, we got a call from the apartment manager asking about my brother's car. He said the other renters were all upset about their spot being taken (for a whole hour) and could we please have the car moved, and could we please make sure our guests know they can't park there, etc. Well, they were on their way out the door anyway, and so I told him. They moved the car-- problem solved. Was that so bad? Whiny, hypocritical neighbors bother me. That's pretty much all. Good night.

Hippie-Birthing

Once again, the blog isn't letting me put spaces between paragraphs for some odd reason. Sorry about that. So, I've mentioned before that despite years of being weirded out by the concept, I've decided to try out hypnobirthing. Well, I got the home teaching guide thing, and let me just say one thing:

Flower power, yo.

Wow. The concepts are sound. The physiology is accurate. The psychology is realistic. The writer needs to be fired. Right now. I'm sorry, but I am a very logically-minded person, and when I hear terms like "happy place" and "bubble of peace" used in connection with things I'm supposed to do, and surrounded in layers of overly-italicized and bolded words, I shut off. I'm sorry, but there's no such physiologic mechanism called "bubble of peace", and no logical connection in my mind with "happy place". However, I'm determined to glean the principles I'm learning from this stuff and gain all I can. The fact is, hypnobirthing is quite effective when practiced well, and as several reliable health care professionals have told me, most moms who use it don't need anesthetic. There's got to be something to that. The mind is a powerful thing, and I do believe that if taught correct princliples, it can overcome things as tangible as physical pain (within reason). So, I've decided to pick apart the manual, get an understanding of the concepts, and then translate them into something I can understand, respect and apply. I'll let you know how it goes. So far I've taken over 40 pages of fluff, condensed it and translated it into nine coherant principles that I can definitely work with. Who knows, maybe this will someday revolutionalize the way that scientifically-minded women view birthing. For now though, I'm just looking forward to my own successful labor and delivery. Peace out.

31 Weeks

Yes, I am definitely beginning to understand better why women get impatient at the end of pregnancy. It's midnight and I wish I was asleep. I'm exhausted, but the combination of kicking baby, expanding rib cage, painfully dry throat and achey joints makes sleep something of an achievement. It's hard not to resort to taking something to help me fall asleep, but I don't want to hurt the baby, and I know if I do take something (albeit safe) I won't wake up until noon tomorrow--not that that's a huge deal; I'd just rather be awake for most of the day.

Poor Ariel is 8 weeks ahead of me, and she's been on the brink of labor for 3 days now. Her contractions are pretty consistent, but she's just not dilating. To make matters worse, AJ will only be in town until the first of May, so the sooner that baby comes, the better.

I can't yet imagine what it must feel like to be in labor, or even to have a real contraction. My occasional Braxton Hicks hardly count for anything at all, and I have to admit that it's a little daunting, thinking about what the real thing will be like. I know I'll be fine; I'm sure things will go the way they're supposed to... that only makes me feel mostly better though.

Zoey's room is almost done now. We just need to get rid of a few boxes and wash her tiny clothes, but that part will have to wait until her baby showers are done. I love sitting in her room and just looking around, taking it all in. It still feels a little like playing house, but it's becoming more and more real every day:

I'm going to be a mommy. Very soon.