New Decorations

Last year our Halloween decorations consisted of the best (and cheapest) that could be found at Super Walmart. This year, even though we're not going to be here for Halloween, I still wanted to get some decorations that were a little bit more "my style," especially for our door (which is the only part of our apartment that people are really going to see this Halloween) so that we at least looked festive. So, I hit up the local country craft store and came home with these cute decorations:

Our door decoration (I think it's just so cute, and everything Halloween!):

A close up:

And this little guy was just too cute to pass up, so I brought him home too:

And with these decorations up, we are feeling festive and ready for Halloween to come (especially because we're going to be spending it trick-or-treating with some of the cutest kids around)!

Babysitting

I was looking through the pictures on my camera today and stumbled upon some that I had taken last month and had forgotten to post. They were from when we babysat Natalie--a little girl in our ward that is going to be in our nursury soon, as a favor to her mom that I visit teach. Natalie is such a cute girl, with two main fascinations: shoes (particularly putting other people's shoes on) and ceiling fans (which she repeatedly points at)! It was so fun to babysit her for a couple of hours. (P.S. Her eyes are really wide in these pictures because she's not sure what to think about the blinking lights on cameras yet. =)
Natalie trying on Travis' shoes (with a little help). They look so HUGE on her, it makes me laugh!
Putting on and taking off her own shoes (who knew shoes could be so much fun?):
Putting shoes back on is the tricky part. Travis helped her out though (which melts my heart; I know he's going to be such a good dad!)
Tada! Just look at my cute shoes!
A little snuggle time =)

Thanks for coming to play Natalie!

Week 10 of the Holloway Pregnancy

Our baby this week: "At nearly 1 1/2 inches long (about the size of a prune), [our] baby is growing by leaps and bounds: bones and cartilage are forming--and small indentations on the legs are developing into knees and ankles. Even more unbelievably for someone the size of a prune, the elbows on [our] baby's arms are already working. Tiny buds of baby teeth are forming under the gums." And further down, it's stomach and kidneys are already doing their thing! (You can see a few of these changes on the simulated baby.) We just can't believe how rapidly our little one is growing!
Mom this week: There have been some great, and some not so great days. Overall, I'm being able to eat more (which doesn't quite reach what I am normally able to eat, but at least it's an improvement), and am feeling less nauseus overall as well (although I'm still throwing up, though less often, and in increasingly more random places). Only 3 more weeks until the first trimester is over! (I'm hoping to feel back to my old self again by the time we leave for Travis' interview in Cleveland...hoping, praying, crossing my fingers!)
And as for what we have decided to name our baby for the time being--we still don't know. Go to our poll on the side bar to help us decide!

MCAT scores and application update

Hey everyone. This is Travis just signing on to give a little update with what has happened since submitting my application for podiatry school. As Jenny mentioned, my application was sent to schools in Arizona and Ohio. I heard back from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine and have an interview scheduled for October 31st. I'm still waiting to hear back from Midwestern (the Arizona school). I also got my MCAT scores back today and am proud to report an overall score of 26M. I'll take it. It's higher than I expected so I can't complain one bit. That's all the news on the career front for now. Stay tuned for more details at a later date.

The Name Game

The more we post about our pregnancy, the more we realize that we need a nickname for our little one, so we don't have to call it "he/she" "it" or "the baby" all of the time. Any nickname ideas? Travis thinks that "fetus" is an appropriate name (as, he says, that's what it is right now) but Jenny can't stand that as a name! Ideas, anyone? We could really use your help!

News from the Dr.'s Office

We had our first prenatal appointment this morning! For this pregnancy, we have decided to go with Targhee Medical Specialists, and we are very pleased with them so far. (The Dr. and nurse we met with this morning were both friendly, answered our questions, and made all of the procedures--pap smear, ultrasound, blood draw, and flu shot--as painless as possible. =) )

Well, let me tell you all about it:

We found out that our little one is developing right on target. He/she is currently 9 weeks and 1 day "old" (just like we had thought), so our due date of May 8, 2009 will remain the same. The baby is also just about an inch long, right at the 9 week size (I can't believe how big it has grown in only a few weeks!). And, as the Dr. says, "its a good lookin kid" (which at this stage means that everything looks normal).

It was so amazing to see the ultrasound of the baby--its head and back, its stubby little arms and legs, and its pulsating heart. The baby even danced as we watched it; the Dr. commented that we had a dancer in the family, and Travis said "Just like their mom." It's been nice to look at our simulated baby (which, by the way, is looking so grown up today!), but it's sooo much different to see the actual baby that is inside of my body. And it was extra surreal, because last time we were pregnant, the baby wasn't there, but this time, it was. Having seen the baby also made me feel more pregnant. I told Travis that as we were walking out of the clinic (unconsciously sticking out my belly a little further, and waddling a little more), and it was such a funny/strange feeling!

In addition to the GREAT news that our baby is doing well, I also recieved a prescription from the Dr. that should reduce my nausea (as well as some helpful "reading material"). Hooray! (The Dr. had asked if I had been nauseous during this pregnancy. I informed him that I just threw up in his garbage. He told me that if the nausea gets bad, I can try unisom and some vitamin B6 (which Mark had already told me about). I told him I'd been trying those, that they had been helping some, but that I was still nauseous. Then, he turned and gave me the prescription. And there was much rejoicing.) We have our next appointment in 4 weeks.

Updates on our baby from "What to Expect" are that our baby has officially graduated from an embryo to a fetus (which is why its face, arms, and legs look so much more developed in the simulator. I saw this for the first time today when we were at the school library, and I immediately turned to Travis and excitedly said "LOOK! LOOK!"). Also, his or her head is continuing to develop and take on more baby-like proportions, and tiny muscles are starting to form, allowing the baby move its limbs (or dance).

Well, there you have it--all the info on our first Dr.'s appointment and where our baby is at for week 9. =)

A Funny

My cousin emailed me this funny a little while ago, and I thought you'd all enjoy it!


Dear Tech Support,

Last year, I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications (which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0). In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate


Dear Desperate,

First, keep in mind Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command:ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 (and don't forgetto install the Guilt 3.0 update). If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the application Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (It runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program; but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck,
Tech Support.


(Husband 1.0 is obviously more fabulous than here described, but it is true that things are a little different once you get married, and that BOTH partners have to work to keep the romance alive throughout the relationship. Hope you all enjoyed!)