Whirlwind Trip to Arizona

One of my best friends Tiffani got married this week to Hideaki Suzuki in the Mesa Temple, so Russ and I took a quick road trip down to Phoenix. The wedding was lovely and I was so happy to be there. On the drive back, we stopped at the Grand Canyon. The views were incredible, and I also enjoyed listening to the other tourists talk and trying to guess what country they were from.

Arizona is ridiculously hot. Experiencing the 114-degree heat as a 6-month pregnant woman was, to say the least, an uncomfortable endeavor, and one that I am not eager to repeat. Russ and I spent 72 hours drenched in sweat from head to toe and swearing up and down that when we got back, we would never complain about Utah's "heat" (we are such babies here).


The bigger I get, the less likely we are to take another trip before baby boy arrives, so I guess this counted as our babymoon. We had a really good time, and I'm so grateful to Russ who drove the whole time and let me sleep and put my feet up on the dashboard. What a gem.

Three Cheers for June

Three major things have happened since I last blogged:

1) The school year ended. I can't believe how fast it went by! It was a wonderful year and I am full of love for my students.

My French 3 class. I can't wait to see what awesome things they do in the future. 

Three teachers, all due (with BOYS) within a month of each other.

My empty 95-degree classroom. 

2) We moved. I love our new place so much.

A nice, open living room with lots of natural light.

Covered parking. No, that awesome kayak does NOT belong to us.

A nice front deck where we sit and watch the sunset and eat watermelon.

3) I am getting bigger every day.

At 26 weeks...

I am craving Taco Bell, Spaghettios, and applesauce.

Tums are my best friends.

It's getting really hard to bend over, and painting my toenails is out of the question.

Baby boy is moving constantly, and is especially good at finding and smashing my bladder.

My mind is mush. I trip, run into walls and doors, drop things, and call people on my phone
asking them to call my phone so I can find it.

The Castleton-Lees are Back in Town

and we are so happy.

C'est un Garçon

Last week, Russell and I found out we are having a baby boy.

Nothing can prepare you for that moment. The radiologist is scanning over his miniature heart and spine and feet and then casually mentions a fact you know that will change your life forever.

I knew my life would be altered dramatically one way or the other - princess dresses and tea parties and painted toes versus sticks and mud and Cars 2 bedsheets.

Russell is so excited, of course. He keeps grabbing my stomach and loudly proclaiming, "My SON! Heir to the Lee throne!"

I can't believe there's a little man inside me. I don't know anything about little boys, but what a better way to learn everything? Although I still let out a small pitiful sigh every time we pass the ruffly dresses and headbands in the store, I am getting really excited about little plaid shirts and onesies covered in tigers and lions. I know we're meant to have this baby and that he's meant to be a boy - and I can't wait to meet him.

I had up two posters in my classroom that my students signed. If they guessed right, they got a Tootsie Pop, courtesy of Russell. If it had been up to me, it would have been a Skittle. That's right - one Skittle per person. 

Nephew

Russell's sister Erin and her husband Sam had their baby boy two weeks ago. 

His name is James and he is perfect and tiny and oh so darling.

Russ and I are so excited to be aunt and uncle!

What a perfect way to prep for our own little one.

Speaking of which, we find out on Tuesday if it's a he or a she.

I am ecstatic and terrified.

Cat's Out of the Bag

Notice anything different?

Neither do I, not really yet.

Nevertheless, there IS a baby in there - one that will make his or her appearance at the end of September!

My most favorite things about being pregnant:

1) My students' reactions. Their reaction to the news was just as elated, if not more so, than my own family. They ask me every day how le bébé is doing. They want to know how big he/she is and if I'm still feeling sick. They are currently offering endless suggestions of names. Any time they get a bit rowdy, I shut them up real quick by clutching my stomach dramatically and crying out, "your disruption and noise are so stressful on the baby. Since this effects development, if you keep it up, it could be born with only seven toes." 

2) Being pregnant is my excuse for everything - not wanting to go grocery shopping, being late to anything, taking three hour naps after school, eating too many Bagel Bites, and acting crabby. If anyone comments on my generally sluglike lifestyle as of late, response is always something like "Excuse me, I built a brain today. What do YOU have to show for yourself?"

3) Walking into any store and, having lost all interest in buying clothes for myself, making a beeline for the baby department and cooing over all the teeny tiny things. 

4) Last week, I woke up in the middle of the night to find Russell next to me, bathed in the light of the laptop. He'd been up for hours researching the best kinds of jogging strollers and those cute little carriages that attach to the back of a bike.

My most unfavorite things about being pregnant:

1) I am so tired. While I understand that my body is working extra hard to build and sustain a tiny life, it is frustrating to not be able to do normal things during the day because I need a four-hour nap.

2) Intensified aversion to food and smells. It's always sad when Russell makes a special effort and spends a lot of time to make us a good meal, like breakfast burritos, only to result in my gagging at the sight and smell of them, high-tailing it upstairs, and yelling from my bed for him to bring up some pears and cucumbers.

3) Throwing up in terrible places. To name a few: driving in the car on the freeway; in the (luckily) abandoned kitchen of our ward building during a Mutual activity; and worst of all, in my classroom, during first period. Those poor kids.

The Vegas

Three years ago, we took a weekend road trip to Las Vegas with Katie and Daniel.

Just kidding.

It was only three weeks ago, but it feels like forever ago.

I had the best salmon of my life at the Hard Rock Cafe 

I love these people 

We loved the jellyfish at the Mandalay Bay Aquarium

There were three Ross stores on the strip ... Really?

PBR Rock Bar & Grill managed to thrill me by serving me an array of my favorite foods - toast with peanut butter 

and raspberry jelly, fresh fruit, Spaghettios, and water with lemon

 Bellagio awesome water show to Frank Sinatra's "Luck Be A Lady"

I absolutely love these water lilies on the ceiling of the Bellagio hotel lobby

We stayed at Circus Circus (in the weird cheap barracks, not the high rise hotel). The weather was warm and we had such fun swimming, walking the strip, losing $1 to the casinos, and pretending we were high-rollers strolling through the nice hotels.