One and Two Make THREE!

So, I was going to be good and not post this until I was three months along (12 weeks) because thats when its more normal to post, and we might have an ultrasound by then....but I decided to post now, two weeks earlier. Our baby will be #35 on the Rasmussen side, and around # 3 on Sterling's side...but I think both sides of the family are REALLY excited! (everyone already knows, so its not like this post is a big shocker) We are due August 7th, 2011.

So, I keep getting asked how everything is going. Pretty ok. I'll be able to get on my parents insurance July 1st, so for check-ups, we're trying for Medicaid (hopefully we qualify) and since we haven't been approved yet, I haven't been to the doctor yet. So lets just say, a HUGE THANK YOU to all of my wonderful five older sisters who have been AMAZING at giving me advice and tricks for getting rid of nausea.

I had an entire week of throwing up 5 times a day, but thanks to my oldest and wisest sister and some wonderful modern medicine, I only get nauseous about twice a day now, and haven't thrown up since. I have lost 10-15 pounds-ish, which is a little annoying. I lost fifteen pounds before my wedding(on accident, not on purpose), happily gained about ten of it back, and have since lost it all again. The annoying thing is, now that I'm losing weight again, none of my pants stay up. Hmph. I did go out and buy one pair of a size smaller jeans just to make myself feel cute, but its kind of a waste, since I'll probably never fit them again in my life. Sigh.

The below picture is the DAY we found out I was pregnant....before losing all the weight. I should do another picture now, of me 13 pounds lighter. Haahaa. One more month and I'm out of the first trimester, and hopefully not sick, and hopefully gaining weight by then!

Sterling has been an absolute angel. He sat with me on the bathroom floor after the first time he was home to hear me throw up several, several times. He's not too annoyed when I tell him not to touch me, not to breathe on me, not to sit by me (I know, I'm a cuddle-monster and I feel this way sometimes????) And he's been a saint about not cooking meat in our kitchen. The smell kills me. Other than that....we are SO EXCITED!!!!!!! We planned it for the summer so we can adjust before another semester begins, and we feel like it is perfect timing! Welcome baby Haws!

Oh yeah, and Christmas was great! Yay for our first Christmas together! We had lots of traveling and lots of family fun. Sterling got a fish tank...so I guess that means we're getting fish, and I also got him a razor and I cut his hair today all by myself for the very first time!!!! It turned out pretty good too.

Fun things in our Neighborhood

I have a really cool cousin that posted on how to make your pictures bigger on your post. By following her tutorial, I managed, and it worked just perfectly! I'm pretty excited. Last night Sterling and I went to SLC with the institute marrieds' presidency (of which we are over activities, so you should all come to our Valentine's dance in February because it will be stellar. Plus, its on our anniversary) and we went to an INCREDIBLY delicious restaurant(Market Street Grill), where I managed to keep down all my food, which was a plus, and then we wandered temple square.

These are our good friends Brittney and Eric. They live in our apartment complex, climbed the 16mile Ben Lomond with us over the summer, play games with us frequently, and I had Brittney's dad for an 8th grade teacher at South Ogden Junior High. We also just found out we had the same teacher for Kindergarten (I was AM and she was PM) and we were in the same 1st grade class at Wasatch Elementary before I moved to North Dakota (she's in my scrapbook! hahaa). They're pretty much awesome, so I thought I'd add a picture.

I was really, really cold. But the lights were beautiful!

And this is a Christmas present, that I got really excited to open on Sunday night when we were playing games...so we opened it. It was one mean game of Jenga!

Shocking

Yesterday we went to a reception for one of Sterling's really good friends from high school. We were scared we wouldn't make it in time to see them, as Sterling barely got off work in time to run there. We made it just as they were about to make their escape, and we gave them a big hug. Then we stood around and talked a little bit with some of Sterling's old buddies. His friends like to joke a lot, and they were chatting about something while I kissed Sterling several small times (honestly, I didn't even notice it that much until it was pointed out). His friend Cameron pretended to be all disgusted, so I took Sterling's head in my hands, wrapped my leg behind his, Sterling lifted me up a little (you see, I'm too short to actually kiss him without some sort of compromise) and we REALLY kissed. I think all of his friends were rather shocked. It was quite fun. To all of their hoots and hollers I merely said "My dad would've called us amateurs." To which Sterling laughed and said "I have some pretty sweet in-laws."

Sterling said they probably were so surprised because if they had the same idea of what I was like, as he did when they were all in high school, he didn't think that was at all something I would have done. Apparently he thought I was task-oriented, driven, and not very fun. Hm. He never partied with Aleesha and me.

Later, Cameron told us he thought we were a really great couple. I wonder if the kiss had anything to do with it. HAHA

Cocktails in Heaven

I really like the dentist I work for semi/part/time. I used to assist for him before I went to hygiene school, and if he wasn't retiring and only working 3 days a week and already had hygienists working for him, he always tells me he'd employ me full-time. Thanks for the thought, at least.

Yesterday I was working there, and the assistant that was working with me was telling a patient about a blessing her bishop had given her on Sunday. The assistant has been inactive for a long time and still has a hard time getting to church, and I assumed she must know the patient, or at least that the patient was LDS. I was listening to their conversation when all the sudden the lady said "Well I'm not LDS but I believe their religion! I'd be a Mormon, except I can't live it." The dentist, who was in the operatory by that time asked why, and she said because she liked her weekend cocktails too much. So the Dr., being sneaky, said "Well, I believe that God doesn't mind too much if you drink your cocktails." And that kinda took me by surprise, because I know he's a solid LDS member.

The lady was also surprised and asked him what he meant. He continued to ask her about what she believed in. She said she believed their story, the Book of Mormon, and thought they were really good people. She thought their standards were good, but she just couldn't see what was wrong with a cocktail over the weekend.

The dr. agreed with her, and said that even when Christ was on the earth they drank wine and there was no problem. Again he said that he didn't think God minded that we drank a cocktail here or there, but then he explained to the lady that when Joseph Smith received revelation that we shouldn't drink alcohol, it was because we had to have standards that set us apart from the rest of the world in the latter-days. He said that God foresaw how many tragic things could happen in the world from alcohol and knew it was a good thing for His people to stay away from, and that is why we don't believe in drinking alcohol. But not because it was something terribly bad for a person to do in moderation always and forever. And then he said he thinks she'll be able to drink cocktails in heaven, and when she does, and two Mormon missionaries come up to her in heaven, he hopes she'll listen. And she said she definitely would.

It was an awesome conversation.

My musical ability...or lack thereof

An old man in our ward asked me to accompany his saxophone solo at a rest home a while back. I, of course, said that would be just fine. He asked, and I told him that I could play pretty much anything, especially because he was giving me so much notice.

Let the world be told: I retract that statement. I used to think I could play pretty much anything with enough advance notice. I no longer think that.

Now, I know I didn't major in piano performance, and that I am not an especially grand piano player, but for most intents and purposes, I can pretty much sight read anything. Bad habit, I know, but I rarely practice even when I know I'm a little off, because most people never notice.

This guy is a musician. And he asked me to accompany Harlem Nocturne. I have no problem with the notes. No problem with the playing everything just perfect...but thats just my problem. Sterling came and listened to us. I play it too perfectly. It's a jazz piece. And no, I never really played a jazz piece before when accompanying, and this is a new experience. Sterling came and listened to us practice, and told me to just chill and play around a bit, slow down, and enjoy the blues. I appreciate blues music, I even did a HUGE report on blues music in 10th grade, and I really enjoy it. Apparently I have a really hard time playing it.

Sterling gave me a small lecture on the finer points of jazz music and I just can't wrap my head around it. In my mind, the accompanist's role is to be steady, on beat, and kind of background music so that the soloist can do whatever they want, hold whenever they want, play it however they want...and I just follow along. Sterling got very frustrated that I couldn't see beyond this viewpoint. I just can't ad lib very easily on the piano, or make stuff up, or jazz up whats written in front of me. I'm sorry honey, its all I've ever known. And I thought I was pretty good at it too!

Alas, hopefully tomorrow goes well and I don't have to accompany a saxophone jazz piece again anytime soon.

Sick

Dad used to quote a Shel Silverstein poem about beards growing to toes:

My nose runs to my toes

I never stops my blows.

I wraps my blows arounds

my nose, and through the days

I goes.

I am so SICK of my cold. I have been sleeping and sleeping, I have been blowing and blowing, my nose is raw and skin is flaking off because I have been blowing it so much, I cough and hack and cough all day long, and that kills my sore throat that hurts every time I swallow. Yes, I am whining, but really? Aren't colds supposed to go away after four days? I am SICK of this.