12/24/2008
To Get You in the Proper Spirit....
Click Click Click!
12/17/2008
Adventures in Christmas Spirit
WE HAVE A SNOWCONE BUSH. Right outside our bedroom window.
Next on the the agenda, I have been making assorted Christmas goodies for the past two days (for cookie plates), and I just have a couple things to share with you.
1. Gelatin is flammable. That's all I have to say about that.
2. Don't feed your dog tiny malformed leftover sugar cookies. You will spend the rest of your day seeing this two inches from your face:
Third of all, according to babycenter.com my baby will someday be a circus acrobat.
Babycenter also says our baby is having a "sensory explosion" this week, which doesn't sound healthy to me, but apparently that's a good thing. Not much else is going on, but every website keeps reiterating "Your baby can hear yoooou! Talk to it! Even if you're just telling him your grocery list!" Now, I have no problem talking or singing to my baby in my home, but if I'm walking down the produce isle in Broulims, I'm not going to pick up a large mango, look at my belly, and say "HEY BABY! Look at this Mango! This is how big you are this week!!"
12/14/2008
Pregnancy food.
Why do I ALWAYS want to eat Hawaiian pizza? Before I got pregnant, I didn't feel like pineapple belonged on pizza. Now it seems like the best idea ever.
And what is with the pistachios and ham, too? These are the only three foods that have yet to offend me in pregnancy. I mean, they are great foods and all, but why THOSE three?
I'm just saying. Vegetables are great foods too, and I would feel a lot better about eating those, rather than Hawaiian pizza. Why don't I always want to eat those?
12/10/2008
Weird Dreams... again.
So lately, Trevor and I have had some weird dreams about religious persecution. I can only assume that these dreams come from a mixture of lack of sleep, pregnancy hormones (on my part), and that weird part of our brains that comes up with these things. You know, that part that produced dreams about my mom's station wagon kidnapping me, and dreams about giving birth to a zucchini which my doctor insists I take home and breastfeed.
Anyway, I had a dream the other night where I was responsible for removing all the LDS women from the
“Brilliant!” I thought. And then I remembered that the baseball field bathrooms are only about 12 feet away from the actual church building, and still within the protected grounds. Useless! I went back to thinking of ways to get out of there. I finally decided that the best way out was to disguise ourselves as the Sikh Parade. Unfortunately we had no props or costumes, so we would just have to rely on our acting skills. I stood up in front of everyone and explained the plan, ending with “So we’ll all just have to act really Sikh! Don’t act Mormon!” The plan was greeted by cheers, and an immediate scurry to organize.
That was where my dream ended. The weirdest thing was that I woke up still feeling really oppressed. Like nobody liked me, and I wasn’t allowed to be LDS anymore. I like being LDS. You guys still like me, right?
12/04/2008
And so it begins.
I am DEFINITELY feeling the baby move. I know it's supposedly "early" for a first time mother, but I honestly don't know how I could mistake some of these movements for anything else. Most of them are little, kind of like a goldfish swimming around, or like popcorn popping (maybe the baby has a good supply of Jiffy Pop in my uterus?) But yesterday, as I was driving home from Idaho Falls, I distinctly felt two little feet kicking into my left side. Feet, people, FEET!!
It is simultaneously the coolest and weirdest thing I've ever experienced. Yes, it's weird. Really weird. When you can finally feel a tiny little living creature MOVING inside of you, it's kinda creepy. Certainly amazing, and wonderful to have that connection with my baby, but still weird.
One more thing about feeling the baby move: yesterday, during that significant "Holy cow, that was a foot" moment, I realized that for the first time, it hurt. Not a ton, but it wasn't pleasant. What's with that? My baby weighs under a pound. How much force could she be putting behind those kicks?
Okay. So what else is baby up to this week? Turning cartilage into bones, gaining weight, and listening to mommy sing Christmas Carols! Cool, eh?
12/02/2008
"Oh Tom the toad, oh Tom the toad! Why did you jump into the road? "
Some childhood habits die hard.
We decorated the Christmas tree last night! It was a blast! We put in our Trans-Siberian Orchestra DVD, strung popcorn and cranberries, and generally had Christmas spirit. Take a look!
Yes. There is no star on the top of our tree. Or any other sort of tree topper. We cut down our Christmas tree in the mountains this year with a few other families, and while that was really fun... we cut the tree a little tall. What you see here is after Trevor cut about 2 feet off the bottom. Our tree is exactly 8 feet tall, the same height as our ceiling... so there was no room for any tree topper. Maybe our next house will have 12 foot ceilings, and we can have our 10 foot tree with a 2 foot star topper!
Holly's homecoming!
Late Late Halloween Post!
11/20/2008
Fetus!
So! I'm 14 weeks pregnant, and in the 15th week of baby growing! Baby is the size of a large orange. That is pretty huge. Baby isn't really up to much this week, mostly kicking about (which I think I may or may not be feeling... I'll let you know when I'm sure). However, baby is sensitive to light! If I shined a flashlight straight at my belly, the baby would probably turn away. Unfortunately, I don't have a personal ultrasound machine at my house, so I can't test this out. Wouldn't that be awesome if I did have one of those, though? I would use that sucker all the time.
11/15/2008
I'm coming to realize...
I don't know if it's because a few of my friends just had their kids, or because we told everyone so early. Either way, every time I look at our baby countdown I just think "I wish pregnancy lasted 6 months. That would be much better. I would be halfway through!!"
Anyway, congratulations to Cristina, Ian & Atley; and congratulations to Amy, Jeff & Lucas! While you're enjoying your adorable babies, I'm going to work on my baby cooking skills. Maybe if I get really good at this, I can just get the baby to mature a month or two earlier.
11/06/2008
BABY.
10/22/2008
The Halloweenies!!!
You might not be able to see, but we had a total of 15. Those skulls light up, by the way :) AWESOME.
So! I am 10 weeks pregnant, and in the 11th week of baby development. I still haven't gotten to a scanner with the ultrasound... Sorry! I will soon! Besides, if you can picture a little white kidney bean floating around in a sea of TV fuzz, you pretty much have it.
This is baby this week! I switched up the picture, because I decided the other one was boring, and baby is starting to look much cuter :) What is baby up to this week? Baby is growing to an inch and a half (pretty huge if you ask me), and is supposedly kicking up a storm. Baby could also be getting the hiccups, since her diaphragm is forming. Pretty cool huh?
Also, I have a question for anyone who knows: You can carve a green pumpkin the same as an orange pumpkin, right?
And one more thing. I added a Twitter to my side bar. It's basically a random update of things I'm doing or what I'm thinking about. Kind of like a tiny pointless blog within a blog. Hooray!
10/15/2008
Ultrasound Day!!
"One two three fooouuur five, six seven eight niiiiiiiine ten, ELEVEN TWELVE."
Well, you can stop at one.
Trevor and I will be having ONE beautiful wiggly little baby! Everything looked great! The baby looked like a kidney bean with tiny arms and legs that were wiggling around. It was honestly probably the coolest experience I've ever had.
The baby was just under an inch, measuring 8 weeks 5 days, so my due date is still May 20th!
I'll post pictures as soon as I get myself to a scanner!
10/10/2008
Vegas, baby!
This is us at the M&M store. It was pretty cool, they had all kinds of chocolatey memorabilia. Kindly ignore my ginormous arm. All I can say in regards to that, is that I couldn't get my wedding ring off at the end of the last day because I was all swelled up from walking around. Pregnancy is great.
Here we are sitting next to the aquarium in the Forum Shops (which, by the way, doesn't have a single piece of maternity clothing in 150 stores. I don't need them yet, but I thought I would find SOMEthing cute). We went there for dinner one night, and sat to watch the sting rays' for a while.
One of the days while Trevor was at the convention I walked around the Bellagio Conservatory. It was beautiful! I especially liked the big white pumpkin, it made me think of Cinderella. Our trip was fun, but I was sick often, and I don't think I ever stayed up past 10:30, I was so tired. I got to spend the day with Lorna and her kids on Tuesday, and that was great! I always miss them when they're not around. Unfortunately, none of my pictures of her adorable kids turned out... the flash on my camera is a thorn in my side.
So, we had a great time in warm Las Vegas... only to return to THIS:
It was 25 degrees this morning when I woke up. No doubt snow will be coming soon... So if you see a pregnant lady with dark hair and a puke bag hitchhiking to California, pull over and give me a ride.
9th week
So what is baby doing this week? Well, first off, baby is actually starting to look like a baby, not a dinosaur! AWESOME! Baby is also starting to move, which I'm really looking forward to feeling in a while :) And last of all, baby will be an inch long at the end of this week! A whole inch! Baby has also gone from being an embryo to being a full-on fetus, the last stage before being an infant in mommy's arms.
10/02/2008
Tag, you're it!
1. Purple is almost my favorite color. Most people know that I love the color red, but deep, dark shades of purple are a close, close second runner.
2. Becca, when Trevor and I were dating, I said I love you first too! He totally tricked me into it though. I'm not REALLY that brave.
3. My friend Cristina once told me that she really wanted some Sham-WOW's, and I may or may not have laughed at her. But now, I think I want some too!! I also think I want the pancake puff maker.
4. I kind of like it when my cat licks me. Gross, I know, but her tongue feels really cool.
5. Sometimes, when I'm down with morning sickness (like every day), I like to read webcomics
6. When I want my pets to come to me, I make a clicking noise with my tongue. Apparently I spend too much time with them, because I've almost (or actually) made this noise to call out to people, too.
7. I went through a period right after I got married where I loved corn. I never really liked it before then, and I don't like it now. I'm not sure where it came from, but I really loved corn for a while.
So I'm supposed to tag 7 people to do this, eh? I'll pick... Lorna, Pam, David, Dad, Jeff&Amy, Camille&Daniel, and Cristina&Ian.
Ta-Da!
10/01/2008
7 weeks pregnant, 8th week of development
BABY IS GETTING FINGERS! This is big news! Baby Butchart is also half an inch long, about the size of a raspberry. Baby's eyelids, ears, upper lip and the tip of baby's nose are forming. Isn't that cool?
News in pregnancy: I have a superpower. I am... THE SUPER NOSE. I smell EVERYTHING. Sometimes this is a bad thing... like when I'm cooking, or every time I pass the garbage can. But sometimes it's a good thing! Last night when I was taking Blake for his walk I could smell the different flowers without even getting close to them, and I could smell the fruit trees. This one house must have been cooking something pumpkin-y, because it smelled WONDERFUL.
Also, for those who are interested, Trevor and I will be in Las Vegas Sunday night through Wednesday. Premier is sending Trevor there for a Welding Convention, and I get to tag along :) If there are any suggestions for things we should do while we're there, leave us a comment!
9/29/2008
The Mighty MAN.
Now, before I launch into what I think, let me provide Trevor with his opportunity to speak:
"It's a Savage model 110 chambered in a 30-o6. Don't listen to Michelle. Having a gun is safe."
Okay. There was no way I could justify withholding a gun from Trevor, since I know most of my concerns are unfounded (with proper safety techniques and such) and since we live Idaho. However... my two illogical sides are still duking it out over how I should feel about this (blame it on pregnancy hormones).
Part one of me says "NO GUNS WITH KIDS IN THE HOUSE." None. That same part of me really worries about Trevor killing Bambi's mother.
Part two of me says "But... what if we end up living in a post-apocalyptic world!! What if the government collapses and all grocery stores FAIL? Then Trevor could hunt a buffalo and feed us and our extended family for a year!"
So... Trevor got the gun. And I'm still worried about Bambi's mom. But... a buffalo probably really would feed our extended family for year.
9/24/2008
First Doc visit + Baby Development
I was also told all of the things that will kill my baby.
I know they have to do this to make sure that you're cautious, and so you don't do anything that will hurt baby. I really didn't even hear anything I didn't already know, I guess it was just hearing everything all at once that had me freaking out. But DANG! After hearing all of that in one sitting, I felt like most of the stuff in my home and EVERYTHING outside of my home was going to kill our baby!!
Anyway, today I am also officially 6 weeks pregnant, which means (according to What to Expect) that between now and next Wednesday is the 7th week of development. Here's what baby is doing:
At the end of this week, baby will be about 10, 000 times bigger than at conception! This is what I'm saying! I keep telling people our baby is HUGE and they look at me and say "quarter of an inch is huge?" Yes. Yes it is. Baby's brain is growing at a rate of 100 cells per minute, and baby's soon to be cute little face is getting more defined. Arm and leg paddles are getting bigger and getting ready to divide up into cute little fingers and toes!
And what is mommy doing this week? Dealing with morning sickness, tiredness, and a bladder the size of a grain of salt. On a happier note, we get to see Grandma and Grandpa Butchart, along with D. Ann, very soon! And then we get to go to Las Vegas! And THEN on the 15th of October, we get to meet our little one face to face :) We'll also know how many there are. I know there's been a lot of speculation as to how many buns I'm cooking, and even though I used to think there might be two, now I'm pretty sure there's just one. I've had morning sickness, but I don't think it's bad enough to be twins.
9/20/2008
What Baby is doing this week
6 Weeks Pregnant
The big developments this week are: Our baby has a beating heart! Okay, that was actually last week, but it's pretty exciting. Although I see conflicting information on this, our baby is a quarter of an inch long (about as big as a Tic Tac). Baby has cute little cheeks, jaws and a chin developing. Ear canals are also getting their start, along with baby's kidney, liver and lungs.
9/17/2008
Excellent Parenting Advice
9/13/2008
Here it comes....
And there's no maybe
Trevor & Michelle
Are having a baby!!
It's true!! We found out this week that we can expect at least one little baby Butchart this May! We are SO excited, after what a long journey we've had to get to this place! Thank you to everyone who has prayed and hoped and been there to support us!
So here are the FAQ's about Mommy and Baby:
"When did you find out you're pregnant?"
This question is more complicated than it seems. Last week on Thursday I took a cheap little internet pregnancy test that was "positive" (We later realized that it was a false positive). For the next 3 days we had a bunch of negative tests until Monday afternoon, when I used a First Response Early Result, and I got a faint, but DEFINITE positive! The next morning I went to the OB/GYN who took a test, and told me it was negative! I got all depressed and sad for a few hours before deciding that I was right and the professionals were wrong (I don't come to this conclusion often... I promise). I bought some digital tests on the way home and took one on Wednesday morning. And lo and behold, THIS IS WHAT I SAW:
I also took some of the other line-type pregnancy tests, and the line had darkened up nicely. So I went back to the OB/GYN on Friday, where they finally confirmed it.
"How are you feeling?"
I have to pee every 5 seconds, and I've been getting a little sick at night, but nothing terrible yet. I'm mostly just excited to be pregnant.
"When are you due?"
From what I've calculated, it's May 20-21, 2009.
"When is your first doctor's appointment?"
I have a prenatal consult on September 24th, they could possibly do my first Ultrasound then, or at 8-10 weeks (sometime in October).
"What do you think it is? How many do you think there are?"
Well, first I think it's a human baby, NOT a turtle (people who know Trevor will get this), and I think there may be one or two. Two is a very real possibility. I don't think there are 3, or 5 as has been suggested. If there are, in fact, 5 babies, we are getting our own show on TLC, and we will be contacting each of you for free nanny services.
Also, I have dropped all classes for this semester, which means I also had to quit my job. We've chosen to do this because it makes more sense financially (we'd like to have a little bit of a cushion) and because technically I'm not even on track this semester, AND because it's taken so long to get pregnant, we are being a little extra extra careful. This includes avoiding icy BYU-I sidewalks.
This brings me to my last FAQ: What are you going to do until the baby is born?
I am going to build a human. What are you going to do?
No, I'm going to work on the house (read: paint and maybe rip up some carpets), and I'll probably take it easy if/when morning sickness really hits.
We love you!
9/12/2008
I'm a little late on this one...
On our way down to Utah we stopped in Chesterfield, Idaho (right next to Bancroft for you Halls, and it's even smaller than Bancroft if that means anything to you) because we have some Butchart side family history there. The whole town was very interesting, it seemed to me that the town was run kind of like a missionary project. Several older couples have donated 2 or 3 years to spend in Chesterfield, working on restoring the buildings, or showing strangers around the 3 or 4 houses and little general (tourist) store.
(This is the family in the yard in front of the old Chesterfield church... you just can't see the church)
After we finished in Chesterfield, we headed down to Utah to spend some time with the adorable baby Marshall, Monica & Austin. The blessing was great, and Marshall is adorable and wiggly as ever. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Marshall looks really concerned in this picture... kind of like "Grandma? Why would you put a bonnet on my head? Why??" (We love you D. Ann!)
Some of you may be thinking "Oh my! Is that black hair on Michelle's head?"
Yes, yes it is. But it's not supposed to be. I went to the beauty college to get my hair dyed back dark brown, and the stylist left the dye on a little too long... so for a while there my hair was the type of "dark brown" that my dad always tried to convince us his hair is. However, it's starting to fade to the color I want, so that's good!
8/26/2008
8/21/2008
"I'M SO ITCHY!!"
These are the words heard most often in our house tonight. Last week when we went floating down the Provo River, Trevor did so on his stomach, baring his back to the sun... without sunscreen.
You can guess at the consequences.
His gigantic sunburn is now peeling, and itching worse than it ever hurt. He finally just said "Can you PLEASE peel my back?" ... so we sat of the floor in the kitchen, and I groomed my husband like a gorilla looking for a friend.
It was intensely gross, and it's a good thing we've been married for two years, because I'm not sure I could have done that after just one year.
Yes! You read right! Trevor and I will be celebrating our 2nd anniversary this Monday, August 25th. Last year he bought me a house for our anniversary, so I don't know how he plans on topping that one.
Anyway, the point of all this is that... well, there really isn't one, except maybe that marriage is a little weird, and it's taken 2 years for me to figure that out.
8/18/2008
We went to UTAH!
The weekend was GREAT! And, as always, I brought my camera, but failed to ever take it out of my bag. We spent Thursday night and Friday morning with Monica and Austin and Marshall (aka Mr. Wiggles, as Trevor has renamed him. I'm sure he'll love that one when he's 18 years old). Marshall really is a doll, and he loves his Uncle Trevor! He's so strong too, he can practically roll himself over.
We got to spend the rest of Friday with Kim. We went floating down the Provo river, just like last year! And just like last year, I came home bruised from a sneak attack rock hidden in the middle of the river. Really. The bruise is huge, but it was totally worth it. Then Kim and I had a mostly failed shopping trip, although I did find a cute brown scarf. And THEN all three of us rejoined to go see Emily in Campus Plaza! It was a blast to get to see her apartment and talk with her. We haven't seen her in ages!
The end cap to our night was going to the dollar theater to see Iron Man. Let me just say: FANTASTIC. They left it wide open for a sequel, which could be magnificent if they could pull it off as well as they did the first.
Alright, it's time for this travelog to come to an end. I hope everyone is doing well!
8/07/2008
What to doooo?
Who wants to come to Idaho and play with me and Blake and Piper? Any takers? We have two couches and two love seats in our living room right now. We could build an awesome fort! Anybody?
8/02/2008
Camping at Cave Falls!!
There was an incident... involving Trevor's glasses... and the river. Suffice it to say that somewhere out there, a fish has much better vision than Trevor now. This is the last picture we have of them.
We took Blake. His favorite part was swimming around in the river, biting at the waves. It wasn't as cold as I expected, I even waded around a little bit. Blake also lost a treasured possession to the river: his tennis ball. It wasn't that much of a loss though, as anyone who knows him will testify. He'll play catch with pretty much anything, anytime.
Generic camping pictures... the bottom one is Trevor cooking breakfast and just being generally awesome, and the top one is me trying to stay warm by the campfire.
Us by the falls. They weren't very tall, but they were long!!
One of the coolest parts of the trip (for me anyway)was the baby birds. Yes! There was a nest right on the wall of the clean bathroom nearest to us, with some freshly hatched chicks. I thought they were cute, even in their wrinkly, naked state, but Trevor thought their eyes were too weird looking to be cute. I believe the words he used were "They look like aliens!" Or something along those lines.
So I think we'll probably go back, but we'll go back armed with gigantic amounts of mosquito repellent, including those huge candles. Anybody want to come?