Six weeks and counting (no, not until the baby)

It's Tuesday which means I don't have much to do. I really should put off blogging until later in the afternoon. Let's face it: when it's 9:07 am and I am already blogging, that means it is going to be a looooooong day. On Tuesdays, I work in our upstairs office, which means I don't have the welcome distraction of talking to my work friends. I actually feel like I should be doing more, but I'm not sure what that more would be. Oh well. For now, I am perfectly content to just sit here and look pretty. Speaking of work, I only have SIX weeks of work left (from tomorrow). I will be working until April 9, at which point I will QUIT and just get ready for the impending family addition. You can also note that I picked the date carefully-- it is the day before my birthday. I was quick to realize I would not want to work on my birthday. So what better birthday present than to quit the day before? 

To all those who were concerned about my stroller strife, I picked out a stroller! My mom had a baby shower for me with all my extended family this weekend, and my parents bought my car seat and stroller. So I posed with my mom and the stroller for a picture:

The stroller and car seat in all their glory (I love them!):

Here I am with my last Utah-residing sibling, Lindsay.

Lastly, my dad caught the horrible flu that is attacking the country. He wasn't up for taking pictures, so I just stood by him for a picture. It really shows off my gloriously girnormous belly (p.s. I don't know why the bottom of the picture got cropped in some weird circular shape).

Speaking of the flu, Sam had it last week! He says he has never been that sick. He basically stayed in bed all week. He tried to venture out to work (he has a new job at Best Buy!) twice, but sorely regretted it after. Luckily he made the turn around on Saturday, after an entire week of being ill. Luckily I didn't catch it-- thanks to the flu shot. I hope not too many of you have had it! If so, may you recover quickly.  

Some Pictures!

Sam finished directing Lair Lords. I came to set on the last day and captured him in action. Here he is walking around the set and planning out some shots. He had such a great time, but I am so glad it's over! 

This picture is at my 29 week mark. 

Sam worked custodial at the BYU bookstore for about two weeks (it was at 4 am, and he got sick of that pretty quick) and he used his handy discount to purchase this onesie for the baby. 

I thought it was pretty cute, so we hung it up in our closet.

In order to help with my gestational diabetes, Sam and I have started going walking on BYU's indoor track three times a week. We walk at least a mile, and sometimes we jog a bit. It feels great to be active! I always see people I know they always tell me they are impressed that I

 am out exercising when I am so pregnant. That also makes me feel great. So, on our way out the door to go walking, I am 30 weeks in this picture. 

To Mothers (or stroller experts) Everywhere

I am starting into some research on strollers, car seats, and travel systems. I would appreciate any motherly and/or womanly advice you can give me on what you think a good travel system makes. I have no idea where to start! Please feel free to recommend or discourage specific brands (but only if you can back up your assertions with evidence). If you have time, I would love to know what brand and style you have, what you like, what you don't like, and what you would do differently if you were starting over with child #1.

Please help out this desperate, naive mother-to-be.

What to do about DST

I know it's not quite time yet, but today I started thinking about Daylight Savings Time (here-out known as DST).

I was hoping DST would be after I stopped working (on April 3!), but I googled it today at work and was sorely disappointed. Much to my chagrin, DST falls in early-ish March. The thing is, I have a love/hate relationship with DST:

LOVE

Winter and I don't get on particularly well. I ache for longer days, warmer days, sunnier days. I know they reside just around the corner, but DST gives a glimmer of hope into the coming of Spring. It extends the days so that when I leave work, I don't feel like I live in darkness. This sunshine-increase gives me ample opportunity to get me daily need of Vitamin D!

HATE

There are few things I love more than sleep. These few things include Sam, Baby, and Girl Scout cookies ice cream (Samoa). Come DST, that hour loss is tragic, traumatic, tormenting. This is exactly why I was hoping DST would come after I stopped working: I don't think babies are in tune with DST. I am not so lucky. Come early March, I will have to sacrifice the hour of sleep and probably be late to work for a while until I catch up.

LOVE
But speaking of sleep, we do get an extra hour of sleep when DST ends in November. That, I must say, is glorious. But by the time DST ends, I will have a six-month old. Like I said, I don't think babies follow time changes. So really, I don't even get to enjoy it this time.

HATE
And in November, the days get shorter. Which means the dreariness of winter has begun. No one will see the sun until mid-April, and we will all live in perpetual cold and darkness.

Thus, I feel torn about DST. But re-reading through my love-hate details, I think I lean more towards hate than I do towards love. I just don't think it's all it's cracked up to be-- even if I am thrilled for the days to start getting longer. Let's just say this: I can't wait for spring! This dreary Utah weather is getting on my nerves: I've had about all I can handle!

Directing and Diabetes

Things are going well in the Mangum household. The above picture gives a fun view of my ever-expanding pregnant belly. My sister Whitney came to Provo the day before she moved back to California, and we were just laughing at how huge I am getting. You might also see that I dyed my hair back to brown. I could never get around to getting highlights again, and my roots were starting to look like some serious white trash, so it was time to just go back to brown.

Sam is busy directing his first short film: Lair Lords. It's about some dorky high school boys who are obsessed with a Dungeons and Dragons type of video game. It's a fun script, and Sam is really enjoying exploring his creative side. I don't particularly love the all-night film shoots, but I know Sam is having blast, and he has worked so hard on this project. Filming will end this weekend, and then he will have some more time to dedicate to his classes before he wraps everything up in April! I can't believe we are already in his last semester of school. It is so exciting.

I found out last week that I have gestational diabetes, so that hasn't been very fun. It has made me feel increasingly apprehensive about the upcoming task of delivering a baby, but I met with the diabetes counselor at the hospital today and she gave me some really helpful tools to maintain a healthy blood glucose level. I have to test my blood sugar seven (!) times a day at first, but if that works out, then I think I can go down to four. I am also following a meal plan. She actually said I already had a pretty healthy menu that I usually follow, but I was eating too many sugars at the wrong parts of the day. So now that I am equipped with all the tools I need, I am feeling more confident about everything, and I think everything will turn out all right. I am just so thankful for science!

Thanks for all your input on book suggestions for my book club. I think we are going to read The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho for February-- which I definitely recommend for those who haven't read it! It's a very easy read, and I like to think about the issues it handles.

Hooray! It's a Long Weekend!

It's Thursday night, and I am starting my long weekend! Sam is in class right now, so I am going to do the dishes and start some Amish Friendship Bread. Tomorrow I have work off and we have an appointment with the midwives (with another ultrasound!). I am so excited to have Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off on Monday, too!

I have been thinking a lot lately about book club. I am in charge of our the book club at church, which means that I have to pick the book each month. I first picked C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia-- mostly because it held off having to pick another book for about nine months (I missed two months of book club when I got really busy). This month we are reading the final Chronicle, which means I have to start choosing books! As a graduated English major, you may think this a fun task for me, but I am more than a little intimidated. My favorite literature is postmodern, which is not exactly what I think they have in mind for Relief Society book club.

I would love any suggestions on good books to read that would be appropriate for this church-sponsored book club. I want to read books that are interesting, and I would love to read books that aren't over-read (the typical book club choices). I also need to be careful not to offend anyone. Since we are finishing the Chronicles of Narnia, I don't want to read any more C.S. Lewis (at least, not for a while). So, please, suggest away!

Also, you are welcome to suggest books for my own personal reading. I need a new book to read, and I'm not sure what my next pick is.

Some Resolutions

Since January is a third over, I thought I could write about my New Years Resolutions.

1. The first is to become a more positive person. Now, if you know me well, you may think I am already a positive person. The truth is, I have always been a generally optimistic person, but lately, this hasn't been as true. I'm really struggling with my job, and I have become much less positive and much more complain-y. I don't like that very much. I am trying to implement some things into my life to make my life happier. It has already started working, and I feel much better than I did in the few weeks before Christmas.

2. Be more green. I have a bunch of re-usable grocery bags, but I always forget them! I really need to get in the habit. We have been slowly replacing our light bulbs with the energy saving ones. I usually buy non-toxic, environmentally friendly dishwashing soap. Tonight I was buying more and I think I stared at and studied the soaps for about five minutes before I bought the earth-friendly kind I bought before. Here are some problems I need to work out in order to be more green: cost! Most items which are environmentally friendly are more expensive. This does restrict some of my abilities to be green. For example, I would love to use gDiapers for Baby Girl Mangum, but I just don' t have that kind of cash. Second, some cleansers just don't work as well. I have been using Seventh Generation dishwasher detergent, but it just doesn't work as well as the toxic, earth-killing kind. I don't know what to do about that.
Anyway, I would like to find more ways to be green this year. Maybe that will include rehashing some aspects of our budget.

3. Get in shape. I was doing really well at becoming more fit and healthy before I got pregnant. I injured myself doing yoga when I was about 8 weeks pregnant, which prohibited me from doing more exercise (don't ask me how yoga can be so dangerous. I don't know what happened). But I have really been feeling the itch to get out and go jogging or biking. I was so inspired by my friend Maren's marathon run, I may just make this year the year to become a runner. I really want to start running again after Baby Girl is born. I don't want to overwhelm myself, so maybe I'll just make a goal to run a 10K by Thanksgiving. (I know that might not be that impressive, but I have never run a 10K before.)

4. Lastly, I want to finish Sam and my wedding scrapbook and start Baby Girl's so I won't fall behind.

P.S. I would just like to point out that the pregnancy countdown is under 100 days! YEA!