My Lovely Baby Bump

Somewhere there is an 11 week picture floating around... I just have yet to find it.  So for now, here is the progress of my lovely baby bump:

20 Weeks

26 Weeks

32 Weeks

Now that I'm growing more huge every day, hopefully we can be better about these picture updates.  And hopefully when baby is here and it really counts, we'll be able redeem ourselves in the regular picture-taking department.

Hope all is well with y'all!

Four Years of Togetherness

On August 2nd this month, we reached our latest milestone.  It's hard to believe that we've already been married four years.  FOUR years!  That's enough time to serve two full missions!  Wowie!

This year we decided that we needed to do something bigger than we have in years past.  Mostly because we suspect that the addition of a child in 2 months will make getting away slightly more difficult.  So with that in mind, we set off to Heber and went about seeking some fun.

First we stopped at Kneaders in Bountiful for some of the most incredible tasting french toast and pancakes we've ever had.  If you've never been there, you must (thanks for the tip Amanda)!  The french toast was made from big slices of cinnamon bread and cinnamon/pecan syrup.  It was probably at least 1000 calories but totally worth it if you're okay with splurging now and then or if like me, you know you're going to get fat anyway so you might as well enjoy it :)

Then we sent to the outlet malls in Park City.  We bought some cute pajama sacks for our our baby girl and enjoyed looking at all the other things we wanted to spend money on but knew we shouldn't.

We had every intention of going hiking after our shopping trip but apparently the extreme heat at the outlet malls sucked the energy right out of us because instead we went straight to our hotel room and crashed for two solid hours.  Aren't naps the greatest thing ever?

Long story short, we did several small hikes and enjoyed ourselves immensely as we did whatever we wanted for two days.  It was a great way to welcome in a new year of marriage! Here are some of the pictures we collected along the way:

Stopping for a Mormon whiskey break at Whiskey Springs

Haha!  We stopped at Whiskey Springs because we found a trail head and thought we'd check out the hike.  About five minutes later, we were back to where we started.  That trail was probably about a quarter of a mile long.  Wow!  Some hike, huh?

Poor Tyler got eaten alive on the first hike we went on.

We stayed at a beautiful lodge here!

Here is a picture of the lodge we stayed in.  It was perfect!  And so fun to be at Daniels Summit again where I spent my summer LITE team camps during high school.

The past four years have been so much fun.  Here's looking forward to many more to come!

Letters from High School

Next item of business = letters from high school

Tyler and I went through a fun time recently where we both received letters from ourselves that were written in high school.  They were fun to read and I've had great intentions to post them ever since.  So here they are in all their glory.  

Let's do Tyler's first because it's much more funny.  (Written January 3, 2002, 4th period health class)

The most important decision I will ever make is the [person] I decide to spend it with.

Make your choice then love your choice.

I want a person who has brown or blond hair.  I don't really care how tall she is.  She has to be fit so she can go run with me.  

On the spiritual side, I would like her to be of the Mormon faith, so we would believe the same things and so we can get married in the temple.

Socially she needs to have friends so she can have her girls night out.  I want her to have a good personality so she can laugh and have a good time.  She needs to feel good about herself and like herself.

As you can see, Tyler totally failed on the hair color choice.  Poor guy.  This has provided us with several laughs.  

Mine is not nearly as entertaining.  I was asked to write mine during seminary and like the good little student that I was, I made sure to include material from the lesson.  What was I thinking?  Shouldn't I have known that my adult self would be much more interested in hearing about my hopes and predictions for the future?!  Sheesh.  Well, here's what I came up with (written February 23, 2005):

Dear Husband,

I am in Brother Wilde's seminary class write now.  We just had a lesson about morality (I just gave Devin my red pen)  [ink changes color... ooh fascinating].

I'm so curious about who you are.  What are you like?  Are you who I think you are?

Well, whoever you are, I want you to know that I'm keeping myself clean for you.  I am determined to be married in the temple so that our love can be real and eternal.  I'm sure you and I are very happy together.  And I hope we're doing everything right [ attending church, fulfilling our callings, studying the scriptures, praying, paying tithing and fast offerings, etc... if not... buck up and do it!!

This year has been extremely hard for me in all honesty; probably the hardest and most defining year of my life.  I've been experiencing some pretty ugly high school drama that hasn't been fun, but I know that it'll pass eventually thankfully.

I've been dating a great guy named Tony, my best friend is Rachel Hanson (whom I hope I'm still in touch with).

Right now I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for college.  Who knows what I'll end up doing?

I want you to know that I love this gospel and that I have a very strong testimony.

I hope you and I have a great life [together] and that you treat me like a princess and make me lots of cheesecake.

I wish I had time to write more, but alas, I do not.

Thanks for everything!  I love you!

Love,

Sha

And in closing-- here is a brief passage from yet another letter I wrote to myself  (you know, the letter where I talked about the lesson the whole time).  This one was written in my institute class on March 29, 2007:

Right now I am planning on marrying Tyler Grange- who is a truly wonderful guy.  I'm assuming that you are with him now.  He makes me want to be the very best that I possibly can and I'm sure you two are happy together.

Remember that marriage isn't always easy, but so worth it in comparison.  Help each other, do good deeds for each other whenever you get the opportunity.  I would write more, but have to go to work.

Share your love with others and hold to the rod!

-Shaela

And so begins the baby bump watch...

Okay.  This is so pathetic but it is what it is.

I started writing this post on May 24th and planned on posting it with pictures.  Clearly that hasn't happened.  I'm in the process of getting some of those pictures but in the mean time it bothers me that I have this totally out-dated post that clearly is not going to cut it now as picture accompaniment.  Tyler told me today that I need to update our blog so my first step in doing so is to post this and move forward with newer material.  Sorry about that.

For what it's worth, here's what I had to say way back then:

1.  Have you been sick? 
The answer is YES!  It seems like everyone I've talked to lately has told me all about how they never got sick during their pregnancies.  Bah!  However, I still feel like I'm just paying my dues when it comes to this topic.  Normally, as in when I'm not pregnant, I almost never get sick and I NEVER puke, so basically it's only fair that I take a turn once in a while.  And if I get a cute baby out of the deal, I'm totally in favor! 
*update: I originally wrote this post a while ago.  It seems like once I hit 5 months, the sickness sort of melted away.  Hooray!

2.  Have you had any weird cravings? 
Um... not really?  Once I had an emergency craving for a strawberry smoothie and I could eat Pace bars(yummy popsicles) every day and be pleased as punch, but nothing too crazy so far.  In the beginning, all I wanted were potatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches though.  That was weird.
*Another update: Since writing this post forever ago, I did in fact experience an emergency caving in the form of sour patch kids and swedish fish-- which was mostly inspired by an overwhelming smell of sugar at WinCo after a long work day.

3.  Have you had any pregnancy crazies?
Well there was that time I almost flushed my shirt down the toilet but I feel very confident that it was due to outside circumstances (stress vs. MAJOR gross and painful sickness), but I suppose that could be my own bias coming into play there.  Umm... I freak out sometimes about weird things that are happening to my body and I find wearing clothing to be annoying at times.  That's kind of crazy I guess.

4.  Do you have a name picked out?
No.  We actually have the opposite problem that most couples do.  So far we can only agree on one name but I would like to go to the hospital with a list of three names to choose from.  So by all means, if you have any cute ideas to add to our list, let us know.

5.  Have you felt her kick yet?
All the time!  This baby is constantly on the go and I love it!  It's like I have a little friend with me wherever I go and just in case I forget, she gives me a good kick regularly to jolt my memory :)  Plus, I love it that this is a part of the pregnancy that I can easily share with Tyler.  It's so fun when both of us can feel her kicks together.

6.  What will you do after the baby is born?
I'll be working part time if all goes as planned and believe me, a break in my current full time work schedule will be MUCH appreciated-- even if it does involve a wild, crying child.

7.  And since I feel like this post is totally self-centered, let's throw in an answer to how Tyler is doing with all this:
Tyler is really good about making sure I'm eating enough (this was an especially hard responsibility over the past few weeks as I've been ill and had a total lack of appetite), scolds me for wearing high heels (naughty me), carries me to bed when I fall asleep before I should, talks to our baby (he's currently trying to teach her to count), plays music for the baby, makes me rest when we both know it's needed, is patient with me, and reminds me how funny everything is when I start to freak out over weird changes my body is making.  We laugh a lot together and let's be honest, laughing is one of the best things in the world.

Late Twenties already?

This past week brought with it many adventures and even some mourning on Tyler's part.  Turning 26 was not something he had been looking forward to.  Ty is under the impression that once you hit 26, you're in your LATE TWENTIES!! shudder. 

Tyler's birthday was a lot of fun this past week and we have loved all the celebrations!  We had a Grange family birthday dinner on Monday, followed by Tuesday which was full of activities of his own choosing (playing soccer, ordering pizza, and watching a US soccer game), followed by a birthday dinner trip to Tucanos with our friends Steve, Jordan, and their adorable and entertaining son Deacon on Wednesday.  We still have one more birthday dinner coming up with my side of the family and then our extended celebratory fun will come to an end. 

This year we tinted our car windows and bought Tyler a KX 250 (dirt bike) for his birthday.  The bike is currently under construction, which is okay by me since I can't ride with him while I'm prego anyway.  I have to confess though-- I'm a little nervous for the bike.  It's probably not what you're thinking though.  I'm just suspicious that Tyler is going to beat me out on the woops now that he has a big, strong bike and an entire season to practice without me :(  sad day!  So if you wouldn't mind, say a little prayer that come next spring, I'll still have the magic touch and will be able to make Tyler eat my dust on my little 85.

I'm including one of my favorite pictures of the man of the week with this post because let's face it, he is pretty dang handsome.  I am one lucky girl to be married to such an incredible guy.

It takes a pretty special person to put up with a stubborn, unpredictable, and oftentimes crazy redhead and Tyler does a great job!  Between his patience, love of laughter, appreciation of naps, and willingness to embark on new adventures, I'm pretty sure he was created especially for me.
----Happy Birthday Tyler!!

P.S.  I'm taking advantage of his absence this weekend by posting this picture.  I'm pretty sure that if he had a say in the matter, this picture would not be up so... enjoy it while you can and let's hope that he lets me leave it up after he sees it next week :)

Oh baby!

Well we finally went in for our targeted ultrasound yesterday and it was amazing so I just had to blog about it.  We had the sweetest ultrasound specialist who was just as enthusiastic as we were about all the discoveries we were able to make about our little girl during the appointment.  That's right!  GIRL!!!  We finally know for sure!  She gave us a great view yesterday that put all my doubts at ease and now I'm ready to go all out on girly bedroom decorations.  Woohoo!

Sorry my last post was such a downer.  Life has many ups and downs, and experiences like that make me even more thankful for the ups.  There is some great news for us though; can you even think of a better pick-me-upper than this:

I know I can't.  During our ultrasound, we were able to watch this darling little girl suck on her fingers, roll around, drink, and wave hello to us as pictured above.  Wow!  It was easily my favorite appointment so far.  These are actually pictures of the ultrasound that I took with my phone so hopefully they show up okay.  I have no desire to scan them all in at the moment (I'm home sick from work today), so hopefully they'll do.

I was absolutely blown away at the detail that ultrasounds pick up on now!  Judging by what we saw, this poor little girl has my bulky legs/butt.  One of the first things the technician (I don't know what her proper term is) said to us in the appointment was, "WOW!  Look at that thigh!" and just like that, I knew it.  It also appears that she has inherited some of Tyler's Japanese facial structure.  If you look close, can't you just see Ty's sharp cheek bones and jaw line?

Seeing each little finger and toe on our baby yesterday was incredible! Technology rocks!  So far everything is looking good; her vitals all checked out properly, her heart, lungs, and brain are looking beautiful, and the doctor confirmed what I've been saying for months now- this baby is extremely active.

Now we just need to get some baby bump pictures posted, don't we?  I'm sure this comes as no surprise to y'all but we haven't been terribly good at taking them.  We do have a couple though, so I will try to get them posted soonly.  Hopefully you're all doing well and loving this gorgeous warm weather.

Until next time,
Shaela

Why am I thinking this deeply on a Saturday?

Today I accidentally tried to flush my shirt down the toilet. One second I was using the bathroom and the next I was removing my shirt, throwing it into the toilet, and pulling down on the flusher.  It wasn't until I saw the shirt going around in circles in the toilet that I came to my senses and realized what I had done.    Go ahead, get your giggles out because it's completely true and quite hilarious.   But when you get down to the nitty-gritties, it's downright terrifying. Why?  Because it's a perfect indication of my current mental state.

Drat.  There goes the funny part to this post.  I wish I could say that my brief lapse in mental capacity was due to a simple case of the pregnancy crazies but this time it's just not.  I'm not one to post about personal things for everyone to see, but the past couple of months have downright sucked and sometimes writing just makes me feel better.  So here goes...

I'm not even slightly familiar with the normal curriculum that is required as part of the journey to parenthood.  For all I know, the past few months are something that every parent goes through as a sort of preparation for the trials that lay in wait for them.  At least that's what I keep telling myself because otherwise, I am leaps and bounds behind every parent out there and someone is giving me the crash course in parental prep so I'll be at the normal parent level.  Either way, I've feel like I've been taken through the wringer.

Case in point: I have felt varying degrees of heartbreak multiple times in the past few months.  Not just ouches  that come around all the time-- actual heart break.  Today I finally discovered the pattern.  From what I can tell, slowly but surely, every perception of everything I've ever been completely sure of, has been warped and twisted beyond recognition.

Today I watched (and I sincerely hope I'm exaggerating when I say this), a beautiful, wonderful, nearly perfect friendship die.  In the most technical of terms, it wasn't really mine.  But I've always taken a lot of joy from this particular friendship and to me it exemplified everything that a friendship could ever hope to be.  Even now I don't fully understand what happened; it sort of feels like a stranger at the grocery store just came up and gut-punched me out of nowhere.  But one thing that keeps going through my mind is something I heard from a wise mother over and over again throughout the years: there's two sides to every story. Anyway, the point is that you can't watch something like that unfold and not feel at least a little piece of your heart break.  Because if a friendship like that could break so easily and needlessly, is anything really safe?

Each time I have felt this type of heartache, I've found solace by focusing on one thing that I am absolutely sure of no matter what happens.  Today it was my husband.  So today I want to thank my husband for reminding me that no matter what happens in life, everything will be okay as long as we have each other.  It might be a hard, long storm to brave but if we can just hold on tight to one another, everything will be okay.  And today that was exactly what I needed.

Anyway, the point is that I've finally caught on.  For some reason, and I can only assume it's to prepare us for parenthood, the foundation I'm standing on that has held me up so wonderfully for so long, is breaking and I'm scared to death to find out which piece is going to break next.

Thank goodness for those few things in life that are ever-present and always reliable.