"Don't be surprised if you see ski patrol"

This is something you NEVER want to hear from your husband after a morning of skiing!

Let me back up a few hours...

After over a week with no new snow, all the skiers and boarders were psyched to see a storm that dumped 38" of fresh powder over the mountains.  Bryan had to work this evening so we got up early and headed up to Alta for a half day of skiing.  After one awesome run in a bowl that had just opened up (fresh tracks!) we headed over to the Supreme lift on the other side of the mountain.  Bryan (and a friend) decided to do a run in the woods which I have been shying away from lately (trees+pregnant=not the best idea) so I took one of the other runs and met them at the chair lift.  Back up we went and this time they decided to hike up Catherine's Pass (pregnant or not, I'm not a fan of hiking with skies on!) so I again took the same run down to the chair.  I finished first, went to the bathroom, and waited for a while for them.  In this time, I decided I didn't want to ski the same run again so I was going to head over to a different lift.  I waited some more.  Not knowing how long their hike and run was, I got what I thought was a great idea that turned out to be a big mistake.  I texted Bryan telling him I was going to the other lift and to meet me there after they had done all the runs off this lift they wanted to do (which included more hiking which = slower).  I made sure the text sent and off I went...

One run down and I checked my phone but nothing from Bryan.  I called him and got voicemail so I left a message saying where I was.  Another run down and still nothing....now I'm starting to wonder.  Did something happen or did he not get my message??  I call him from the top of the lift and he finally answered saying he was on the lift and "don't be surprised if you see ski patrol...I'll explain when I get there."

As I said, not something you want to hear!  I think you can see where this is going...Bryan didn't get my text (as I said, great idea that turned out to be a big mistake!) or voicemail right away.  He waited for me at the bottom of Supreme for 30 minutes and got really worried.  He sent his friend up to see if I happened to be at the top, but nothing.  This is when ski patrol got involved.  He told them he couldn't find me and was worried something happened.  They said 99.9% of the time it's a miscommunication of locations, often happening with kids/parents (jeez, thanks!) but they would do a run down the trail I had been skiing that morning to see if they found me (in a ditch, off the side of the trail....great).  Nothing.

After about an hour of wondering if something bad had happened to me, Bryan finally got my messages (guess reception isn't great up there).   As ski patrol said, total miscommunication.  Bryan kept telling them "it's just not like her to go somewhere else without telling me!"  And he's right....but I tried to tell him!!  Obviously its no one's fault, but I felt terrible.  Not only was Bryan worried sick about me, but he also missed out on skiing some of the deepest powder we've had in a while :(  He was able to take 2 more powder runs before we had to take off.

Lesson learned!!

(This blog was typed while I made chocolate chip cookies to drop off to Bryan  while he's on-call tonight ...can you say guilty conscious?!?!)

Happy V-Day Little Guy!

Sorry for my lack of blogging over the past 3 weeks!  We've had lots of visitors plus both Bryan and I have been dealing with nasty colds that left me 100% exhausted by the end of the work day.  Also, Bryan's been working on some papers so the computer has been monopolized during the evenings.  Oh well....I'm back now :)

This weekend Bryan and I celebrated V-Day with our little guy.  No, I don't mean Valentine's Day although that was also this past weekend.  I'm talking about Viability Day!!  On Saturday our little guy turned 24 weeks in the womb and while this isn't a typical milestone (a new trimester, the half way point, etc) it is a big deal medically.  With the amazing advancements in medicine and NICU support that hospitals have these days, a baby born at 24 weeks has a 50% chance of survival.  While 50% doesn't seem great, its a heck of a lot better than if the baby was born earlier than that.  And what's even better is that each week after 24 weeks, his chances of survival keep increasing!  Yes, there would be many obstacles and health issues for a baby born this early and I would never want our baby or anyone else's for that matter to be born so early.  I pray that he stays put until at least 38 weeks (yes, I not so secretly want him to come a little early!) but it's a huge relief knowing that if something were to happen, our baby would have a fighting chance of surviving.

So happy V-Day little guy!!  And if you all are wondering what Bryan and I did to celebrate....well, do you even have to ask???

I wanna see celebrities!

I realize most of my posts lately have been about the baby.  While he is obviously the main thing on my mind right now, I do have other things going on in my life...here's one I'm really excited about!

Yesterday started one of Utah's biggest events of the year.  No, I'm not talking about the Mormon Convention, but the Sundance Film Festival!!  10 days of movies, celebrities, parties and guess whose going to be joining in the fun this year?  ME!!  I was lucky to score a "Locals Pass" which includes 12 tickets and 2 credential passes (and you can be sure I'll be flashing that baby all over Park City!)

Our good friends, A and R, from back in Boston are coming out next week to get in some skiing and see some movies.  It was really the best time for them to come because A isn't a huge skier but her husband R is.  This way the boys can ski and us girls can see movies and stalk hang out with celebrities!

I'm really excited about the line up of movies I got tickets to.  Its a nice mix of documentaries, dramas, and comedies.  Here's my schedule:

Sunday:  How to Die in Oregon  I'm starting out with a comedy, right?  Not quite...this is a documentary about how euthanasia is legal in Oregon for terminally ill patients.  I'm not taking any stand on the subject and maybe the movie will sway me one way or the other but if not, it sounds interesting.  I'll be seeing this with one of my SLC friends C.

Tuesday:  Higher Ground  This is definitely a chick flick so C and I are seeing it together....sans husbands!

Thursday:  Terri  A and R will finally be in town so the 4 of us will head into Park City for this coming-of-age comedy/drama.  It stars John C. Reilly and while I didn't recognize the name at first, you will probably recognize his face. 

Friday:  Here  The boys are going to ski so A, C, and I are heading back into Park City for a drama/love story movie in the morning and probably lunch and some celebrity watching (at least we hope!)

Saturday:  The Greatest Movie Ever Sold  This is a documentary by Morgan Spurlock, the guy that ate McDonalds every meal for a month in Supersize Me.  This movie is about product placement in media today and how its overwhelming us even when we don't realize it.  He shows us all this while making a film that is completely financed through advertising, marketing, and product placement.

As you can see, we have quite the line up!  I'll be sure to report back next week with my Siskel and Ebert worthy critiques.  But until then, look for me on Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood partying with the celebs (mocktail in hand, of course!)

What's in a name?

Now that we know we're having a boy, people are always asking us if we've picked a name.  While we had a girl's name picked out*, we haven't really found a boy's name that's perfect.  To this, people often respond with "well what are your choices?"

And so starts the name game....to tell  or not to tell, that is the question (wow, that's two Shakespeare quotes in one blog!).  There are pros and cons to each.  Pro for telling people:  you get feedback on your name choices.  Con for telling people:  you get feedback on your name choices.  See the problem??  Everyone always has an opinion on the name..."I knew a boy with that name and he was a terror!" or "That was my ex-boyfriend's name and I hate him now!" or "you can't seriously be considering naming your child that?!?!"  Get my point?  Once the child is born and the name is set in stone, you get fewer opinions because people have to be nice at that point (at least to your face!).

So for now, Bryan and I are both in agreement that we aren't going to announce our name choice until after the little guy is born.  That way too, we can change it at the last minute if he comes out looking nothing like an *insert name here* without having any monogramed stuff that then couldn't be used.  

So for now he will continue to be called any one of the nicknames we've come up with....more on these another time!

*And no, even though we aren't having a girl, I'm not telling you what her name would have been either!

PS.  While we aren't telling, I'd be happy to take any name suggestions you may have!  Post them in the comments section and if we pick your suggestion you'll win a prize!**

** No idea what the prize is so don't get your hopes up!

Half Baked!

On Saturday I hit the 20 week mark!!  As my Jersey boy Bon Jovi would say "Ooohhh I'm half way there..."  I can't think of a better way to celebrate this little guy being half baked than with a day of skiing followed by some ice cream :)

The three of us at Snowbird 

(it also happened to be my 10th day of skiing for the season....not bad considering it's only mid-January and that I'm knocked up!)

Then we celebrated with the aptly named Ben and Jerry's flavor Half Baked!

(Please excuse the tired look...it was a long day of skiing followed our first trip to Babies R Us (if you've ever been in there, you'll understand!)

I really can't believe I'm already half way through this pregnancy.  At times it seemed to go so slow especially the first 12 weeks as we anxiously waited to be out of the 1st trimester and the "danger zone."  Now it seems like the weeks are flying by and I can only imagine the next 20 are going to go even faster!  This pregnancy and baby are finally starting to feel more real to both Bryan and I.  I mean, sure we knew I was pregnant (and the nausea in the 1st tri reminded me of that) but it still didn't feel real.  Now I'm feeling little kicks and movements pretty much on a daily basis and on Friday night Bryan felt him kick for the first time while his hand was on my bump!!  We're both really looking forward to the kicks getting stronger and more frequent so we can feel our little guy more often.

Besides the kicks, my growing bump is another reminder that there really is a baby in there!  While I'm still pretty small, I feel like this week I finally started to look pregnant and not just chunky.  I purposely wore the same shirt for my weekly bump picture that I wore at 16 weeks to get a true apples to apples comparison.

                   16 Weeks                                                20 weeks
 

See, still pretty small but what a difference a month makes!!

Can't wait to meet this little guy in ~20 more weeks!!

Pregnancy is SOOOO Hollywood!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am a trend setter.  No, not with my hair or my clothing style but with my pregnancy.  It seems that being pregnant is all the rage in Hollywood right now as many A-list celebrities have just unveiled their growing baby bumps.  And since I'm due before them, that means they copied me and that I'm the trend setter! 

Let's see, there's Kate Hudson, Natalie Portman , Victoria Beckham, Owen Wilson (well not technically him, but his girlfriend...science isn't that good yet!), Tia Mowry (yes, I used to watch Sister, Sister on TGIF), and I'm sure I'm missing a few. 

While I might be the trend setter as far as pregnancy goes, I'm hoping to look to these ladies for setting the trend on maternity fashion!  Now if only I had their budget (and stylist, and personal shopper, and chef, and trainer, and......)

****UPDATE****
Add two more knocked up celebrities to the list...Alicia Silverson and Selma Blair both just announced their impending little ones!  I just may be even cooler than I thought :)

My 19 week (almost) bump

What do you all think...did I pop this week?

Okay so that isn't my "real" bump but it will be in a few weeks!  Truth be told, I was at the mall this past weekend and saw that Motherhood Maternity was having a huge sale.  While I'm still not needing maternity clothes yet (and yes my pre-pregnancy jeans still fit AND button!) I am never one to pass up a sale.  I thought it might be hard to try on clothes that are meant for someone with a much bigger bump than I currently have.  

Enter the bump prosthetic.  If you've recently had a baby you know what I'm talking about but for those of you not in this category (and up until I went in the store I was clueless too), many maternity stores have a strap on bump in each dressing room for those of us less-bump-endowed pregnant women.  The one I tried was supposed to simulate 7 months so I'll have to compare when I reach that point.  

While I left without the bump, I did snag two shirts and a cute dress all for less than $15 each!  Now I just need my real bump to grow a little more so I can actually fill out the shirts.

I'll leave you with my actual, real bump picture taken on Saturday at 19 weeks.  I'm starting to see something, I think???