New "Night Night Bed"

Connor got his new "night night bed" today. We were very excited to hear that it came in early (we ordered it from walmart.com and weren't expecting it for another week or two). He's been sleeping in the toddler bed version of his crib, but since we have a new baby coming we knew he'd have to get out of that within the next couple of months. Since we are hoping to move at the end of April we decided to just go ahead and make the change now so that he did not have to deal with a new bedroom and a new bed at the same time. The bed is AWESOME and I am SO EXCITED to have it! It is a twin sized bed but the frame surrounding it makes it seem so huge. It has a TON of storage underneath and although it eats up so much of his bedroom I somehow feel like there is more space in there than ever before. I think I am only going to use 1/3 of the storage space under the bed because Connor likes to crawl under there and play. Anyway, he was thrilled to get it and help his daddy put it together. He is sleeping in it now and it's just adorable to see his teeny tiny body in this huge bed.

Here's a catalog picture of it...I'll post one of his actual room when I have a chance to take one later.

Lake Las Vegas

Marcus and I had such a blast celebrating our anniversary down at the Lowe's Hotel in Lake Las Vegas. During our honeymoon a few years ago we decided that we wanted to go on some sort of little trip together every anniversary...as an effort to strengthen our marriage and keep our relationship strong. We knew we wouldn't always have the money to go away on big fancy second honeymoon's, but the little trips we have been able to afford have been so special to us and really have helped us renew our relationship.

Connor stayed with my mom and he didn't seem to miss us much at all. Grandma, Uncle Tommy, and Auntie Millie really spoiled him and he had a great time. It's nice to be able to not have to worry about him when we're away. He had a blast.

While we were in Henderson/Las Vegas we were able to catch up with my old roommate Kristine and her little family. We spent a lot of time just enjoying the beautiful weather, watching movies we haven't been able to see since having Connor, relaxing, and eating yummy food. It was so nice to spend time away with Marcus, I just stinkin' love him...

Anyway, here is a picture of the best kept secret in the Vegas area...We've been four times in our three years of marriage...it's the best place for a quick get away.

It's A Girl!

After one very disappointing ultrasound this morning I hurried and scheduled a second, hoping my baby would wake-up and move around a little. Well, a thirty minute walk and a lot of the technician prodding at my tummy finally revealed that I am having a little girl!

I'm sure many of you already know this, but when they are determining the gender they look for either very obvious little boy parts or three lines that show developing little girl parts. Well, at this stage of pregnancy the umbilical cord also shows up as three lines and it took a little while for the tech to positively determine the lines she was seeing were not the cord. She was eventually able to show us that when she was on the umbilical cord she could follow its path. When she got to the three lines between the legs they had a definite begining and end and were not connected to the path of the cord. So...a girl it is!

We are going to name her Eden Annine (pronounced aneen) after my grandmother's grandmother, and we can hardly wait to have her here!

Married For A Whopping 3 Years!

Marcus and I had our three year anniversary this last Tuesday. We go on a little trip together each year on our anniversary weekend and are looking forward to celebrating this year down at Lowe's Hotel in Lake Las Vegas. My friend Sarah had a really cute post on her blog not long ago when she and her husband were celebrating an anniversary where she highlighted the different years and stages of their marriage and I'm totally going to copy her idea. Here goes:

The friendship/dating/engagement stage:
Marcus and I met working EFY one summer. In fact, I met him the first day of training that year. We recognized one another's names because we had a really close mutual friend from the year before. We got to know one another as time went forward throughout May and June and became good friends ourselves. I had a boyfriend back in Laie at the time and was certainly not even considering Marcus as anything more than a fun EFY friend. We worked across the country from one another for the rest of the summer (with the exception of the last two weeks we spent in Provo), but talked on the phone often. I broke up with my Hawaiian boyfriend (wondering what I was thinking ever dating him to begin with...totally not my type) and Marcus it was totally obvious to me and everyone else in the world that Marcus thought we could hit it off at that point. I don't know what I was thinking but I totally disagreed. Long story short, we ended up remaining good friends throughout the fall semester and Marcus snuck his way into my heart. We never really dated and yet we never really were not dating...I like to say we just had a romatic friendship that lead to engagement and marriage. Anyway, he proposed and we were married February 19, 2005 in the Manti Temple (even though we somehow neglected to put that in our wedding invitations).





Year One:
Marcus was teaching seminary at Provo High School and I was working as a unit counselor at Heritage Residential Treatment Center. We moved into our little California Ave apartment (and we're still here). Throughout the year we painted, decorated, and furnished our little place (and got rid of the pheasant patterend hand-me-down couch we first started with). Marcus started the new Exercise Science program at UVSC and dropped out of the BYU Family Studies program he had just gotten in to. He was offered nearly full-time hours teaching seminary in South Jordan...but chose not to take it. This is when our life plans changed big-time. Marcus began working Nightwatch at a Provo Canyon Schools and it was nice because we were both able to pretty much work the same hours each week. We took my little brother and sister on a trip to Texas during the summer and it was so much fun to spend that time with them. We found out we were expecting a baby that fall and we were both happy to discover I feel GREAT when I'm pregnant...no morning sickness, no moodiness, just super happy and energized (for the most part). We got our first little pet, Bevo, and I discovered I actually like cats.





Year Two:
We start year two a little less than one month away from having our little Connor (we think we have a little longer however). I start feeling what we termed "punk"...sort of sick but not really all the time. I figure this is just what it feels like to be eight months pregnant. Eventually I get a killer headache that won't go away for the life of me, I swell up 32 pounds in about a two week period of time, I starte puking my guts out, having seizures, lose my vision and eventually end up dilliriously in the emergency room. Connor is born very quickly via emergency c-section. I remember almost nothing for days, but eventually catch onto the fact that I have a baby...it was like the movie "50 First Dates" for a while...I just kept getting the suprise that I was a mother over and over again. Marcus decides to take the summer off of school to spend time with me and Connor (as well as use the tuition money to pay some of our ginormous medical bills...we had excellent insurance but still met our annual out-of-pocket maximum). We had a blast spending time together and watching our little guy grow. I get most of my vision back by June...I think this is a good thing...I like to see. I think I have a fresh grasp on life and decide to go back to school full-time with Marcus in the fall.





Year Three:
I am not working anymore (although I was only working very part-time after having Connor). Connor is growing up so fast and is totally a little boy now. I love to be a mommy so much. Marcus gets an opportunity to be a paid Teacher's Assistant for a professor he really likes at UVSC. The professor allows him to do most of his work (grading, powerpoint presentations, writing tests, etc.) while he's at his nightwatch job. It's very nice to get paid for two jobs at one time. Connor starts playing with our neighbor Abigail nearly everyday. They swim outside all summer long. We decided we'd like to have two cats so they could keep each other company and Bevo wouldn't be lonely anymore, so we go out and adopt Hemi. Bevo is thrilled, Hemi is not so sure. We got to go on the Oprah show as a family in October and it was a total blast. The semester ends quite stressfully and I decide I officially dislike going to school at UVSC...Marcus loves it though.





Year Four:
I'm pregnant. We are in our last semester of school. Marcus is applying for jobs. WE ARE EXCITED TO FINALLY MOVE even though we have loved our time here in our little apt.

Boy or Girl? We'll know Soon...Hopefully

After begging Dr. Gourley to let me have a gender check ultrasound before my first scheduled fetal survey he gave me the phone number of the person he partner's with and told me to just call and set an appointment up. Well, I tried calling all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday but just kept getting an answering machine that just gave the phone number I had reached and then said, "If this is a medical emergency call...., otherwise go ahead and leave a message". I didn't leave a message because I figured the office was closed for some reason or another and I figured I'd just keep trying and eventually would be able to talk to a secretary or something. Well, after days of trying I finally left a message and was suprised to get a phone call last night around 9:00pm from the ultrasound Doctor. Apparently Dr. Gourley gave me her personal cell phone number (he really should have told me that), and she told me she would do my gender check whenever I wanted it. I chose to go in tomorrow morning during the 10:00 hour and she said she'd fit me in. So...hopefully we'll get an answer tomorrow. I'm a little hesitant to get too excited because we had such a difficult time figuring out what Connor was. We'll see what happens!

Miracles

The miracles just don't stop coming lately (O.K., so I'm using that word loosly). But for the third night in two weeks someone has called to ask Marcus if he wanted to take the night off because they wanted to pick up extra hours. So far Marcus has not had to go to work at all this week. Hooray!

Tagged...Middle Name Style

My wonderful sister-in-law Dawn Shereen tagged me. I have to think of words to describe myself that start with each letter of my middle name. Well, my full legal name is now Julie Anna (first) Osmond (middle) and, of course, Poole (last). Just thought I'd let you know before ya'll try to tell me I was supposed to do my middle name and not my maiden name...it is my middle name.

O.K. I don't know how exciting this will be, but here goes.

O-Overweight...hopefully not for the rest of my life however. (Sorry...that's just the only thing I could think of, and I still have another O to do...drats).
S-Student...but I can hardly wait to not be anymore for a while.
M-Mom...or as Connor would say, "MOM, MOOOOOM!, MOM, MOM, MOOOOOM!"
O-Optimistic...It's true, I'm an unfailing optimist.
N-Needed...what would Bevo and Hemi do without me, or Mr. Fish for that matter.
D-Dedicated...to things that matter most to me.

Man, that was hard...even with Marcus' help.

I'm going to tag Marcus JEREMY Poole...you really need to post something new on your blog anyway.

Three Years

Hey Anna,

I hacked into your blog just to say Happy Anniversary, and I Love You! Happy three years, I have really loved spending them with you and I look forward to this next year together and all the new things it will bring. There is no one I would rather spend it with than you.

Love,
Marcus

Baby Update

I had a good Dr.'s visit today and was able to convince Dr. Gourley to let me do a gender check only ultrasound before the scheduled fetal survey that is still a few weeks away. I just can't wait to find out if Marcus, Connor, and I will have a little boy or little girl addition to our family. I get to call the ultrasound tech tomorrow and try to snatch her earliest available appointment. Now, if this baby is anything like Connor, this ultrasound will do me no good. He was hiding the goods really well when I was pregnant with him and we didn't know we were having a little boy until I was seven and a half months along. I know I have A LOT of ultrasounds coming up throughout this pregnancy, and I'm sure I will survive if I do not get to know for sure this week...but it sure would be nice!

The Big Boom!

Many of you Utahn's may have seen this one on the news, but last night a little before 10:00 a pipe plant just across the street from our apartment (about a half mile, if that) exploded. Oh my goodness, talk about LOUD! My little sister (who was staying with us last night), Marcus, and I were talking in the livingroom when it happened. I can't even describe the noise very well, it was just sudden and loud. Our entire apartment was shaking HARD and it felt like the windows were going to burst. It lasted only about ten seconds or so, but it was scary. We looked out our window and front door when it was over but couldn't see anything but a lot of lights turned on and other people standing outside trying to see what happened. Marcus finally noticed a huge plume of smoke barreling into the sky at the plant. There was no fire and we later found out that was because it was a chemical explosion. Just from the sound and power of it we were afraid it probably killed whoever was in the building for sure, but luckily we were totally wrong. 11 people were injured but none of the injuries were life-threatening. Anyway, it sure caused some excitement in our neighborhood. Craziest thing about it was that Connor slept through the whole thing...I HAVE NO IDEA HOW, but I'm not complaining about it.

P.S. This is not an actual picture of the plant explosion, it was too dark to take any photos, but this one I found googling "chemical explosion seems to look very similar to what we saw last night.