We interrupt the regularly scheduled program...

to bring you this news bulletin:

Mr. Myrick Leonard has made his appearance! He arrived on March 19th, 2010 at 9:38pm.
I had originally planned on doing a post about Micah and I's five year anniversary that day, but I was a bit busy laboring! We're planning on celebrating some day this summer instead, so I'll do a post then! :)

He was 7lbs 10.5 oz, 20.5 inches long, and adorable!


Oh, and just in case you were worried, no, he did not come at week 22. It was actually week 42, and I do still plan on getting posts up about my pregnancy weeks just as soon as I'm able.

Week 22

Week 22 began on October 30th through November 5th.

On Monday November 2nd, Micah and I were in Kansas City for an elders retreat for our church. During one of the meetings he had his hand on my belly trying to see if he could feel the baby move (he hadn't been able to yet).

Then, he got REALLY excited because he was certain that he'd felt Hoover move, but really, it was me burping! I was trying to be quiet because we were in a meeting, but his excitement made me laugh out loud! Poor guy.

The next day, Tuesday the 3rd, I had another appointment at the birthing center. It went much smoother than my first experience there.

While I was waiting to be seen I was resting in the waiting room and felt hiccups for the first time!! That was really fun. I was so excited that when the midwife was ready to see me, I told her, "I just felt HIM hiccup," which I had tried to avoid before this, because obviously, we didn't want to know the gender - I just said him because of our nick name for the babe.

So, later in the appointment we were going through the sonogram information, and the first thing she said was, "So, you found out it's a boy?"

Me: "umm...no?! Does it say we're having a boy?!"

Midwife: "NO! It never says, really! You just called it a "him" 3 times! I just figured you knew!"

I don't think legally the sonogram place could have put the gender on my chart since we specifically asked them not to reveal the sex, but it's still fun to wonder if my midwife actually knows something we don't know!

Week 21 - The Great Crib Hunt

On Saturday, October 24th, Micah and I went with my parents to Kansas City to celebrate dad's birthday and to look for a crib for our nursery. But, the hunt for nursery furniture started long before this!

Mom and I registered at Baby Depot for the crib and dresser set we liked, even though it was kind of expensive. But, almost as soon as we registered for it, it was discontinued.

We looked at a few places around town, but never found anything I really liked, which is why we scheduled the trip to Kansas City.

While in Kansas City, our first stop was Nebraska Furniture Mart. In the store's clearance section, I found a dresser that I really liked, and the store's baby furniture section had the matching dresser. I liked it a lot and was pretty sure I wanted to buy it, but we also wanted to look at another store before deciding for sure.

So, we left NFM, ate lunch, ran a few other errands, then went to the other store, USA Baby. We didn't really find anything there we liked better, so we headed back to NFM to purchase the crib and dresser before heading out of town.

But, alas, it was not meant to be (strike 2!). The clearanced dresser was gone, and I couldn't bring myself to pay another couple hundred dollars for the same dresser. So, we looked around Nebraska Furniture Mart a bit more, and I finally settled on a different crib and dresser set that was on special that weekend. But, when we asked a sales person about it, she informed us that the set wasn't included in the sale, and so it'd also cost $200 more than we'd originally thought. (Strike 3!)

After that, we were all kind of exhausted from the day, and didn't have the heart to start our search again, so we headed home.


After the third strike, I needed to take a break from looking for a bit, and really give thought to what I wanted in the nursery. This is when I changed from my original plan for the nursery to a whole new color scheme. I decided I wanted a lighter color wood, with brown walls and cream accents for things like the rug, rocking chair and bedding. Then, once we knew Hoover's gender, we'd add blue/green or pink, whichever was appropriate.

So, on the 29th, mom and I hit the local stores again. We wound up at Baby Depot looking at their sale furniture - buy a crib and get the dresser half off. I found a set I could live with, so I called my husband and my brother-in-law to make sure they'd be able to come and pick up the furniture for me. We went up to make the purchase, and the cashier informed us that even though the sign for the sale was on top of the dresser we were looking at buying, the set was not actually included in their sale! (Strike 4!)

Ugh, I was so mad!! I really, really wanted to argue it (I mean, the sign advertising the sale was actually ON TOP OF THE DRESSER I WANTED!!) But, I knew better than to think any of the employees could really make that kind of exception. And, once again, I couldn't bring myself to pay full price for a dresser I had originally thought would be half-price, so, we left empty-handed.

Well, not quite empty-handed. I did find this shirt that made me happy:



Even though we'd already looked at Babies R Us a handful of times since the start of our hunt, I talked mom into going one more time, just in case. And, I'm so glad I did! God is so faithful!!

We found 2 dressers that matched each other (one a chest of drawers, and one with an area that could be used as a changing table) in the clearance section. And, we found a crib that matched it not on clearance. But, the best part was, they were having a sale that weekend that let you get an additional 30% off of clearanced furniture! So, we got 2 cribs and our dresser for $457 including tax! Which was quite a bit cheaper than the other sets we had been looking at with only 1 dresser!

So, after 4 failed attempts, we finally had furniture for our new little babe!

Isn't God good? So many times, I got pretty discouraged, but mom kept reassuring me that we'd find something that worked, and that was way better than the previous options. And, she was so right.

Week 20

Week 20 began on October 16th, and was quite the exciting week because I was SURE I felt the baby move on Monday the 19th.

Then, on Thursday the 22nd, I sat in bed for a good chunk of the morning just feeling Hoover move. I didn't know if I'd still be able to feel him move if I got out of bed, so I tried not to move much.

By the time I was 21 weeks, I was feeling him move even when I was up moving around.


What an exciting week!

15% off Alice.com giftcards

Alice.com, which I've mentioned on here before, is doing a special right now, through March 11th where you can get 15% off any gift card purchases you make.

This is super fun to me, especially since you can buy stamps on Alice.com. How many people do you know who can get 15% off postage?!

If you haven't checked it out yet, you totally should!

The day I stole a case of water

Ok, so I didn't really steal the case of water. But, I totally should have! Seriously, I know stealing is wrong and everything - but in this case, it would have made everyone's life much happier! :)

Let me start at the beginning:

So, there I was, minding my own business in the checkout line at the grocery store when I realized that I knew the cashier. I started unloading my purchases onto the belt as we chatted. She rang everything up for me, I paid the bill, and we said good bye and told each other how nice it was to see the other and all that jazz.

As I'm unloading my cart full of food into my car, I realized with alarm that I had a case of water on the bottom of my cart that I'd forgotten to tell my friend, the cashier, about so she could ring it up.

I had stolen a case of water.

This is when I stopped thinking clearly.

I knew that I couldn't just leave the case of water in the cart outside of the store, because the someone else would steal it, and the store still wouldn't profit from their loss of product. So, I decide the best thing to do is just push my cart with the water still on the bottom rack into the inside stall. That way, I could get the water inside the store, but not have to admit that I was a dirty rotten thief.

My plan would have worked too, if it weren't for this pesky old man (Ok, he wasn't pesky at all, he was really sweet - but it fits my Scooby-Doo impression better if he's pesky!)

See, as soon as I thought I was in the clear and walking away from my stolen case of water, the pesky old man stops me to inform me that I forgot the case of water I'd bought!

Remember that I said I stopped thinking clearly? This is probably the time when my thought process became the foggiest. The best course of action would have been to thank him, grab the case of water, and go back through the line again to pay for said water.

But, I wasn't thinking of the best course of action. For some reason, in my head, I was convinced that someone would think if I did that (go get in line to pay for it) I was trying to steal it!! Hehe...how's that for logic?

So, instead - I end up with the case of water at the customer service desk. I explain to the nice lady (Ok, really, SHE was the pesky one!) that I'd accidentally left the store with this case of water, and I'd like to go ahead and pay for it now.

She couldn't just praise me for my honesty. Oh no, she wanted to punish me. She wanted to see the receipt of my purchase, not to make sure I was correct, but to know which cashier to tattle on! :(

So, I ended up getting my friend in trouble for my inability to think clearly.


And this, my friends, is why I regret not stealing a case of water.

How to upset a pregnant lady

During Week 18 of my pregnancy, I had my first appointment at the birthing center where I will have our little Hoove! It was really exciting, but it also turned out to be a little frustrating, too.

My grandma and I showed up at the birthing center around 9:30am for a 10am appointment to fill out paperwork. Mom and Micah showed up around 10am from their respective jobs. Then, we waited. And waited. And waited some more. At around 11am, they took us into the birthing room to show us around there and to go through my new mom packet.

After that, the nurse gave us a tour of the rest of the facility, then left us in the "stress test" room to wait for an exam room to open. I think we waited there for another 30 minutes or so.

Then the nurse moved us into the exam room to wait for a midwife. We waited ANOTHER 30 minutes or so. It was about 12:15 or so when we finally saw the midwife. I felt a little bit bad because when she asked how we were doing, I said, "Fine. Is it NORMAL to wait two hours to see someone?" She said it wasn't and that they were just having a bad day. She added that normally, they would have sent me home and asked me to come back a little later, but since I had my entourage with me, they didn't.

We listened to the heart beat, she asked everyone if they had any questions, and then we finally left around 12:30pm. So, 3 hours!

I hate to admit this - but I was one cranky pregnant lady. Around 10:45ish, I was starting to get a pretty bad headache. I hadn't had much water yet that day, and I didn't eat a very big breakfast because I thought I'd just come home and eat afterward. I had some Tylenol and water in the car, but I kept thinking we'd be leaving any minute!

So, I never did go get it. Instead, my headache kept getting worse and worse.

So, when we finally left at 12:30pm, I got out to my car and took some Tylenol. On an empty stomach.

Not a good idea.

Micah had taken three hours off so he could have lunch with us after the appointment. Since it had taken so long, he had to rush just to get back to work, but mom, grandma and I still went out to lunch. I took one bite of my food - and had my first pregnancy sickness experience! It was not pretty!

On the plus side, all my appointments since then have gone really smoothly. And I learned that Tylenol on an empty stomach is not something my pregnant body wants me to do.

Grandma's House

My grandma has had this sign hanging over her basement stairs since I was a little girl. I always thought it meant that swimming wasn't allowed after 10pm (even though she didn't have a pool!) which always struck me as funny. It wasn't until I was a bit older that I realized this sign was not prohibiting SWIMMING, but swimming SUITS.

I'm not sure why, but this has made me giggle for years! Then, this year, my mom informed grandma of how much I adored the sign, and the fact that it has hung at my grandparents house for so many years. So, she took it off her wall and gave it to me for Christmas!

It now hangs proudly above Micah and I's basement stairs, and I couldn't be more pleased! A little piece of my grandma's house to enjoy throughout the day.