Mobile

I just thought it would be fun to experiment.  I downloaded the Blogger app for my phone. I wondered how it works.

Leah and Bryan Pruett (my cousin & her spouse) are on their way here.  I am UBER excited.  This weekend looks promising.

Love, The Hunters

Breaking Up is Hard to Do.

Today is Friday, September 30, 2011. It is 6:30 PM. Do you know where all of your friends and family are and what they're doing? Cause I don't anymore.
I have officially shut off my Facebook account. I am still in denial. I am already having withdrawals. (Jittery, nervous, slightly irritable.. that sort of thing.)
I even needed moral support from Anthony while I did it.
I need to prove to myself that I don't need Facebook. There are still ways to keep in touch with people. Even ways as simple as sending them an email or calling them on the phone. I may even start to support the postal service and start sending letters. We'll see how things go.

If one day, you receive a random letter in the mail from me about nothing more than how we're doing, now you know why.

This is bound to be an adventure. Here's to being free of an online (near)addiction.
*shudder shudder*

Scrapbooking Fun

I recently got some new digital scrapbooking kits. I love digital scrapbooking! (It's really fun!) I thought I'd show off some of the pages I made most recently.

Sick and Tired

Literally. I wish I could say I was just upset about something when I say that... but alas, no. We are all getting sick and tired is just an obvious companion of that.
It started a few days ago in Anthony's nose. It's just time again for his annual sinus infection and head cold. Naturally, when one gets sick, we all end up that way. It hasn't gotten very bad with me. It's mostly just my throat when I sleep. Alida hasn't caught much of it either. She just coughs every now and again. Nothing major.

Then you get into the tired side of everything. Dishes haven't been done in a few days. Laundry is waiting for me to do it. Oh, and to top it all off, we have company coming tonight and staying the weekend!!! I was hoping Anthony would at least get SOME of the dishes washed this morning before work. I was going to surprise him and finish them while he was gone. Now, if I want to surprise him the way I wanted to, I will have to do all of them. (I don't enjoy doing the dishes. They're the bane of my existence.)
This on top of finishing cleaning my house (I started it yesterday. I got my room cleaned (finally!!), the bathroom cleaned, and HALF of the kitchen cleaned before I gave up completely. Today, I hope to get the laundry done, the dishes done, the other half of the kitchen clean and get the living room all cleaned up (all preferably before 6pm, since Anthony and I are supposed to be going out to dinner tonight for his work). That's the HOPE for today. I'll let you know how it goes. The hardest part is going to be getting myself up of the couch and starting. After all, it's still only 9am.

Well, wish me luck! I'm going to attempt to get started. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women, as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm. If you are thinking, surely she doesn’t mean me – then you should probably read this twice.

1. The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is ‘Congratulations!’ with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you a jerk.

2. Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father – not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase ‘my baby’.

3. On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth, and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it…

4. The body of a pregnant woman should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone’s stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix, or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

5. Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight…ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is ‘You look fabulous!’.

6. By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don’t need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes. Nor do we need to know how badly you will feel for us because we will be pregnant during the summer and how glad you are that YOU will not be pregnant this coming summer.

7. There is a reason that tickets to Labor & Delivery are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL, or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. You weren’t invited to be there when the baby was created, you probably won’t be invited to be there when it comes out either.

8. Like everything else in life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital, and the parent’s home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to ‘help out’. If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.

9. If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules, and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.

10. The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less.

Sincerely,
All the Pregnant Women in the World

A funny excerpt found at http://evilclomid.com/2008/08/13/dear-non-pregnant-person/
Written by "Erin". I thought this was really funny.

Sleepy

With being pregnant comes all of the little complaints of pregnancy.
Last night was one of the nights with little complaints.
Anthony called me from work and asked if we could have baked potatoes for dinner last night. I thought they sounded good and readily agreed. When the time came for me to put the potatoes in the oven and let them start cooking, I found that I didn't have any aluminum foil. (I'm picky about things sometimes)
I immediately texted Anthony and asked him to pick up some foil on his way home. When he got home at 6:30pm, I went into the kitchen and started the potatoes immediately. I knew we had already lost too much time. Alas, it still wasn't enough time. The potatoes wouldn't cook. At 8:00pm, we were all starving and becoming grumpy. I remembered that Michelle told me how to use the microwave to cook potatoes, and decided that I would cheat. To my surprise, my microwave has a Baked Potato setting!!! I was ecstatic! 8 minutes later, dinner was ready. :)
Now, being 13 1/2 weeks pregnant, not having a lot of sleep and not eating a lot of food do not go well together. By the time dinner was ready, I was struggling to stay standing. I was almost too tired to get the table set. At last, at 8:30pm, we were ready to sit down and start eating.
1/2 of my baked potato later, my body decided it had had enough food and it was time for sleep, because I couldn't keep my eyes open. Anthony made me go to bed. It was only 9pm.

This made for an interesting lesson in making sure I eat enough throughout the day to keep my energy up. I hope I can put theory into practice. Adventures in Pregnancy.

Love, The Hunter Family

Weekend Visits

We didn't really have much of a weekend.... No! I'm just kidding! :)
We had a really fun weekend! We spent Saturday in Utah County. It's been about a month (possibly more) since we were down there last.
The day trip started with a visit to one of my best friends, (since, like, 8th grade!, Josie Young. I was so glad we got to visit her! It's always a treat when we can get together with our friends. Even if it is only for an hour or two.
After visiting with her for a while, we went down to my folks place for a visit. I can't deny that I was a little disappointed with our trip... I had been really looking forward to being able to pick apples from their tree and make and bottle apple juice with my mom. I wasn't told until we were on our way down that the apples wouldn't be ripe for another month, at least. The visit was fun though. It's fun to get to visit with my family. Alida loves it too. She doesn't get to see her grandparents much, so it's always a treat when she does.
After visiting my folks, we drove up to visit Anthony's folks. It was a great evening! We had a wiener roast in the back yard and Alida and I both got hair cuts. (Thanks Monika!!!) We didn't get a lot cut off. It was just trims for both of us, but she did such a great job! (I wish I had gotten pics of the hair cuts. Sorry.)
One surprise of the evening was the "kitchen hutch" Anthony's mom gave us. (thanks Meem!) I am stoked to have it! The only problem we face is that it is only a half of a hutch. Apparently the hutch she bought was not a complete set. It is only the top half. Anthony drove back down to my parent's house to pick up some old shelves that we thought would hold the top of the hutch nicely, but we have found that the shelves are several inches too short. Now I have half of an unfinished kitchen hutch sitting in my kitchen and nothing to put it on. My goal has become to find a base for it that will be big enough, with some storage capabilities, but not too tall so it will still fit in my kitchen. Wish me luck! (and if anyone has anything that they might be willing to get rid of for cheap or free, and it's sturdy and at least 42" long and 13" wide, let me know!) I will post a pic or 2 of the project after we find something to house the top.
Lots going on this week at our house. More to come later!
Love, The Hunter Family

Our News

For those of you that don't know yet, our family has some exciting news!

We are expecting our second child! We found out in July. We are super excited! I am 13 weeks pregnant today.

Everything is looking wonderful. We should find out what we're having sometime in November. The due date is March 30th, 2012.

We are really happy about this. The Lord has blessed our family so much and we can't begin to say how thankful we are for everything we have.

I know there will be some interesting things coming up in our future. We will have lots to share in the coming months.

Love, The Hunter Family

Unplugging

After a long talk with Anthony, we are going to be attempting something as a family.
We find that as wonderful as technology can be, we also find that it distracts us from too much, too often. We are not ok with this. We have more important things in our lives than the internet and our phones.
We are unplugging almost completely for a week... sort of like a tech-detox... and we will see how things go from there. We may try to make a lot of it permanent, and there will be things that we definitely make permanent.

As part of me unplugging, I will be shutting off my Facebook account at the end of next week. Next Friday, I will no longer be a part of Facebook. This will be a permanent step that I feel I need to take to better myself.

I will still be reachable by phone, text, email and snail mail. (and letters in the mail would absolutely make my day... it might be fun!) If you want any of my contact information, please email me at sharianne84@hotmail.com and I will send you the info you seek.

Also, I don't want to completely keep people out of the loop with our family, so Anthony and I will be endeavoring to keep everyone interested updated on our blog. Feel free to subscribe to it to receive updates when I make them.

We don't want to cut ourselves off from everyone by any means. We just feel that it is important for our family to get away from the distractions and stress brought on by technology. We need to try to return to a simpler way of life.

I will be updating with pictures here on the blog as well. Those will not be stopped... though I admit, I can't guarantee a blog post every day or even every week... but I will update as much as I can.

Love, The Hunter Family