Save the Date for baby Spencer - 04.03.12

So it's official. Patrick and I are expecting another little monster. For years I've had big annoucements and I always had to preface the annoucement with NO we are not Pregnant. But now I can officially say.

YES! WE ARE PREGNANT.

I told you that we weren't planning on expanding our family until we were both finished with school. Patrick finished last December and I finished on August 12th. So hence the soon to be addition to our family.

I decided to tell my mom by making that little save the date poster (pictured above), printing it and then putting it in a frame. I originally bought the frame (pictured above) to give to her but I liked it so much that I couldn't part ways with it. But she found out before I could go and buy a new frame. Let me explain.

I was planning on telling her and Katherine at the same time during mom's Birthday dinner. Her birthday was on a Wednesday but we had to wait a week and a half for a Saturday because of her schedule and Katherine's schedule.  On the Friday before the dinner mom came over to drop something off. I had the poster printed and in my purse. I ran upstairs to get something and Audrey pulled the poster out of my purse and handed it to my mom.  Then mom asked me what the date meant.

And that is how my mom found out. There was no pomp and circumstance like I had planned.  It was rather disappointing. Mom suggested that I call everyone that evening and tell them about it. I was thinking of waiting a little longer but she felt that it was important so I did. I called my dad, Michelle and Katherine. I was going to call some other people but ended up being on the phone with Michelle until really really late and called everyone else the next day.

For Katherine I was going to go and purchase a Cat toy and hand that to her in a baby shower bag. When I first told mom and Katherine about Audrey I bought a baby rattle and a bib that said "I love Grandma." Katherine opened the bag and had a bit of a panic attack and said "that's a cat toy...right?" It took her a few minutes to come to grips with the announcement. Don't get me wrong she was really excited about it. Just shocked.

I didn't get the chance to call my Grandma until Saturday morning. She was the first thing on my list of things to do. I called and told her the good news and she was really excited and very happy for us. Come to find out that mom spilled the beans to grandma the night before. BRAVO Grandma you fooled me into thinking you didn't know. BOOOO Mom.

Michelle just laughed and Dad and Veniece were at a Bowling Ally and they couldn't hear me very well. We didn't get to talk very long. But at least I was able to tell them.

Audrey seems excited about the new baby. But I don't think she quite understands whats happening. She keeps talking about how baby Gina (virginia, Michelles little girl) is going to be coming and living with us. I think it will make more sense when I have a belly and when it gets closer to the due date. The Hospital that I'll be delivering at has a class for older siblings. I'm thinking of taking her to the class when I get closer to the due date so she understands a little more about what is going to be happening.

It's been a good (not really) pregnancy so far but right now I feel like a really bad parent. I haven't spent much quality time with Audrey the last few weeks. I've been sick as a dog and I just haven't had any energy. About two weeks after I found out (I believe it was my 7th week) I got a really bad flu and wasn't just tossing my cookies because of morning sickness. I was really sick with a high fever and a horrible stomach bug and then when the flu/fever subsided I was left with a horrible cough that developed into Bronchitis and was on antibiotics that had nausea as a side affect. It was a miserable week and a half. I still have my bronchitis cough two weeks later. UGH.

Most evenings I'm in bed just hoping that the nauseousness subsides. It never does. But Audrey is a sweet little thing, during all of this mess, I'll tell her that I'm not feeling well and she'll come and give me a hug and sit with me. It's been really cute but still I feel bad that I'm not playing with her.

Well that's that. I don't normally do this but I'm wanting to know how did you guys tell family and friends about the new addition to your families? Did you do something fun or did you just call them up? I really am interested in knowing.

Oh, by the way, I'm 9 weeks today.

BYU Scrimmage

A few Saturdays ago BYU had a scrimmage game and we and 7000 other people decided it would be a fun way to spend Saturday morning. It was pretty hot out and the sun was just blazing. So Audrey and I spent the majority of the time in the shade. I got these two pictures of Audrey running around.

and then Audrey grabbed my phone and took this other picture of me.

I think they are cute. I think we might have another family photographer on our hands. She loves taking pictures she stole my phone and took this picture of Patrick and I in the kitchen of our house.

A little off but still pretty cute. And then dad took the phone and took this picture of Audrey and I. Ignore the mess we were making dinner at the time.

 By the way I am loving this insta.gram app.

Update on Life - Finally Graduated and other things

Long time no post...am I right?

It's been a little busy here at the Spencer Household. We've all had our turn at being ill, which has not been the most pleasant of experiences. Audrey was sick a few weeks ago and I've been ill for the past week.

When Audrey is sick you know that she is. It's hard for the little thing to hide her emotions. She's just so rambunctious most of the time. Just non stop all day long. It's hard to keep up with her sometimes. When she gets sick she just turns off. She cuddles and sleeps all day. So it's pretty easy to spot the difference between when it's fake and when it's real.

That week she kept complaining that her stomach was hurting. But when we took her to the doctor they couldn't find anything wrong. They thought it was a UTI, but it wasn't and then a day later she was back to her crazy self. The pain lasted for a few days but ended up leaving on it's own. I still have no idea what was wrong. I'm going to pay attention to this and if it comes back we'll talk about going and seeing a specialist. After all I had my appendix out, my gallbladder out, and have had about 6 other surgeries. I just don't want her to live in pain for years before anything gets done....just in case she has inherited my wonderful problems. I'll keep you posted about that.

Then this past week I've been REALLY ill. Like insanely ill. It started on Monday afternoon. I just felt yuck. Then Tuesday I woke up with a fever and the stomach flu. Wednesday was the same story. On Thursday I finally had enough energy to get out to see the doctor and by then the fever had left but I had developed a horrible cough. I was diagnosed with bronchitis. REALLY bronchitis in 90 degree heat in Mid August. INSANE. But because I had a fever and flu symtoms as the bronchitis was developing if I'm not careful I could get pneumonia. GREAT! pneumonia in august. What a great way to end the summer.
So I've been on antibacterial medicine (which I think this is a viral infection and not a bacterial because it's really not getting much better) and I'm that lucky 10% that gets the side affects (nausea and other things I don't want to say on a blog). So I've been coughing up a lung and nearly throwing up every few minutes. It's been a grand week.

I finished school last week but the ecstasy of that has been trumped by my illness. I can say I am really happy about it. No more school, no more books, no more tuition. I can't tell you how excited I am by this. In September I'll become an Academic Adviser here at UVU. I get a pay upgrade and a significantly cooler title. I'm uber excited about that. I've been going through training the last few weeks and it's been really long and really boring, but if it's what I have to do it's what I have to do.

Audrey is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I can't believe that she will be 5 is December. It just seems like yesterday we were taking her home from the hospital. I can't believe my baby will be in Kindergarten next year. (yeah a year away...but goodness that's still only a year away) Her speech is improving tremendously. I've never been too worried about it but she's always been a little slow on that front but it seems as though she's caught up. She's on the level of all the other students in her class. I'm happy about that.

Patrick is still Patrick. Still LOVES BYU and is excited for the Football season to start. In September his work schedule is going to be changing from four 10 hour days to five 8 hour days. He's not thrilled about that. He enjoys his 3 day weekends. I think he'll actually enjoy the five day work week. I don't think he'll be coming home so tired everyday.

I guess that's it for now.

Provo Tabernacle

So as most of you know the Provo Tabernacle burned down about 6 months ago. It was really deviating because I have so many fond memories of that building.

This is a picture of the building after the fire.

I found this picture on flickr

Attention Memory Lane:

About 2 months after Patrick and I started dating he had to do a German choir concert. He was required to do it because of a German class that he was in.  It was fun to go and see him sitting on the stand singing. He's actually pretty good...surprisingly. 

Anyway the day that it burned down I felt so grateful that a few months before (april 2010) I was in downtown Provo shooting pictures for an Panorama HDR. I chose to do downtown Provo of the main street and of University Ave standing on the tabernacle lawn. It actually turned out really really cool. I digress because that's not what this post is about.

Since I was down there I decided to walk around the tabernacle and take some pictures. I thought it would be fun to do a panorama of the tabernacle, but I never found the time to finish the panorama and ended up forgetting about the pictures. Isn't that how it always is. You forget until you really need them.

The day it burned down I went searching for the pictures. But I couldn't find them I looked and looked and looked, but in vain I never found them. It was really sad and I think I might have even shed a tear or two over it. I thought they were gone and that I didn't have anything to remember the tabernacle.

. . .until the other day. I was looking for another picture and was looking in an obscure file and finally found the pictures.

I don't know how they found there way there. I had taken the pictures in April 2010 but the pictures were dated as September 18. The file was actually a hidden file that I had found somehow. It was just weird. So today I present to you my pictures of the Provo tabernacle.

I have not photoshopped the images in any way...that's why they seem a little flat and dull. I love Photoshop. I might do something cool with them and print them later but not today.

Okay...so this one was too dark.

I hope you like them :)