bella (not the one you're thinking of)

We've only seen it once so far, but D and I love the movie bella. He got it recently with Blockbuster's five DVDs for $20 deal. It's unique, unpredictable, and makes you feel good.

IMDb describes it as "a true love story about how one day in New York City changed three people forever." I wouldn't really call it a chick flick or a typical love story. It has won a lot of film festival awards. I agree with this comment (on IMDb):

I was astonished after seeing the film Bella. I was impressed, inspired, uplifted and sobered all at the same time. The film is powerful and thought provoking. Each scene blends perfectly into the next creating and weaving an intricate and detailed story without being self indulgent. The actors make choices that are simple yet powerful. Every character lets their humanity show in a way that causes the audience to fall in love with them throughout the course of the movie. Both the story and the characters are realistic and every scene of the movie is packed with truth. Audiences can see aspects of their own lives and situations in every scene of this masterfully composed story.

Scripture Sunday: Fear

In a lesson for the youth of our ward today, the teacher asked, "who is it that wants us to fear?" She said that fear is not part of Heavenly Father's plan for us. Then I remembered these wonderful verses.


1 Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.


1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.


Moroni 8:16
Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having ^aauthority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for ^bperfect ^clove ^dcasteth out all fear.




I believe true love is the opposite of fear.

Our Valentine's Day 2009

I like this holiday because it was at a Valentine's Day dance {in 1995} that I met my husband. We made a big deal of it this year, I guess because we don't go out on dates very often {we just stay home} and because he is deploying.

In the morning Shboogoo got to unwrap two clearance items I bought her at Seagull Book. She loves them:

and

In the afternoon we, like everyone else, it seems, saw He's Just Not That Into You.

After that we ate at a specific restaurant we love, continuing the tradition we started last Valentine's Day when my step-mom gave us a gift card for that place. This time we found a much better parking spot; I wonder if there weren't as many people in the shopping mall this year because of the economy. But I digress. We shared a salad, I had Butternut Squash Fettuccine, and he had Pork Tenderloins. That place has such delicious food!

While waiting for our food we exchanged cards and gifts.
What D wrote inside the Winnie the Pooh card brought tears to my eyes. He also got me a Flip Video camera, which I wasn't expecting to receive even though I kept saying we needed to buy a video camera; the one his mom bought got lost on a mountain several months ago! I gave him a Blackberry {a slightly used one from eBay} so while he is in training he can email me without having to wait to use a computer. Once he leaves the country I can use it. The Blackberry was actually his idea. He wouldn't want people to see how he looked in the picture of us at the restaurant, so I'm only including this one.


It was a perfect day. I love you, darling!

Moving

Our girl was pretty good in spite of sleeping in different places and having boxes throughout the only home she had ever known. (Really, it was partly because of the boxes. She liked to stand on them and say, "Up at the top!") I thought these pictures were fun.

"riding a horse"

Watching something on youtube -- I think it was Beauty and the Beast

She asked daddy to make a happy face as he was repainting her room. He's a good cartoonist:

I'm a preggo

Here's an update on my pregnancy with Mr. Baby #2. I feel really good most of the time, and have been feeling the baby move since I was 10 weeks along. I am glad to be more than halfway done, with about 18 weeks left. I just wish I could know when our baby will be ready to be born -- I'd love to have my sweet husband with me if possible. My daughter was born a day after her due date, but what will this little one do? One mom I know just had her second child ten days early, and another's second child came ten days late!

This was me at 16.5 weeks along (in pajamas):

18 weeks:

19 weeks (in exercise clothes):



21 weeks:

Like last time, we are referring to him or her as "Mr. Baby," but we chose not to find out the gender. (When we found out that Shboogoo was a girl we switched to saying "Mrs. Baby.") Based on the ultrasound measurements they said the due date of June 21st is right.

A few days ago I had a second ultrasound so the sonographer could get better pictures of the heart. Also, I had a VBAC consultation with an OB there who said I am "not a very good candidate" for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). To say that I felt bummed by her saying this would be a huge understatement. Once we were out of there I cried and D hugged me and talked with me. I had expected to hear that I had a really good chance of "succeeding" at VBAC: my doula and my team of midwives told me they think I can do it, they have a 92% VBAC success rate over the last two years, I'm healthy, and this is a different baby.

The main reason this OB thinks I would need another c-section is that when I was in labor before and was 5 cm dilated, Shboogoo's head had not descended as low as it should have to fit the typical pattern. I was angry because of some of the things the OB said (and probably also because I am reading The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth.) I'm going to find out as much as I can about this "pattern" and other mothers' VBAC experiences. It seems to me that given enough time and freedom of movement, the baby's head will come down. The woman, not the doctor, is the one having the baby, so she should be allowed to get off her back and use gravity even if it's less convenient for the doctor! I'd much rather have a long labor than an unnecessary surgery. I like the natural techniques I've read about, and would love to have a homebirth like Traci. . . but I can't. I know I'm doing the right thing by using a doula again and by having midwives instead of an OB.

Please comment if you have strong feelings about your birth experience(s), hospitals, or anything else I wrote about.

Infertility

I feel blessed that I have been able to get pregnant pretty quickly (especially the first time, when it happened within the sixteen days that my husband was in town). We know others who are married and want to become parents but it just isn't happening yet. I feel so sad for them. One of our best couple friends just had their first baby. They knew their chances of conceiving weren't very good, so they were surprised to see a positive pregnancy test after nearly four years of marriage. The couple who lived in that same place before them tried for about nine months before conceiving each of their kids. Two other couples I know have been trying unsuccessfully for more than a year.

Months ago I somehow came across the blog Sisterhood of Support. It's mainly a place for women with fertility issues to communicate with each other their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. I personally don't know what they are going through, but it's really interesting to me. Lately it seems that all I think about are pregnancy and childbirth.

There are some links on Sisterhood of Support that look really helpful. I also found another great blog, Our Journey of Love, and when I google-searched for "infertile blog" I found Infertility Blog and I Am More Than My Infertility. I have no idea how many people will read this post, but I hope it will help somebody.

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Cammy asked about our move. It took longer than we had planned. But we had a lot of people who helped so we were able to get the majority of our things out (into a storage unit and two of our parents' houses) on January 31st. To all who helped us move or clean or offered your help, thank you! We're pretty settled into my mom's house now, and after D's last day of work we will be at his dad's. I took pictures of moving and of other things, but I haven't posted because I need to find the camera.