1 week already!

Thanks to Heather for her amazing photography skills!!

It's all a blur! But I am beginning to forget the labor pains already. Here are a few (I'll admit, somewhat cliche) things I've found to be true after one week of mommy-hood:

I am so blessed to have so much support from friends and family.
Christian is the absolute best daddy in the entire world--I totally scored, people.
I never knew how fast 9 months would go.
I never knew how stinking hard labor is.
I totally forgot what it's like to hug my husband without a big belly.
It feels SO good to sleep on my back....that is when I get any sleep.
Hearing her cry is really really hard.
Watching her sleep is fun and boring sometimes.
Crying when she cries isn't a good idea.
Knowing she is alive and growing means I did a good job!
Breast-feeding is such a cool thing...totally weird, but cool.

I can't imagine life without her--what in the world was that like?

I never knew I could love anyone so much.

100 days and counting

I'm counting* because I'm excited and because I'm scared out of my mind.

etsy seller

I'm excited because of all the things you might imagine:

• I'll get to eat cake batter and cookie dough again, for one.  (Most other things with raw egg I have been happy to avoid.)
• Everyone will get to meet daddy's little girl and make all the comments like "oh she has Christian's nose!" To which, my dad will most-likely reply, "no she doesn't, she has her own nose." I just hope she doesn't get my nose (but that would fall more in the things I'm scared of category).
• I'll get to stop thinking things like "why does it feel like I'm carrying around a bucket of water...oh because I am."
• I'll finally get to be my own boss and have my dream career. I'll be an entrepreneur--well, a social entrepreneur, anyway. My new business will be full of imagining, telling stories and making pies. And probably a lot of other stuff...but that brings me to why I'm scared out of my mind.

                                         I'm scared out of my mind because:

etsy seller

• I know I'll mess up with some of the little things and not make her practice her piano enough. Or too much. Or she will catch me laughing when she's trying to be serious. Or I will let her cry too long. Or I will cry too long. 
• What if I mess up with some of the big things, too?  Like what if we name her the wrong name? 
• As much sleep as I am NOT getting now, I'm pretty sure in 100 days, I will be getting much less.
• What if my gag reflex never goes away and her first memory is of me gagging while I change her diaper or feed her some awful baby food? (OK, I hope she's out of diapers before her memory kicks in).
• What if she likes Christian more than me? That's pretty clear already because she hasn't once kicked him, and she loves to kick me.
• What if she loves glitter? I really don't think I can handle glitter.

*Disclaimer: I'm not really expecting her to show up right on her due date, since I'm not sure those really mean much of anything anyway.

Thank you for asking.

Question: Candace, are you excited for tax season to be over soon?

Answer: YES!! I can't wait for more of this:

Q: What will you name your child??
A: We have always loved the names William and Lucy...and when we moved into The Village and met these two folks (Bill and Lucy), we knew we were meant to be friends.  When most people ask the gender of a child they usually say, "are you having a boy or a girl?" Well, when they asked us our baby's gender it was: "Is it a Bill or a Lucy?" We don't know what we're naming our child. But there's at least two or three votes out there for Lucy. And everyone knows voting is the absolute best way to name a child.

Q:Have you been making anything delicious in the kitchen lately?
A: Why yes, yes I have! Conference Sunday brought this lovely pizza along with it. And I made myself another one tonight because of the miracle of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Q: Is this your sister?
A: No. This is my cousin cheesin' it up for the camera because she just got engaged. She also has the red hair I've always wanted. Thanks for reminding me.

Veggie Heaven in 2011

one of my heroes, mary, told me that she likes to make a rhyme for her new years resolution. i thought it was a great idea. we came up with mine together. you see, in 2011 i am going to eat a salad every day. wait, scratch that. i am going to attempt to eat a salad every day. inspired by my friend who ate a bowl of leafy green goodness every day in 2009, i decided to try it for myself. check out yearofsalad.com for more details about the challenge. don't you love this cute button? it was put together by yours truly. jenny's simple style is catchy, don't you think?

last year i went off of carbonation. that was easy compared to this (and i haven't even started it yet). it seems easier to NOT DO something...i am going to have to DO stuff like plan ahead and store salad ingredients neatly in my fridge. and maybe even go to the store more than once a month. oh, and the part of actually eating the salad. sure, i like green salad...but EVERY day? i hope i'm converted by the end. i know it will make me feel better and be healthier. even with all that parmesan lemon-garlic-oil and bacon dressing from the Do Do. ok it doesn't sound that bad. now i just need to get some of that dressing.

i know i'm jumping ahead a bit...but i still need to find my camera cord to post all my fun pics of the house and Christmas. not to mention C1's birthday...the MOST important thing about this past month. eventually i'll get to it. stay tuned if you're interested.

Honestly,

I cried the night before C1 started his new/first "real" job. This is how it went:

C1: why are you so sad?

me: I'm not sad.

C1: then why are you crying?

me: I'm not crying.

C1: why are you crying?

me: I just don't want to grow up.

C1: well then how about I just grow up and you don't?

me: OK!

But tonight, since the grandparents are out of town, C1 snuck upstairs and played the piano. I mean he really played it. And the music sounded so nice. And sooo much better than the sound doing homework makes (ummm...no sound at all?). I honestly can't remember the last time he did that.

And then I decided. OK. It's kinda fun to grow up. As long as it means there's more time for piano.

congrat U lations

It feels good to do something you love.

When I was in elementary school, there was a computer game I loved..I think it was called The Daily Scoop. It took the player through all the steps of making their own newspaper. I wrote stories, I laid out the newspaper, I checked the weather for the weather section, and the computer game had "events" I could watch like crimes and baseball games that I wrote about. Then I'd print it all out on legal size paper, and roll it up in a tube, just like the real deal.

When I was in middle school, I started carrying around a tape recorder. For the most part I just thought it was fun to be sneaky and record people without them knowing...but when I realized I actually had some valuable and quite funny information recorded, I stuck with the hidden recorder and I think this practice continued into my sophomore or junior year of high school.

When I started high school, I went through this survey phase--I'd go around during lunch asking students of East High if they preferred jelly or jam, crunchy or smooth peanut butter, red or blue, and many other "or" questions. I kept a running tally...for who knows why. I guess I just loved knowing...and I loved asking (except I did get cursed at a few times). You can learn so much about a person just knowing they like jelly, smooth peanut butter and like blue more than red...don't you think??

When I was in college, I somehow forgot about my love for asking questions and evaluating answers, my love for descretely pushing the record button, and my love for reporting on animated crimes and baseball games. But when I was let go from my job last year (it's been exactly one year to the day!) and started working at Utah Business magazine, I was reminded.

This week, I asked hundreds of questions, researched and gathered funny and valuable information, I pushed the record button oh, 10 times, attended a really cool event and wrote an article about it.

Dear Candace of Yesteryear, how did you ever let me forget to do what I love?