Peanut's going to be born today...

My water just broke!!! Yay!!! That's what I get for schooling Honig in Phase 10 at 2AM!
We're headed to the hospital because our midwife wants to check Peanut and make sure she's doing ok. We'll be holding our sweet baby girl by the end of today!!! Stay tuned for updates and please pray that everything goes well with the labor and delivery and that she's healthy!

Phototime fun-a-rooni...

And I present to you...

SUPERMODEL DOCUMENTARY HOUR!!!

And the sweetest one of all...

Christmas week pictures...

Just a couple of pictures to document the week o'Christmas out in "freezing Iowa." (I can't tell you how many time Pants said it was freezing and that the outside air hurt her lungs. We'll toughen her up yet. It was barely even nippy.)

*And once more to clear up any confusion, my sister's name is not really Pants, it's Tawny. Pants is just what I call her. I don't want you guys to think that my Mom was crazy enough to name her daughter Pants, but then again names that my Mom has given her children will have to be saved for another post all in itself...)*

Pants made some DELICIOUS chicken tortilla soup that we ate for 2 days in a row. Honig couldn't get enough of it.

Pants found a bedspread that she fell in love with at the most random store in the mall and she had to have it. She got a killer deal on it, too.

We ate at her favorite Mongolian restaurant in Davenport. But then again, it's the only Mongolian restaraunt she's been to in Davenport. No worries, those aren't just her take home boxes. She doesn't love it that much.

Loving Peanut after I just completely displaced her after eating an unholy amount of Mongolian noodles and chicken.

Pants L-O-V-E-S rice krispie treats and as much as she "protests" that she shouldn't have them because she'll eat them all, I knew she secretly wanted some so Honig and I whipped up a quick batch on Christmas Eve and as you can see, between the 3 of us, we almost polished off an entire pan within a couple of hours.

That's some rice krispie loving right there.

On Christmas Eve I forced the 3 of us to play games. Pants always complains that she doesn't want to play but as soon as you get the game going she gets all competitive and she detests losing and she loves to be a Gloaty McGloaterson when she wins, just like I do. She whomped on us in Boggle (yeah yeah, you're so great, you're so smart, I only have a 3 letter word vocabulary), but she found out that she was no match for Honig in Scrutineyes so when she lost she insisted that we play again until she won. Ahhh, Pants. What's not to love about you?

Merry Christmas morning!!!

Wow. That's hot. And aren't Pants' pants awesome? They are little green black eyed peas. Most random pants I have ever seen in my life. I want some.

Awwww, loves.

Daddy wishing Peanut a Merry Christmas. He's so sweet and is absolutely head over heels in love with her.

I am glowing. Bet you didn't know I could make myself glow.

Honig's Mom and Dad gave us a Garmin GPS!!

So this Christmas was a bit different because Honig pretty much gave himself presents this year. Since money is limited due to getting ready for a baby and paying an unholy amount for National Boards, I wanted him to get what he really really wanted and he had been Jonesing for the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures, the kind he played with for hours when he was a kid. He found a set of the original 4 turtles and their motorcycle for $4 plus $4 shipping on ebay and he was dying to get them so I said "sure" and that was one of his presents. He was happy as a clam opening and playing with them, as you can see from the picture.

Then one day in mid December he was at WalMart picking up some groceries and he called me all excited and giddy saying that he found the 2nd Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in the $5 bin and wanted to know if he could buy himself another Christmas present.

"Of course you can!"

Now for the pinnacle of presents, which he, of course, got for himself. We have, or I guess I should say "had", a KelTek pistol that we got for our wedding as a present (I know, random present but Honig thought it was the coolest thing ever at the time) and but we rarely ended up using it. Honig had been asking for some time if he could trade it in and get himself a Ruger 10/22 rifle that he was head over heels for, and I told him he could as long as he didn't have to pay anything above and beyond the trade in. He knew exactly which 10/22 he wanted and he's very anal retentive about exactly which specifications his guns have so I would never buy him one in a million years because he wouldn't be happy with it unless it was exactly what he wanted. One day in December he called me to tell me that he was talking to his buddy and his buddy had a brand spankin' new Ruger 10/22 that had never been shot and his buddy was about to trade it in for a small pistol. He wanted to know if he could possibly trade our pistol to his friend for his rifle and that could be his Christmas present. Once again, sure, fine by me as long as it doesn't cost us anything.

So obviously you can see that they traded. Honig said he feels like Ralphie from A Christmas Story when he got his Red Ryder BB Gun.

*I look ticked in that picture. I promise I wasn't.*

Ummm, he's pointing that right at my sister. Maybe I'll have to sign him up for a gun safety course.

The 1 present that was actually a suprise for him. Some ammo for his new toy. Oh sorry, I have been informed that it's not a "toy", it's a "tool."

Pants was the proud recipient of an electronic Deal or No Deal game which she promptly opened before she was even done opening her presents. She had to try to beat it before she could be happy. See? I told you she's competitive.

Just wanted to show you "constellation face." And Pants is still there playing her game.

Peanut got some cute clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Holmes.

Pants eats at Subway religiously so it was only appropriate that she got a Subway gift card.

And I only asked for 1 thing for Christmas. A Colbie Caillat CD because I love her music and I want to listen to it in the labor and delivery room.

Umm, where is my neck?

Happy hubby and happy Pants. I'm not big on asking for and getting presents because I can't remember 90% of what I get anyways. Being together with family was all I wanted for Christmas and I got it and that I definitely will remember.

Sadly, Pants had to leave a couple of hours after we did Christmas morning to catch her flight back to Salt Lake. After we dropped her off and prayed she wouldn't make it on her flight so she'd have to come back to our house for a couple more days (she made it on, darn it), we came home and relaxed for a little while and then decided it was time for our delicious traditional Christmas dinner.

Raclette. Live it. Love it. Eat it.

It's this delicious cheese the Honig's friend brought back from Switzerland for him because we can't find it anywhere around here. Mmmmmmmm, so good...

Jon and Keriann, you know what I'm talking about.

Can't wait to eat. Just hurry up and take the picture!


He savors his food. I just swallow it without chewing. Red potatoes. Artichoke hearts. Baby corn. Raclette. A recipe for the world's perfect meal.


After we ate, we went out to go see Christmas lights and so I could listen to my new CD.


We have almost this exact same picture in front of this same house from last year.

I'll tell you why my sister is better than your sister...

My sister, Tawny, whom I so lovingly call "Pants" or "Sisterpants" is better than your sister, and I'll tell you why.

~

Pants lives in Southern Utah and last week she called me to ask if we had a Bed Bath and Beyond near us because she had a Christmas present she was going to order for me through them and she wanted to know if Honig could pick it up on Monday or Tuesday and wrap it for me to open on Christmas. I told her sure we do and of course she can send me a present, but only if I'm guaranteed to like it. So on Monday evening she calls me to tell me that my present is at the store and she needs Dean to go pick it up, and she asks where he is. I tell her he's at the clinic at school just finishing up some paperwork for some patients he had just adjusted and it shouldn't be a problem for him to go run by Bed Bath and Beyond on his way home.

~

So I'm just doing my thing on the computer in our basement when Honig calls me and tells me he's home but I'm not allowed to turn around when he comes down into the basement to grab the wrapping paper to wrap my present. Ok, sounds fine to me. I'll do anything for a present. So I hear him come in, walk down the stairs, and say "Hey!" His "hey" sounded a bit high to me but then again, I do have a husband who loves to suck the helium out of balloons just like he had been doing earlier in the day and spout off anything he can think of all while loving hearing the sound of his altered voice. So I thought he was doing the same thing and I just said "Hey Honig" back to him and didn't turn around because he had told me not to and I didn't want to risk seeing my present. So then he said "Hey!" again and I immediately realize that's not his voice, it's Pants' voice!!! I whip my head around to see if it's really her, and she's standing at the bottom of of stairs acting like she does it all the time. I, of course, all but scream and jump up and go and hug her, start crying, hug her some more, and ask her how in the world she got here and what she's doing here?

~

My sister is a genius and had been planning since last week to come out to suprise us for Christmas, and Honig and I had absolutely NO clue. She flew standby into the Moline airport and when she called me to tell my "my present was in and wanted to know where Dean was so he could go pick it up," she was already at the airport and was unable to get a cab to take her to Davenport so she needed him to go pick her up. So even he didn't know she was coming until 20 minutes before he went and got her, which was smart on her part because he is horrible at keeping secrets and he always has little tells that I can see through and I would have found out somehow.

~
Pants stayed with us from Monday night through Christmas Day, but since she was flying standby she had to leave on Christmas Day because that is when it looked like the flight loads were the most promising for her to get on, but at least we got to spend Christmas morning with her.

Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.

See? My sister is better than your sister.

But your sisters are still good.

Electric appliances in the potty...

I just accidentally dropped Honig's sweet Norelco electric razor in our potty. Nice. I am not going to tell him what I did and he's going to unknowingly test my theory that electric appliances work better after they take a bath in toilet water. Here's to hoping he doesn't get electrocuted. Maybe I should up his life insurance policy today...

Beware: partial nudity...

Beware: Naked belly shot included. Ogle at own risk.

Honig and I take a picture every week of me in the same outfit against a white wall so that we can see how much Peanut has grown over the past couple of months. I'll have to eventually do a posting of a picture from every week we have taken to show her growth progression.

These are our 37 weeks pictures taken last night....

Peanut is getting to be such a chunker. We love her so much.
~
After our over-hyped ice and snow storm that "bore its' wrath" last night and early this morning was done, Honig and I risked playing Davenport Bumper Cars on our way to our 8AM baby appointment to see how Peanut is doing. Her heartbeat is perfect and she is head down in the exact position she should be. When our midwife had me lay back so she could measure my belly she got this confused look on her face and measured again.
~

Midwife- "You're 37 weeks? Umm, you're measuring 41 weeks!?"

~

Me- "Excuse me? Are you telling me I am going to have a 28 pound baby?"

~

Midwife goes to look at the chart again. "You were measuring 37 weeks when you were 36 weeks but then to measure 41 weeks when you're 37 weeks?"

~

So then she feels all around my belly and pokes and prods Peanut everywhere and feels the fluid in by tummy. "Ok, I want to do an Estimate Fetal Weight ultrasound next week to see how big this baby really is. I am guessing you're measuring bigger because you have some extra fluid in your stomach but I just want to make sure." She then feels Peanut's little bum and said that she is guessing by touch that she is already around 9 pounds.

~

UMMM, EXSQUEEZE ME? 9 POUNDS ALREADY? Babies gain half a pound a week for the last month. That would put her around 10 and a half to 11 pounds if she kept gaining like she was supposed to and I carried to her due date.

~

So I sit up and we're chatting asking random questions and concerns, and then she tells me to lay back down again because she wants to measure one more time just to make sure. Yup, Mr. Measuring Tape is still saying 41 weeks. She then feels Peanut some more and changes her mind about her weight. "Ok, her bum isn't as big as I thought." (apparently fetal bum size can be an indication of their weight. Who knew?!) "I'll put her around 8 pounds instead but I definitely want that ultrasound to see how big she really is."

~

So we get to go in next Tuesday for some more precious snapshots of our Peanut and to see if I am going to give birth to Ms. StayPuff or a Ms. Michelin Man. I'm guessing that she'll be somewhere in the 9 pound club when she's born, which I am totally okay with. Not too much longer till we find out... YAY!

It's snowing and I don't feel like cleaning...

It's snowing and I don't feel like cleaning which always involves bending over a million times and my belly gets in my way and blah blah blah. Ok ok, I feel like being lazy. There, I said it. So I have decided to answer a belated "tag" from Angie, the fashionista.



Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog/note with 15 weird, random things, facts, habits, goals, or anything about yourself. At the end, post a picture, and choose 5 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them to be tagged.



1. If Honig makes me mad in my dreams, I will often wake up, give him a good glaring, and not talk to him for a while because I'm still fuming from my dream. I know it's not real, but it takes a while for my mind to process that. If he would just quit ticking me off while I'm in slumberland, we wouldn't have this problem.



2. I slammed my finger in a car door in 4th grade and since the blood from the vessels I popped was pooling under my nail bed, I had to have the doctor drill through my nail WITH NO ANESTHETIC to release the blood! That sucker hurt.



3. I wore my contacts for 8 months straight without taking them out once. Got myself a nice corneal ulcer and a 3AM trip to the emergency room for that one.



4. I am horrible at remembering people's birthdays. Absolutely horrible.





5. I have a group of darker freckles on my left cheek closer to my ear that I refer to as "constellation face." You can use it to navigate the across the ocean.





6. I have a soft spot in my heart for the elderly in nursing homes. I have always wanted to volunteer to go be someone they can just talk to because they get so bored, but I have never gone and signed up to do it. I need to quit procrastinating on that one. Plus, I'm hoping to convince one of them that I am their long-lost granddaughter and I am here to collect my inheritance. Just need to put in some face time first.





7. Since being pregnant I have cried more times than I have over the past 3 years put together. I've cried because I know my baby cries inside me and there's nothing I can do to comfort her yet. I've cried because I was so proud that Gandalf was saving the warriors from the Nazgul in Lord of the Rings with his magic staff. I've cried because someone some stupid 65 year old MAN was parked in the 'pregnancy only' parking spot I wanted at WalMart. I've cried because we only had Cheerios in our house and I wanted Life instead. I've cried because I thought Jim and Pam from The Office were going to break up. I've cried because I found a dark, yucky, old lady hair growing under my chin. I've cried because I am scared and excited to give birth. Trust me, I've cried a lot, just ask Honig.



8. I love to be in pictures. I'll flash a cheesy grin any second of the day if there's a camera being pointed at me.



9. I have become a snow driving wuss since being pregnant. I still love the white stuff, but I get paranoid if I have to drive in it because I'm terrified of getting in an accident and my seat belt cutting into Peanut's head or back and our baby being paralyzed or killed because of it. Basically, I don't trust other drivers.



10. Every single time I put on Honig's glasses for fun, I always turn to him and say in a really nerdy high pitched voice, "The sum of the squares of two sides of a isosceles triangle equals the square of the hypotenuse. THAT'S A RIGHT TRIANGLE, DUMMY!"



11. I used to believe my sisters when they said that if you swallowed your gum you couldn't digest it, and all the gum would pool up in your stomach and turn into a huge gumball and you'd have to have surgery to remove the gumbally mass.

12. My brother and I used to take turns getting into our front loader dryer and turning it on so that the occupant could have fun spinning around and around doing front flips until we screamed at the other one to turn it off because we felt like we were about to catch on fire. Those good ol' days ended when my brother busted one of the hinges of the door while shimmying out. We lied to my Mom about that one for years. "The door broke itself, Mom." "Mom, you must have put way too heavy of a basket of clothes on the door. YOU broke it." "The iguana did it. I promise."

13. We just found out we are having a boy, not a girl. The ultrasound technician was wrong on both occasions. Thank goodness I've kept most receipts and can take back all the pink stuff we've bought or been given to switch it out for blue.

14. I believe in capital punishment and then some.

15. Honig looks better with a goatee. Trust me.

Ok, I tag Chelsey, Adam and Lisa H., Rachel B. (DO IT! You have to.), Tiff, and Ashleigh.

*We're having a girl. And even if we found out we were having a boy, he'd be the frilliest-pink-wearin boy you'd ever see because heck if I've kept all the receipts.

Dean's Face

Dean again.

It seems like whenever people come over to our house and see our wedding pictures their first response is "wow Dean, you look so much different without facial hair" or something along those lines. So for all of you who may have never seen me hairless, I'll let you compare and decide which looks better. Goatee, no hair, or beard. And just so you know, based upon the comments people leave, I will still be keeping my goatee, but thanks for playing.

Me, goatee, sister chels and brother chase.

Me, bare faced, and my shotgun. Even though it doesn't look like I'm old enough to have bought a gun, trust me, I am.

And possibly my favorite, me, my beard, and our christmas tree.

So, even though beardy face is my favorite, goatee'd Dean is chelle's fav, and since she has to look at my face more than I do, I trust her judgement.

Comments from Dean

Dean here.

I know I know, chelle is the one who usually posts the great blogs, but while I am supposed to be studying for a philosophy test this afternoon(and any Palmer student reading this can understand why I am not), I wanted to check out some of the blogs that chelle reads religiously and loves, and dang, we have got some funny friends and family. So kudos to all of you out there in blogland that made me laugh this morning, with special mention to Jeff, his sleep talking, and geography test.

I also wanted to tell everyone how amazing my chelle is. While looking at our blog I saw that she has done 176 blogs. Now there may be people out there with more, but holy cow, that's awesome to me, especially since most of them are about us. Also, for those of you who may have missed that big baby timer at the top of the page, she's about 8 1/2 months pregnant, and still loving it. Granted one of the only ways she is able to fall asleep at night is if I massage her legs and feet, but since I get to stay up watching King of Queens, Raymond, and especially Conan O'Brian while I'm doing it, it's a win win win situation. I win, she wins, and the television stations win.

And what's more, TV watching is more enjoyable in our house ever since we took advantage of the government again. What's that you say, the little man taking advantage of the government? Well, since we are too cheap to get cable TV(and since we know our weaknesses so we just avoid putting ourselves in the situation) we have been using rabbit ears for the past 3 years, getting channels 4, 6, 8, sometimes 12, 18, and occasionally 24. Even though everyone is going digital we resisted getting a converter box, because most of TV is crap anyhow and we really only like the game shows, The Office, and the afore mentioned shows. However, I really wanted to see what it would be like to have no static on the TV, and so my reasoning has been "honey, after the baby is born you're going to be stuck at home a lot and might go crazy with no Price is Right, etc" to which she responds, "you really just want to get a clear signal don't you?" To which I sheepishly say "yes honey." Point being, after that conversation she let me get a converter, if it cost less than $10.

So, on to hosing the government. We sent off for and got a $40 coupon for a converter box which we took to Sam's Club, and spent roughly $5 for one. I was happy, she was happy, maybe the government wasn't happy. So was it win win lose? Oh well, it's still been nice.

But thus I digress. Maybe I'll get get back to "studying" philosophy, or really studying radiology. Hmm, I wonder which one will really help me in practice. I guess we'll have to see.

Honig's dad...

My sweet Honig's dad, Jerry, unexpectedly passed away on Oct 24th in WA, but he wasn't found in his apartment until the 26th. You know how you have some memories throughout your life that you can remember and replay exactly as they happened when you think about them later on? I can still remember exactly how hurt my Honig looked like when he came to get me out of the Young Women's lesson I was teaching to tell me that Chelsey, his sister, had just called and said that their dad was gone. I just held him in the church hallway and my sweet hubby kept crying and saying "He's gone." We flew to WA the next day, the 27th to be with family and help with memorial arrangements.

Of course death is always bittersweet because that obviously means that the deceased isn't here on earth with us anymore, but on the brighter side, it means they don't have to suffer from any physical ailments that they had been afflicted with, and Honig's dad had been suffering from some unexplained neurological problems for a while and it's so nice to know that he doesn't have to suffer from those anymore. And I know that Honig is very much looking forward to doing his Dad's temple work with his Dad's twin, Gary, in Novemer-ish of 2009 up in Seattle because his Dad had asked him to do it a while before he died and Honig and I know how vital and important it is to have that work done.

I just wanted to share some pictures from our go nonstop week in Washington, so here you have them my friends.

Me, Chelsey, Devin, and Honig at the one and only glorious CrabPot in Seattle. Mmmmmmm.... If you haven't been there, you don't understand how nummy it is.

Honig with Uncle Gary, his dad's twin.

Chelsey, Molly, and me.

Chelsey and Molly.

We were able to have the world's quickest lunch with our wonderful friends Adam and Lisa and their cute son Joshua.

Now skip ahead to the memorial.

It was a lovely memorial service, and Honig, Chelsey, Uncle Gary, and a bishop spoke and everyone did phenomenal. While my hubby was speaking about his memories of his father and how he admired and missed him, I remember looking up at my husband behind the stand and I had the most overwhelming and all consuming feeling of love and respect come over me, and I had to look away because I started crying and I knew if he saw me crying while looking at him, he would start crying and it would break his stride. I had a myriad of thoughts and emotions sweep over me while watching and listening to my husband speak. I was so grateful to be his wife at that moment (not that I'm not always grateful, it just hit me especially hard at that moment), and I was so grateful that we have created a perfect little baby together that we have the privilege and challenge to raise together. I was so grateful that we have seen eachother at our best and at our worst and that we have no reservations around eachother and have no problem telling the other one what we are honestly thinking about anything, no matter the subject. I was so proud that we have worked so hard at our marriage and always put it as our number one priority. I was so proud that he has worked so hard throughout school because it hasn't been a walk in the park and how he is doing everything he can to provide a secure future for us and our children. He is so smart and I am so thankful that he is using his talents to help others. And most of all, I was so grateful that I knew that I am going to be with him and our children forever. I was so grateful that we were sealed in the temple and that if one of us died right now, we both have the assurance that we are still married in the afterlife and that we would be reunited. That is the absolute best piece of mind that we both have.

Jerry's old roomates.

Our wonderful friend Annalisa and her daughter Donya. Annalisa was a lifesaver with helping get food organized for the memorial. I owe you big time.

Jerry's kids, siblings, nieces, nephews...

Jerry's kids. Liz, Dean, and Chelsey.

You still gotta have fun.

Our handsome Chase. Ladies, he's single.

We were the last ones in the building after all was said and done so we took a little time out for a photo op.



My preggie back and feet were killing by this point. I had taken off my shoes 2 hours before this because wonderful cankles were setting in.

Laying down on Chelsey and Devin's floor playing with Maui, their lovey puppy. She was a firecracker full of energy.

Resting and loving our baby girl. And apparently holding Honig's belongings on my belly.

Jerry wanted to be cremated and he wanted his ashes to be pour right outside of North Bend, WA so we went and did that as a family on the day after his memorial. Here we have Liz, Chelsey holding her dad's ashes, and Devin waiting for everyone to arrive at the park.

Family.

Honig, Liz, and Chelsey all spread his ashes together but while wading into the river Chelsey fell down into the water first and then Honig followed suit.

3 siblings honoring their dad.

My happy Honig. He felt so much better after the 3 of them got to say a final goodbye to their dad.

Honig even walked away with an owie from falling in the river on some rocks.

Then we all went over to uncle Gary and Aunt Kim's for some taco dinner. Chelsey, chew with your mouth closed!!

Uncle Gary and computer genius Frank putting together all the pictures everyone took and somehow networking it to the XBox. It took Frank 2 seconds to do all of that. He's pretty much a genius in my book.

Chelsey, Molly, and Aunt Kim chatting it up.

Honig and his sister Liz.

And to cap it off, it looks like my husband is drinking a beer. It's just Root Beer which we NEVER have so it was quite the treat for him to get his hands on one of those.