Where, oh where, have my ankles gone?

As I approach the home stretch of this pregnancy, I am experiencing new joys every day. Lately, I have been doing some serious shoe shopping due to my increased shoe size. It is safe to say that my ankles and feet are very swollen. My mom warned me that this would happen but I had no idea how big and puffy my feet could get; we are talking Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man big. I have decided not to look at my swollen ankles and feet until after Max is born(that way i can pretend that my feet are their normal size.) Other than that, the late stages of pregnancy are treating me alright, even thought I feel like this

Well, I may be a little cuter than that.

Halloween

Carl and I celebrated Halloween at my mom's house this year. Brock, Jen, Tyler, and Isabel also joined us for the festivities, which included an impromptu game of basketball, roasting pumpkin seeds, and handing out treats to the kids. Tyler was a basketball player from Marquette and Isabel was a cheerleader from Marquette. Jen even made little pompoms that went around Isabel's wrists...it was precious. I thought they made a great team!

Jordan decided to go as a gangsta this year. Since Carl and I live in the hood (well, next to the hood) and Carl works with an eclectic assortment of people at UPS, we were able to give Jordan a few tips to make his costume authentic. He came up with most everything on his own.Carl, however, the provided inspiration and the artistry for the tattoos on his arm. If the dentistry thing doesn't work out, Carl has a promising future as a tattoo artist! And yes, Jordan does in fact have a grill. We tried to find a little gem to glue to it, but time ran out. He has a few other tats that you can't see that are pretty funny. As an aside, the chains on his necklace are actual chains from Lowe's. My mom and Jordan thought the ones that came with the it were too flimsy and cheap looking for this outfit. I think the thicker chains did add a little something to the outfit.

And as usual, I avoided the camera like the plague. My belly is getting bigger by the day (or so it seems). Apparently, Max is a big boy. We had an ultrasound at 28 weeks and he was in the 77th percentile for size. At 20 weeks, he was in the 50th percentile; we were shocked at how much he grew and how fast he managed to do it. Since he's a chunk, my doctor has ordered regular ultrasounds to make sure he doesn't get too big. My next appt is at the beginning of December. Hopefully I'll have another picture of Max to post at that time!

Pumpkin Carving

This was our first year carving a pumpkin together, even though this our second Halloween as a married couple. We somehow missed out on the fun last year. Maybe it had something to do with the unpleasant truth that I am not very good at carving nor do I enjoy touching pumpkin guts. Carl, on the other hand, grew up carving pumpkins and is pretty good at it.

I eventually overcame my feelings of ookiness toward the pumpkin and cleaned some of it out.

Carl did the carving (we both agreed that it was best to keep me away from knives because of my propensity for cutting myself), although we did design the face together(we went for a happy pumpkin face).



I think the source of our inspiration is pretty obvious.

And here is the final result.

Pumpkin Picking

This year my mom, Jen, Tyler, Isabel, and I went pumpkin picking at Theiss Farms.Tyler enjoyed "Pumpkinland" more than any other part of the farm. And really,who can blame the kid? Pumpkinland various types of swings, giant animals made out of hay bales and pumpkins, goats, and a giant slide. Since I can't lift anything over 10lbs, I had to skip out on the slide. My mom and Jen took Tyler down the slide while I chilled out with Isabel. We even went on a hayride around the farm. I mainly tried to keep Tyler from falling off of the truck...it was a difficult task. After playtime, we picked out our pumpkins and headed for home.

Ah, the good old days...sort of!

One Friday night, Carl and I returned to my Alma Mater, Lindbergh H.S., to watch Jordan perform in the marching band. It brought back lots of fond memories of my own days in the band. Granted, I carried a flute while Jordan lugged around a 40 pound tuba.

I think carrying the tuba around helped Jordan in football. He played linebacker, fullback, and kicker. That last one was a real surprise for everyone. Jordan had never played kicker before but displayed a natural aptitude for it. I'm just going to take a second to brag about Jordan's football prowess. He was first string for all his positions and after the freshman season was completed, his coaches asked him to play on the JV team. He did a fantastic job on the JV team as well.

Sushi Night

Even though I am pregnant, I still enjoy sushi. Avoiding raw fish does cut down on my options, but I can still enjoy the Fried Philly Roll (it's truly yummy goodness). A couple of my friends from SLU, Joy and Lindsay, and I went to Crazy Sushi in St. Charles. The veggie roll was delish!

Balloon Race

Before I get into the goings-on of my weekend, I would like to introduce Isabel Hope. My niece was born about a month ago and is really cute. She has dark hair, olive skin, and bright blue eyes. Carl and I think she is going to be a heart breaker. Both Jen and Isabel are doing well. Tyler is still getting used to having Isabel around (he's just not quite sure what to do with her, except occasionally poke her in the eye).


Carl and I decided to go the Great Balloon Race in Forest Park last Saturday. I have been trying to get there for the past few years so I was thrilled that we actually made it. Watching the balloons get ready for flight was pretty incredible. We were able to get great seats, even though we arrived a little bit late! Due to windy conditions, the launch was delayed for about an hour and Carl and I had to find ways to occupy ourselves. We eventually decided on hangman. Old receipts have never come in so handy!

I think the most fun part was watching all the kids at the race. They were absolutely riveted by the entire process. The Energizer Bunny was probably my favorite balloon; it is taller than the Statue of Liberty when it is fully inflated (at least that is what the announcer said).

Since I promised everyone a picture of my pregnant self, I am going to post a few pictures (against my better judgement). I am still getting used to the fact that I have a big belly. Some days I look down and say "Whoa! Where did that come from?" And then I remember that I am, in fact, pregnant and a belly is part of the deal. Here we go!

This is my new car! I absolutely love having a smaller SUV; I feel much safer than I did in Essie.

Here I am, yet again. I think this is a more flattering shot of myself. We are in front of Ted Drewes, my favorite frozen custard place.

And here is another view of the belly. The balloons were just starting to inflate and take off. Oddly enough, I felt like a balloon while taking this picture.

And lastly, here I am with my wonderful husband. After this eventful and tiring day, Carl made me dinner and did the dishes. It was heavenly.

Finally, one picture of Max

I really did intend to post pictures of Max and me but I just haven't gotten to it. Avoiding being in pictures has become a past time of sorts. I am still adjusting to looking pregnant and wearing maternity clothes, even though I am almost 6 months pregnant. But, oh well. I will suck it up and take a picture of myself soon. I even have a snazzy new haircut to show off!



In less exciting news, I finally got a vacuum! Since I have wood floors, I have avoided this purchase for some time but I finally cracked. Vacuuming our apartment is so much easier than sweeping. Plus, the attachments make cleaning the couch and chairs a much faster process. After that purchase, I felt inspired to rearrange and deep clean my entire kitchen; it is now organized in a much more efficient manner. My mom called during the midst of my cleaning project and informed me that I am nesting. I can only hope that this nesting instinct will extend to our front closet because it absolutely bursting with stuff. Only time will tell I guess.



Here is one picture of Max. We think he is pretty cute. He decided to suck his thumb the entire time so we did get to see his little nose but I guess I can wait a few more months to see it!

Our First Anniversary

Carl and I celebrated our first anniversary on August 3. We decided to visit Nauvoo and we had an awesome weekend. We left on Friday, right after Carl got off work. It ended up being a really fantastic trip. Here he is loading all of our stuff into the car. Who knew we needed so much for weekend trip!

Just starting our road trip.

We went to the temple on Friday and we were able to be a part of a really neat session...it was an 86 year old couple and all their grown children. The feeling in the session was so amazing and it really gave Carl and me a vision of what our future could be.

After that we stopped for a bite at Dottie's Red Front Cafe. It was definitely a culinary adventure. Almost everything was deep fried or greasy but the place definitely had character!

We also saw the Nauvoo Pageant later that night. Since we had to get there early to reserve seats, we played a few pioneer games. Carl didn't quite master the stilts but we played some other games that were a ton of fun.

After the pageant, we headed back to Hotel Nauvoo and watched Shark Week. That may not sound like a lot of fun, but Carl and I don't have a TV that gets channels, so it was a treat for us. I have always wanted to stay there and I think this will be the last time we will do so. At 4:00 in the morning, the fire alarm went off. Since there is no overnight staff(actually, there is no staff past 8:00 pm), the alarm just kept going off. We eventually found an emergency number and called the owner who came and turned the alarm off.

After our little adventure at o'dark thirty, we slept in a little bit. The next day we saw the new Joseph Smith movie and toured a few of the houses in historic Nauvoo. The John Taylor home is one of my favorite places, so we went there early on in the day. Upon entering, Carl received a pleasant surprise. A couple he knew from Madagascar were serving a mission in Nauvoo.

The Andrus's ran the largest dairy in Madagascar and decided to serve a mission after their contract ran out. It was really nice to finally put a face to the name from all the stories Carl has told me about this family. After visiting a few more places, we made our way over to Carthage. On our way there, we saw one of the biggest houses we have have ever seen.

Once in Carthage, we took a tour of Carthage Jail. Since Carl had not been to Nauvoo nor Carthage, he really enjoyed visiting the church sites and feeling the Spirit.

We headed for home after Carthage and made it back to St. Louis in time for dinner. We went to Modesto; I absolutely love that place. On Sunday, we talk a walk in Forest Park and then sat by the lake and enjoyed each other's company and reflected on the past year. So many things transpired since we have been married that they are impossible to recount. We decided that while some of them have been very sad and very trying, these experiences have brought us closer together and helped us become more unified. Even though we have passed through some hard times, we feel so blessed and are happier now than perhaps we have ever been.

A few of my favorite things (an abbreviated list)

Today I am doing piles of laundry...that is definitely not one of my favorite things. I never knew that 2 people could produce so many articles of dirty clothing. But, I am taking the few minutes I have in between switching loads to list a few of my favorite things.

Butterflies

As part of my birthday celebration, Carl took me to the Butterfly House. I had never been there and I really enjoyed myself. Several butterflies took the chance to land on my head and stay awhile. Since people are not allowed to touch the butterflies, I had to wait until they fluttered off before making my way through the rest of the garden.







The Butterfly House also has a lovely garden outside. We braved the rainy weather because I loved this statue. It reminds me of the wonder that children feel on a daily basis and it reminds me to take a few minutes to enjoy the beauty around me.

Family Time

This was part of my mom's mother day celebration. Since she wanted to eat at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, we celebrated a day early. We went to the Botanical Gardens as well. Currently the garden is showing works of art by Niki de Saint Phalle. Her sculptures are really amazing. I loved that we were able to touch and/or climb on most of them. Her use of texture was truly breathtaking. Besides all that, I love being able to spend time with my family so often. They make me laugh! And, I constantly marvel at how grown up Jordan is these days. Some of you may have met him when he was younger...he's now taller than me and can pick me up and carry me around (which he does frequently).

Carl

My husband cracks me up! That is one of the top reasons I am so glad we found each other. He keeps things in perspective and helps me to find the good in almost any situation. And he can pick Jordan up and swing him around, so I find that I can picked on less these days (despite the occasional wrestling matches, Jordan and Carl are friends).









Carl is always doing little things that brighten my day, like making me breakfast in bed or voluntarily doing the dishes. His laid back personality balances me out. And, he carries me around our apartment when I don't feel like walking. It may sound silly, but sometimes our apartment looks like this:



At any rate, I love him dearly and am grateful we will be together forever.



And last but not least,

Modified Bed rest

For the last month, I have been on modified bed rest. While I can walk around and what not, my bed and I have been spending a lot of quality time together. My doctor thinks I only have 2 weeks of house arrest left before I am free and clear to resume normal activity. Carl and I both feel that bed rest isn't too high of a price for a healthy baby and a normal pregnancy.

Yep, it's true! Carl and I will meet our child on January 20, 2009 (hopefully a little sooner). This is our first ultrasound; our next one will be on September 4Th-we should find out the gender on that day!

I am 15 weeks along and my regular clothes are starting to feel a little snug. It's a good thing that my sister in law is due any day now. She has kindly lent me a few of her maternity clothes and I am employing my shopping prowess and more than a few shopping angels in my quest of stylish maternity clothes. I'll let you all know how it goes!

I am so bad at this whole journaling thing

Okay, I realize that it has been a long time since my last post and I have many reasons why, but I won't bore you with the details. Life is pretty good in the Sansom home. Carl promoted last week so we feel particularly blessed. Other than that, life is pretty much the same. We took a "stay-cation" over the long weekend. My mom and Jordan went to Boston so Carl and I stayed at their house and took full advantage of the new pool and hot tub. We also visited Washington, MO because I wanted pie and only pie from Cowan's would due. So we drove 45 minutes away for pie and it was so worth it.

Cowan's is home of the "mile high pie" and this what my delicious coconut pie looked like. Carl had apple crumb pie which was tasty but devoid of the meringue. Besides that, we hung out with friends and just relaxed the . It was fabulous! Check back within the next few weeks...good things are coming

Wowdy! It's been a while!

So, my blog had become sort of like my journal--sporadic at best. I will now write a novel trying to update you about our fabulous adeventures in coupledom. Here we go!

Jordan-my oldest child, sort of!

Some of you may have met my Jordan, my little brother, a while ago. The kid is in 8th grade now and taller than me. Brock and I went to watch Jordan in a St. Patrick's Day tournament (I know, that was ages ago). His time last a well-played game overtime.

You may be able to see onhis jersey that he plays for St. Paul. Jordan and his teammates have played on the same team since they were in 3rd or 4th grade. It's so strange to see these guys now...they are all huge! This is their last year playing together since they start high school next year.

Date Night

Carl and I go on date once a week and we love it! A few weeks ago we tried this little restaurant called Frittanga. The owner is Nicaraguan and opened the very Nicaraguan restaurant in St. Louis. Since it was only a few minutes from our house, Carl and I gave it a try. I was impressed with both the quantity and the quality of the food. The only downside to the experience was the wait! Since Frittanga is very small(like only 5 tables), we had to wait for 25 minutes to be seated. Normally that is fine, but there were chairs and they definately didn't have a waiting area! We just stood at the door, watcing people eat until someone left. It was a lot of fun!

Jordan, revisited

As well as being a great athlete, Jordan is a very talented musician. He plays the trombone and seems to enjoy it. My mom and I went to watch his school's jazz ensemble play at a fundraiser. Please note the insane amount on people crammed into this place. I would like to believe they all came to hear the musical stylings of Jordan Goodman...but I think they may be there because they had to drive their kids to the performance!

Carl's 24th Birthday

Carl turned 24 on April 12th! We will be the same age until I turn 25 in June. Last year Carl started a birthday tradition that we will try to keep going as long as we can(read: until we have kids). The other person plans an entire day's worth of suprise activities for the birthday boy(or girl, when it's my turn). I spent a reallly long time formulating the perfect day.

We started off with an indoor picnic (we were supposed to have an actual picnic but it was too cold).

Followed by ice cream cake from Coldstone.

Then we headed to America's Incredible to play arcade games. I would like it to be known that I beat Carl in skee ball several times. Even though it was his birthday, I just couldn't resist the competion!

This place also had a mini bowling alley in it. Carl, I must admit, did school me in mini-bowling.

After that, we went to Border's and read our favorite children's books to eachother. It brought back lots of great childhood memories. We then went to the mall and played "Pick 3," which is funny little game involving wardrobe options. One person picks out 3 outfits for the other person to try on, and there can be no objections! My top outfit was a poofy ball gown and this is what Carl got:
We ended the night with a lovely dinner at Arcelia's, a Mexican restaurant in historic Lafayette Square. Mmm...it was really good.
After that, we headed home and watched The Bee Movie and had chocolate fondue for dessert. It was, in fact, the perfect day.
Well friends, I am headed back to my task at hand...writing a final paper for my social policy class. I have been working on it for several days now and I so tired of thinking about immigration policy. I can't wait until I am done with it. 8 pages down and 7 to go.............wish me luck!