The Lovely Baby Bump

Monday we announced that Nicole is going to have a baby. It will continue to grow for the next eight months. She is due in April. Nicole went to the doctor Monday morning. She got to hear the heart beat and see a sonogram. As of this week the baby is the size of a peanut. Clayton thinks it looks like an alien. Nicole thinks that babies are the inspiration for the popular image of an alien. The news from the doctor helped explain her cravings, emotional outbursts and general nausea. We held a video chat with our families to let everybody know. We are really excited. We welcome any suggestions for good books but please hold the advice unless you have a citation from a credible expert. Just kidding. Tips are always welcome monetary or otherwise.

Nicole's doctor is from Vietnam. She is nice but told Nicole that she should avoid "dili products" it took a minute for Nicole to figure out that she meant "Deli Products".

People have asked what names we are considering. We want to keep that secret until we have made up our minds, so we will let you all know what name gets put on the birth certificate.

Clayton continues to really enjoy law school. There is a lot of reading so he is super grateful for his glasses.

On Wednesday, we were thinking of Nicole's cousin Cynthia and her new husband Mathew. We wish them the best of luck as they start their new life together.

Thursday, Nicole got a last minute baby sitting job. She had fun and got to watch a lovely and highly sophisticated Care Bears movie and was also exposed to Wonder Pets. It was good practice for motherhood. Clayton came home from school a little earlier than usual because he was not feeling well. After several vats of soup and plenty of sleep he was ready for the next day.

Friday Nicole threw up for the first time of her pregnancy. She is now trying really hard to avoid pretty much all smells, which is a lot harder than it sounds. When Clayton got home Nicole hadn't eaten anything and wasn't going to. Clayton had a hard time convincing her to eat something. She was really craving Shepard's pie but was willing to settle for a baked potato and chili as long as she didn't know that it came from Wendy's. After a twenty minute drive each way the potato and chili were hers. Thankfully, Nicole was fooled, thought the food smelled acceptable and she was able to eat them.

Nicole has a theory that the reason God designed pregnant women develop a super human ability to sense even the tiniest whiff of a smell is to aid in the avoidance of rotten food, poison and anything else that could be harmful to the baby...but it's just a theory.

On Saturday, We decided to get a Costco membership because food is rather expensive here. Yolanda helped us and told us that we could a business membership. She kept saying things like "girl what you thinking?" and "oh she happy now."

Earlier in the week, Nicole got a call from the Primary music chorister asking her to substitute for him on Sunday. When she said yes, she didn't realize how much the primary chorister has to do. She had to come up with a game to help the kids sing. She had a hard time thinking of one. At the last minute, Clayton suggested she use origami flowers. So we spent all morning folding flowers. Nicole colored them with scented markers so they would smell good and taped a song on the bottom. When kids sang well, or at least gave a good effort, Nicole would pick on one of them to come and pick a flower. The kid then got to keep the flower. when it was all over, only a few kids cried because they didn't get a flower. One girl stayed after and wanted Nicole to show her how to make them. Nicole had fun in primary but missed being with Clayton. After church, Nicole told Clayton all about the crying kids. Clayton told her that it was better that way. Now the kids are aware of the harsh realities of capitalism, not everyone gets a flower. He told her he has had enough of the commie crap so rampant in church now a days where everyone shares and everyone gets a flower.

We are still trying to figure out what we want to do with a Monday off.

Peace and Blessings Y'all. Peace and Blessings