Bug Encounter

So remember how I said Mississippi has big bugs? Ya, met another one the other day....

Olivia and I had been at  a mommy group that some women in our area put together (they do like 3 every week. I love it) and we got back home and parked in our driveway. I got Olivia and her car seat out of the car and we were walking up the front steps when I saw a big black dragonfly. Now, I'm not scared of dragonflies... so we walked a little closer... and realized it's "tail" was curving down and forward and was bright red and looked more like a stinger... o, that's not a dragonfly? right. back. it. up.

So, there we were, stranded on the driveway with this giant wasp thing hovering by my front door. 

(Side note, that car seat is kind of heavy, so I'm wanting to put it down, but that makes things much more difficult in the running away department, but so does holding it. You see this other dilemma? Hard day all around.)

Anyways, so sometimes the bug will fly a little off by the front window and I think we can run for the door, but as soon as I walk forward, it goes back to the door! It reminded me of those wasps on Donkey Kong- that go back and forth guarding stuff... except this wasn't a video game and I needed to get inside my house.

So I threw a rock at it. I missed, and we were back at square one.

So I called Clint. He always has answers. And he came through for me again. He had left the side gate open (it's big and if its locked there is no way I could open it from the front or climb over it, which is why I didn't think about this. But let's be honest, I was freaking out and probably wouldn't have thought of it anyways) So Olivia and I snuck around the wasp and got in the back door.

Then I googled the bug.
It was/is a Digger wasp.

ew. ew. ew.

So apparently they burrow into dry lawns and make nests and eat cicadas that live in trees around here. I also found out that cicadas also live underground, hence the burrowing nest, but that is beside the point. Cicadas are big bugs too. The biggest one I've seen are about as round as a quarter and an inch or so long with a hard body... so these wasps have quite the bug to capture and eat. A full grown digger wasp is 1 1/2 inches long and have wing span of 1 1/4 inches! Which is why I thought it was a dragonfly at first. They are HUGE!

that length should say one and a half inches... it did on the google search... and wiki-how...

of course I look at all the most reliable websites for my research.

I know you are all worried about the Prestwich family's safety, so let me also tell you that everything I read about these digger wasps said that they are basically harmless. They are really passive bugs and you would practically have to sit there digging up their nest for them to sting you. They use their size to intimidate though and will hover to scare things away (like me... well done wasp, you are good at what you do!)

So that's my story. I really hope that wasp doesn't have a nest in my lawn. But I guess its basically harmless right? So I shouldn't worry anyways... and look at how much smarter I am about digger wasps! I should thank the little critters for some real life learning.

Man, if I could just get rid of the bugs in Mississippi, these next four years would be so much easier...

Life in Mississippi

We moved to Mississippi! Clint is going to school in Memphis, Tennessee everyday (it's only a 15-20 minute commute) and we are loving the South!

Baseball game! We saw about 10 minutes of it before the rain storm came in...

Ten things we've learned about the South so far... 

1. Everyone is so nice. Really though. I believed Clint when he told me people were nice before I came out here, but I was pleasantly surprised. During Clint's family orientation at his school this nice man in the group with us held my diaper bag the whole 2 hour tour, and 3 older ladies in the group offered to hold Olivia. And, when there is a police officer around the corner and you're speeding down the street, people flash their brights at you to warn you about the police! I thought it was strange that someone flashed their brights at me in the middle of the day and Clint said someone told him about it when it happened to him too. How cool is that?! I think that should be a more commonly used practice... not that I speed a lot...

2. It is so green! The freeway is lined with huge trees and everywhere you look you see giant trees with southern mansions hiding behind them... GORGEOUS. Love the trees. 

3. The BBQ really is amazing. We've tried a few places, and as a welcoming present the relief society of our ward gave us a bottle of amazing bbq sauce from a local place. wow. really good.

4. There are bugs bigger than I thought possible in lived in areas. I mean, I heard Clint's stories about bugs in the Amazon in Brazil where he served his mission and I just thought thank heavens I live in modern civilization where I don't have to worry about that. O, I have to worry about that. The first week we were here there was a hole in the weather stripping of our back door. We watched as a huge spider and a blue lizard climbed through that hole and joined us in the dining room. EW EW EW! There may have been a point where I was standing on the chair... and also a few melt downs about Olivia's safety... 

5. It is so fun to have our own house. We bought a house when we moved down here and I have so much more motivation to decorate and it's been a lot of fun. There are also drawbacks- like we had to fix the hole in the back door that we found trying to replace the weather strip... turns out the door was rotted through and we needed to replace it. Luckily, we're in the south and the repairman said he had a door laying around his house and he'd give it to us for free! See? REALLY nice people around here.

Emily and I painting Olivia's room

Our Baby Girl

So, about 9 weeks ago our baby came! Sorry about the late notice, but she keeps us busy! Here's the story.

So on July 9th I was scheduled to be induced. Clint and I packed our bags and drove to the hospital. It was weird thinking as we drove that the next time I was outside, driving in a car, I would for sure, no doubt about it, have a baby. I think I had been pregnant for so long that I didn't really think it was going to actually end ya know? But boy, am I glad it did! 

So we checked into the hospital and Clint's cousin's sister in law was our nurse and she took very good care of us. She started me on Pitocin at 7:45 AM and every half hour or something like that she increased my dose and the contractions started coming. By 9:30 I was having pretty regular contractions, I was dialated to 3 cm and things were going well. Clint and I were just chatting and getting excited. Then Clint got a phone call. It was his cousin (who is an anesthesiologist at the hospital I delivered at). He said that the  anesthesiologist leaving his shift was slightly better at giving epidurals than the one coming onto his shift so I should get mine now. So I did. It was by far the scariest part for me. I didn't think I was nervous about getting an epidural but when he wheeled in his cart I was shaking and crying a little and freaking out a lot. Turned out that it hurt less than the IV did and I didn't really have anything to be scared of afterall. 

I fell asleep. Clint says this part was really boring for him and he drained the batteries on both our phones playing games... The doctor came in around 11 and broke me water and I went back to sleep. I woke up again at 1:30 and I was dilated to a 10!! I was ready to go but the doctor said because it had gone so quickly he would let the baby descend on her own for another hour. 

The doctor came around 2:25 and said the lady next door to me was also his patient and at the same point I was. He said he was going to try both of us pushing and whoever seemed to be more ready would get to go first. I pushed once and he said we should just go for it. I pushed through about 4 contractions, for about 15 minutes and we had our little girl! She came out wailing and I couldn't believe she was mine. 

Olivia Jane Prestwich was 19 inches long, 6 pounds 15 ounces, and was very healthy. We enjoyed being pampered at the hospital for two uneventful days and then we went home. Clint's family and my mom were able to come help me out for a week while we all got used to this baby business and things have been going pretty smoothly since. 

I told Clint that if I didn't have to be pregnant for 9 months, I could have babies all the time. It was such a great experience. I feel so blessed to have our little girl come so easily and that she was healthy. We love her so much. 

Welcome to the world sweet pea! 

Snowcones

So the countdown is 8 days! O but I hope this little girl comes sooner... 

So lately our apartment thermostat looks like this:

from about noon until bedtime.

 I sleep with an ice pack.

Yesterday it got up to 86! 

Ya, we don't have any air conditioning system unless you count our rotating fan in our bedroom. Rotating because Clint and I love each other enough to allow the fan to occasionally hit the other person as we lie in front of it... 

So I came up with a solution for the heat and the baby's early arrival. 

I get walk the 1.2 miles to the snow cone shack and back and get myself a snow cone everyday.

It has worked out great. The doctor says her little head is lodged down in my pelvic bone just ready to slide on out (I think its all this walking), I get a little relief from the heat and I get to empty our change jar which we don't want to move across the country. 

Also, there is this super nice girl at the snow cone shack. I think today we officially became friends. She always smiles and takes my coins, but today we had ourselves our first friendly conversation. 

It went something like this....

Me: Can I please have a small pina colada?

Her: Are you trying to taste every flavor we have?

(I have been switching it up lately... I guess she has noticed)

Me: Umm... no, just trying new ones I guess... 

Her: oh, ok. Do you come everyday?

(she doesn't work everyday...)

Me: Yep, but one of these days my baby will come and you will not see me anymore. 

Her: When are you due?

Me: In 8 days.

Her: Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that. Well make sure you bring your baby sometime after you have it. 

She handed me my snow cone and I left.

 I didn't promise to bring my baby to the snow cone shack... 

Maybe I have a new teenager friend.

 Maybe she thinks I'm a crazy pregnant lady. 

Who knows. 

See ya tomorrow snow shack girl! 

Or maybe not.

 I am keeping my fingers crossed.

:)

What a week

What a week it has been!

Last week at my doctor appointment, they were worried about our little girl and her growth. They talked about viruses that could have stopped her little brain from growing and sent me to a specialist. From that appointment on Thursday to our appointment on Monday with the specialist, it was one of the longest weekends I have ever had. I knew my daughter would come and we would love her to pieces. I did not know a lot more than that. We prayed and cried a lot in those few days, and so did our families. On Monday we went to the specialist and got to hear the great news that Olivia is indeed small, but she would be healthy.  

(The doctor was joking with us. She looked at me when she walked in and said... we are worried about your baby being small? Let's look at this. I've learned that biology does actually play a part in these things and it would not surprise me for you to have a small baby...) 

We were all so relieved. My doctor appointment on Tuesday gave us similar news with all of their tests that our baby girl is going to be just fine 

(and hopefully come just a little early!) 

I'm walking every day to hopefully help her along :) Come on baby!! We want to meet you!

Tuesday we had some car trouble... the drivers side door got bent the wrong way... good thing Clint is Superman and bent it back enough so we could drive it to Orem to get it fixed. We got a great deal that we were happy to accept. Yesterday, they called to tell us our door was replaced and ready - except the door they replaced it with is BLUE. Just so you know, my car is not blue. I have never really known what to call the color of my car, but I would go with tan/champange/silvery....? not blue. But it's done so I guess we'll pick it up and do what we can with some spray paint :) 

Also on Tuesday (talk about an eventful day) some of my good friends threw me a little baby shower. It was so fun and we got many things that we needed for Olivia's arrival. I am so lucky to have such great friends around. 

The realtor from Tennessee sent us some houses yesterday. Did I mention we are planning on buying a house when we get to Optometry school? We are pretty excited about it and its moving forward. We talked with the realtor and asked when a good weekend would be for Clint to fly out to look at a few of these houses. She said 4-5 weeks before we want the house is the best timing... that puts us at the weekend of July 12th... 

.....

Wait a minute. That date seems familiar. O ya, the baby is due July 11th... 

soooooooooo again we say, Come on baby!!! We NEED to meet you!

 So if anyone wants to come walk with me like every day from now until then, that would be great. We need her to come early. Good thing the doctor thinks that is a good possibility! 

Way to make it this far. It has been a crazy week. A good week. An emotional week. A week with very good news and some blue car door news. 

Ps. I found this little gem today and love it.

 I cried just a little, but I cry every time I hear a hallmark card these days.

 Two girls in my one body = emotions galore. 

O, I can't wait for her to get here! 

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

It has been two whole years since this wonderful day...

And what a great two years it has been!

For our anniversary, we decided to keep it pretty low key since I'm about ready to pop. We had a delicious meal at PF Changs and we were pleasantly surprised. We hadn't ever eaten there before, but everything we got tasted so good. And how likely is it that at a new restaurant, you order 6 things and love all of them? I'm telling you, we were impressed :)

Then we drove to the outdoor Scera theater for the play Tarzan. We got to the ticket gate and asked someone where will call was to get our tickets... they informed us it was at the main office (two blocks away) and since going back to the car to drive was also about 2 blocks, we decided to walk over. 

At this point Clint did offer to go get the tickets so I didn't have to walk... but I was the one who ordered teh tickets and we had to present photo ID... so this prego lady WALKED. yeah!

Once we got there, we were told our tickets were not actually there, but at the will call at the outdoor theater we had just left... so after we cursed the lady who told us to come there, we trekked it back the 2 blocks. Man, I was SERIOUSLY out of breath! Maybe I should be exercising more than I am... 

Well, we finally got our tickets and sat down and enjoyed some quality Tarzan. It was good. 

So here is to two years and many more to come! I just love this man of mine. He is everything I dreamed of in my husband plus a little more :) He works so hard for our growing family. He tried really hard to understand my emotional girly-ness (which, let's be honest, I don't even fully understand sometimes) and he is almost always the first of the two of us to appologize or let down his stubborn side when we have disagreements. He balances me in ways I totally need it and I think I do the same for him. Our marriage is such a good blend of logic/emotion, adventure/routine, and our different love styles. I could not be happier to look back at these part 2 years and see just how far we have come and still know that there is so much more to still come for us. 

I am truly blessed. I love my happily ever after story

<3

Busy busy summer! ...with lots of pictures :)

I feel like time is going so so very fast right now. I swear I was still in the beginning of May counting down school days yesterday... I had my whole summer separated into segments. 

1st. Finish teaching and clean out the classroom  

 check!

2nd. Make it to Idaho to help with Esther's wedding (and not go into labor that week) 

check and check!

3rd. Have a baby.

 Are we at this point already?

4th. Move to Tennessee. 

Will someone please tell me how those first two got checked off already? O man. Well, I've taken a few pictures to document that, in fact, those first two things actually happened... so here they are. Enjoy.

First, teaching is over. WAY mixed emotions about this one. I am going to miss these little kiddos I got to call mine for the last year, but I am so excited to really have my own little kiddo that is mine for the rest of forever. It's hard, especially since my real child won't be nearly as funny as these kids for a few years and I will definitely miss those stories...

I am seriously going to miss these crazy kids! I love each one of them and hope they remember 2nd grade (not just the ambulance episode...)

I shed a tear or two as I walked away from this empty classroom and all its memories.

 If walls could talk, oh the stories these would tell.

Moving on before I cry again. (Blame the pregnancy hormones)

Next, I went to Idaho!!! Home of the potatoes and my wonderful in-laws! :) 

My brother in law left for his mission on Wednesday of that week so we got him all ready. Then, my sister in law Esther married this awesome guy named Dustin and we had to get all ready for it two days later! I actually stayed for the whole week and Clint had to come back to Utah for work, so I was a little nervous about being so busy and on my feet and having contractions and possibly having a too early baby without my husband or my doctor within a few hundred miles... but it all worked out and we are very happy it did. 

Isn't she beautiful?

All the siblings :) minus the missionary of course...

It was a really fun weekend and I got to know my in-laws even better and we laughed and cried a lot

 (Those poor parents sent off a missionary and gave away the oldest girl in the same week!) 

and it was great!

Now we are on to #3!! Having a BABY!! 

Welcome to week 36 where Alissa can barely glimpse those toes way down there. Let's not even talk about reaching them... painted toes and shaved legs have come to a halt until further notice. 

I went to the doctor today and he said I was 1 cm dilated and 80% thinned... I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he seemed impressed so I went with it. Later, I called my mother (it is seriously so nice to have a nurse for a mother) and she said that's apparently really thin and it might mean I'll have a fast labor! 

woot woot! love hearing that!

In other baby related news, I tried going to the local water park and get some tanning done the other day, until I got there and realized laying on the ground with a 9 month pregnant belly is not the most comfortable thing in the world... in fact it lasted a whole 10 minutes before I decided to walk in the lazy river instead, which I realized was only 3 feet deep and did not even start to cover the belly so I was squat walking through the lazy river (looking like a crazy lady I'm sure) until I got over that real quick. I tried the wave pool and although that was the best option of the day, I left the water park about an hour and 1/2 after I got there.

 Maybe after I'm not so pregnant that pass will come to better use...

Until then, you can find me laying on the couch reading up my summer book list from the library and enjoying the 28 days left until Miss Olivia decides to come.