There is a Down Side

Fear \ˈfir\: : to be afraid of : expect with alarm

We are so grateful to be having this baby. He is a miracle, in more ways than the already overwhelming miracle of human life. Landon was able to feel him kicking for the first time this week; that is a precious memory already. We are thrilled with the anticipation of meeting him, naming him, teaching him, and endlessly teasing and playing with him. June can't come fast enough.

But when the pharmacist handed me this:

I had a massively huge and embarrassing little meltdown. 

I knew it was coming. Twice-daily injections of Heparin (blood thinners) are part of the pregnancy package when you're a woman of the Sanders family. I've heard my sister talk about it, and the Dr. warned me about it, but nothing could have prepared me for the utter terror I feel at the very thought of pushing that needle (although it's very small) through my own skin. 

I am not usually a needle-hater, per say. Immunizations, birth control shots, lots of blood work when I was in college: I've had them all. But I don't usually watch. 

And these shots, for whatever inhumane reason, REALLY HURT!

I have been a bit of a nervous wreck for the past few days while I try to readjust to this new lifestyle. Less sleeping, eating, and laughing is happening at the Burgener house. Lots more crying. Maybe we're just practicing for when the baby gets here?

So if you happen to be a diabetic: I salute you. If you are required to test your blood daily for iron or insulin: I salute you. If you are a heroin addict: Honestly, I'm a little bit in awe of you. Because I can't do it; I make Landon do it instead. 

Prayers are appreciated -- someday I hope to "man up" and give myself the shots.

Oh, and if you're a doctor? Could you PLEASE develop an anti-coagulant that comes in the form of a pill/lotion/energy drink/once monthly injection? It's the only way we're going to be able to have more kids.

Holiday.

Landon and I have very different ideas on holidays. For him, a day off work/school means lots of extra relaxing, lounging, movie-watching, and maybe some projects around the house.

For me, a day off of work/school means a day we can do something fun and exciting, and take advantage of all the fun things around us in Utah while we're living here, which in all likelihood, won't be too much longer.

Guess who won?

On Monday (MLK day...oh, the benefits of working for the state!) we headed out to visit the Golden Spike National monument. We had a ton of fun learning about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad...

Looking at some fascinating old stuff...

 

And standing on a little piece of history!

 After all the excitement, we stopped for lunch at a little place that made Landon's day:

ATK Rocket Garden - Promontory, UT

All in all, an extremely successful trip. We were home by 5 and still had time for relaxing and a fun house project, which I will post about soon!

It's a BOY!

This baby has been long hoped-for and will be well loved. We can't wait to meet him! I see many adventures in our future...

Here comes 2011

Welcome to a new year! As is tradition, here is a little round up of what has happened in our lives, and our hopes and goals for the next 12 months. One year ago, this is what we thought 2010 would look like. We are usually pretty off in our predictions, but last year was relatively calm. We swapped out one dream vacation for another, and there are always unexpected twists and turns, but things basically went as planned. And now I give you the highlights from 2010, and our hopes for 2011:

In 2010 we:

• Caught the DIY bug. We created a beautiful chair, a bookshelf, a new kitchen shelf, repainted our entire kitchen, did several DI furniture makeovers, and generally had fun with spray paint and wood scraps.
• Kylie learned to sew. Our house has now been taken over by fabric and supplies.
• Landon graduated in April. There was much rejoicing.
• Accepted the offer from BYU for Landon to attend grad school, and committed ourselves to another 2-year stint in Provo. So far? Loving it.
• Planted our first garden. It was mostly a success. We also found out we love spinach.
• Survived a shooting inside Smith's grocery store here in Provo. Not a pleasant memory, but one we'll never forget.
  
• Went to Switzerland! And celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary in Lausanne.
• Bid Miles a fond farewell as he left to serve a mission in Nicaragua. Then proceeded to have a blast inundating him with same-day packages to the MTC.
• Finally made a long-planned trek to Zion National Park. We're already planning to head back in the spring.
• Bought sports passes to BYU and attended several football games together. Kylie's a bigger fan than Landon is.
• Finally got new family pictures.
• Said goodbye to Grandpa Jack.
• Said hello to our new "Jack Wagon" - a 1996 Ford Taurus that belonged to Grandpa Jack and has already served us well.
• Antarctica. Landon went, Kylie stayed home -- it was a valuable and once-in-a-lifetime experience that we really don't care to repeat. 

I guess we had quite the year!

In 2011 we think we'll:

• Hang out together constantly to make up for lost time.
• Celebrate 25th and 26th birthdays.
• Go to a few BYU basketball games.
• Visit Idaho more often (and possibly drag my brother along with us).
• Apply for some summer internships and see where that road takes us this time around.
• See the Grand Canyon.
• Start Landon's second (and last here at BYU) year of grad school.
• Go to Cherry Hill with the Sanders clan.
• Spend Christmas on the same continent. Sounds crazy, but we're really excited about this one. We're not even picky about which continent it happens to be.

We're looking forward to this year. For the first time in our marriage, there are no major life-altering decisions looming over us. We know basically where we will be at the end of 2011 (still in Provo, finishing up Lando's masters degree). We have some amazing things to anticipate, and lots of changes coming our way, but at the moment, the waters are calm. It's a good feeling.

Now. Seriously. No, really. I promise. This time I'm telling the truth - HOME!

Dec. 23rd Landon almost got a flight out of Antarctica. The plane turned around 10 minutes from the landing strip because of fog.
December 25th Christmas happened. It was a good day, we were very spoiled with generous gifts and I was happy to be with family. Landon was able to video chat with us for a couple of hours while we opened gifts and it was enjoyable to pretend he was there.
December 26th there was an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, causing a lot of damage and limiting hotel space.
December 27th Landon FINALLY was able to board a plane and leave McMurdo. Unfortunately, we found out he couldn't leave right away because it's a requirement to stay overnight in New Zealand (something to do with visas?) before heading back to the states from Antarctica.
December 28th a huge storm rolled in over the East Coast of the US, turning holiday travel plans the world over into a super giant mess. No flights left New Zealand for the US that day.
December 29th Landon promised he was coming home. He boarded a flight for Aukland at 10:35 am, transferred to an overnight flight to LA, and flew to Dallas. There was huge snow storm in SLC that day, and many flights didn't get through, but we were finally blessed with a bit of luck, and Landon's plane was one of the few that landed. He then boarded a shuttle for Idaho. The snow had made the roads crazy bad, and it took an extra hour to get from SLC to Idaho Falls, where I eventually picked him up.

We spent several fun-filled days in Idaho with family, and finally, we are HOME.

Landon loved Antarctica and is excited about his research. He's never going back. I'm afraid he wouldn't get home.