Sleep.

I love sleep.

With all of my heart.

My husband is well aware of this and does not share those same sentiments.

Since becoming pregnant, I have started sleeping a lot more;

This includes extra hours at night and naps on some of those crazy days.

My husband used to dislike it when I took naps.

Then he got an Xbox 360.

...Now I sorta think he likes it when I take naps.

I wonder why???

24 Weeks.

It happened folks! My belly finally popped and I'm actually starting to look pregnant instead of just fat. Today marks 24 weeks or, for those of you who don't like to do math, a little over 5 months. I have to admit, thus far, pregnancy is flying by. I hope it continues to do so. I've heard countless stories about the last couple months taking forever (mostly due to extreme discomfort and fatigue). While I do find myself repositioning a lot throughout the night, I'm still sleeping pretty well and feeling good. Paul is good at motivating me to go to the gym instead of being a couch potato. Since school has started, I have been really tuckered out. However, I know exercising is good for both me and the little boy growing inside of me... so I'm going to try my best to keep it up.

My favorite thing is feeling the baby kick. He has gotten into the routine of "waking up" around 11pm each night. Just as I begin to relax, he starts going to town! Paul is able to feel him at least once a day, which I think is awesome. It makes me happy that Paul is able to form a connection with our son at such an early stage. Also, according to the weekly pregnancy e-mail I receive, our little one can hear now! It's fun to know that when we meet him, he'll already be familiar with our voices.

24 weeks!

I know there's a baby growing inside of me... 

but this might be part of the reason my belly is getting bigger.

Fish.

 

Say hello to our new pets! 

These little fishies have been a part of the Hannibal family for over a month now.

(We wanted to make sure we didn't kill them before we posted about them)

For those of you who don't know, I am a HUGE fan of Craig's list. I check it multiple times a day. My favorite part of the website is the "free" section. That's how we got our Christmas tree, a box of baby clothes AND our beloved fish. I told Paul that I wanted a goldfish for my birthday. Then, lo and behold, there was an ad for free goldfish! We saved a bunch of money because we didn't have to buy the tank, the filter or the fish. Woo hoo! 

The fish are all different sizes, which makes it so we can remember who is who. The biggest one is Frankenstein (middle). He has a huge mass on his right side! We call him Franky so he doesn't feel bad about himself. The mid-sized one is Buddy (left). He's pretty quiet. The smallest of the three is Margaret (right). She's little, but she doesn't get forgotten.

Thus far I have enjoyed our new pets. The only time I have thought about getting rid of them was when I had to clean their tank. Bleh. So gross. Other than that, I love them! I like that they add a little pop of color to our kitchen area and I enjoy eating breakfast with them. I even think Paul likes them!

Life Lately.

This post is really just a hodgepodge of the past month. 

Let's start with Christmas! 

This was my first Christmas away from home. However, us kids in Utah were lucky enough to have my parents come out for the holiday! It was an extremely special treat because my dad doesn't make it out to Utah very often. Having my parents in town made the transition a lot easier for me. We spent lots of time together as a family and my brother and his lovely wife welcomed a baby boy into the world on Christmas day! Talk about exciting.

 

This is the glider chair Paul got me for Christmas. After going store to store to find a big appliance box to wrap it in, he had to resort to dumpster diving at 5 in the morning! He came out successful with a broken down washing machine box. He was very sneaky about the entire thing and I was completely surprised. Baby and I will both enjoy this gift in a few months.

While hanging out with family at my sister's house, Paul got in touch with his creative side with my niece's new Christmas blocks.

 

In order to save money, Paul and I decided to forgo a Christmas tree. Our plan was to wait for all of the after Christmas sales to stock up on holiday decor. Then Grandma informed us that she had a spare tree!! So this 3' tree brought us lots of cheer. (Eventually we got a FREE 7 1/2 ft tree from Craig's list!)

Now moving on to the New Year! 

Paul and I chose to celebrate our first NYE alone. It was a relaxing evening. We drank sparkling apple cider and indulged in treats. I was so tired that I fell asleep before midnight. Reluctantly, Paul woke me up and we watched the ball drop, made a toast, drained our blue martini glasses of their sparkly goodness and hit the hay so we could make it through church the next day.

Peppermint ice cream with homemade fudge. Delicious!!

The new year brought with it another semester (My second to last one!). I am determined to do my best... which means I'm actually doing all of the reading this semester. In order to make long evenings of studying a little sweeter yet still semi-healthy, Paul and I have started making fruit smoothies.

 Mmm, berries and bananas taste better when you're studying mental health.

Taking a study break to visit a tropical paradise with pineapple and bananas!

One of my favorite things about making smoothies is using a straw to drink them... 

Yeah, I'm pretty easy to please.

Other than that we have been keeping busy. Paul works crazy hours to match my school schedule. We both have long days but it's awesome that we're usually home at the same time.

Now it's time to go study some more...

Poor Paul

"Here Lies Poor Paul. R.I.P."
"About 2 months Ago - Tonight"

In 2003, my family decided I complained too much.  I don't remember being all that bad, but I suppose it was somewhat annoying.  At night, anytime before or after family scripture reading, we would talk about our days, laugh, and just chat.  I would "complain" about something bad/annoying/stressful in my life, and my family would sarcastically feel bad for me.  "Poor Paul," they would say, "his life is so hard."  This was quickly shortened to simply "Poor Paul".  It was funny.  Then not so funny.  Then sad.  But my family was having a good time.  Poor Paul.

After about 2 months, I asked them to stop saying it because it was starting to hurt my feelings.  I didn't like hearing everyone make fun of my life.  So, that ended Poor Paul, or so I thought.

Ron went into the computer room, quickly built a coffin, a likeness, and a head stone.  Solemnly, a funeral march commenced down the hallway.  Carrying the paper coffin in his hands, he placed it gently on the bed, wiping away a "tear".  Then the family started laughing.  I started laughing.  Poor Paul was gone (again) forever, or so I thought.

During the following 8 years, Poor Paul rested peacefully on a bookshelf.  My parents came to Utah before leaving on their mission to Ukraine.  Poor Paul surprisingly came with them.  They unearthed this poor creature and brought him to Utah, where he has seen real Paul for the last time.  Again, we buried Poor Paul.  This time for good.

2012.

I am very excited for what 2012 holds for our growing family.

About halfway through the year, Paul and I will welcome a little boy into our family. Then, in December I will finally graduate from the BYU Nursing program. (I never thought the day, or even the year, would ever come!) With graduation comes the possibility of moving! Whether this means Paul will transfer within his current company or call a different company home, we don't know. We might even find that staying here for a while is in our best interest. Needless to say, we have some decision making ahead of us.

Our goals, as we prepare for the changes ahead are:

1. Stay within our budget

We're doing our best to live like poor college students even though Paul has a full-time job. We discovered that we were doing a great job... except for how much we spend on restaurants. Whoops! We're determined to do better this year.

2. Daily family scripture study

This is something we did sporadically last year. However, with Baby Hannibal on the way, we know it will only become more difficult to form good habits like this. Therefore, we're getting into the habit now. Hopefully, this will make it easier to keep having family scripture study when we're busy with a baby.

3. Family prayer, morning and night

Same reasons as goal #2

4. Be healthy

A set of goals isn't complete without health being mentioned, right? Paul and I are taking a new approach this year. Since I'm pregnant, I can't lose weight. However, I can still be conscious of what I'm putting into my body. We have started food diaries/calorie counting to get an accurate perspective of how much we should eat. It has already been a great learning experience and we're getting better at choosing healthier options. This has also been a huge motivation to get us to exercise. Exercising = more food!

5. Fall even more in love

This year is going to be stressful one, but Paul and I are determined to use this year to grow closer together, rather than apart. We plan on do this through a myriad of ways: going to the Temple, going on dates, focusing on communication skills and teamwork, giving compliments, writing love notes, surprising one another and much, much more.

I am truly excited for what this year has to offer. However, I'm aware that the year could offer me everything I've ever dreamed of... but it doesn't matter unless I do something about it. This will be a year of keeping my eyes open and being grateful for all that I receive.