30 weeks and 10 to go! EEK!

I have been a slacker as always and put off posting. I decided I better get busy and post what's new in the life of the Curtis's.

First of all....I'm almost 30 weeks...can't believe how far along I already am! Only 10 more weeks to go and we'll get to meet this little princess! I'll be honest...I've been reading all these things about labor and started to cry. I told Ben that I rather not go through labor. She can stay inside me as long as she wants, but then on the other hand, I want to see and hold her. Here is a picture of me...I haven't posted any pictures...it's hard to get Ben to take pictures of me and hard for me to remember to take them when I look decent. Excuse the fake smile....I was just getting over the flu and still not feeling so great.

Little baby knows her daddy's voice....she always moves when he sings to her and I love it! It is amazing, she won't move for other people, but when Ben is around....she wiggles like crazy. Ben came to bed a little while after I did one night and he started whispering/singing to her "Hold to the Rod" I was asleep by then, but once he started singing, she started moving and letting Ben know she heard him. Even though I didn't appreciate being woken up, I had a great feeling of peace and serenity that I wouldn't have traded for 5 minutes of sleep!

We have decided to move into some other apartments that are in the ward that we are currently in. This was a tough decision for us to make since the apartment is a lot smaller. We will definitely have to downsize a bit, but Ben and I decided to simplify our lives by getting rid of stuff that we really don't need. I about fell over when Ben proposed we pack up our t.v. and let my older sister use the t.v. until he is done with school. I don't mind...I can definitely do without a t.v. It will be nice not to have that temptation around. We'll still watch movies on the computer so it won't be a big deal. Of course, I tried to propose to get rid of the computer too... but keep the laptop, however that didn't work out so well with Ben.

Ben was not able to get into the summer program for nursing, so he won't be able to graduate until Spring of 2011. I was very disappointed and upset but I'm trying to keep my mind open and not sit down and give up. It is hard for me to say that I know the Lord has a plan for us especially right now when I feel that everything we try to plan doesn't work out. But I do know that the Lord has a bigger picture than we do, I just struggle with accepting His terms sometimes. This has been a hard few months for me but I'm blaming it on the pregnancy hormones and striving to take one day at a time.

Anyway....I better get started on the packing and dejunking...I'm actually looking forward to getting rid of a lot of stuff! Wish me luck!

Thoughts....

Ben is studying for his finals right now, so I decided to share some thoughts I have been having as of lately. Life is just amazing...It can be so hard but yet so rewarding.

I have a favor to ask of all of you....Ben is wanting to go to school during the summer, but he hasn't been admitted to the summer program, but we are hoping that there will be someone who decides to drop out. So I would like all of you to pray for Ben to be able to go to school this summer because he really really wants to finish sooner (December 2010 instead of May 2011) and he is very motivated to finish. We both want me to be able to stay home with this little one and for me, I feel so strongly that I need to stay at home and be a mom. I have this big fear that if I don't stay home with my little girl that I won't be able to communicate with her since the babysitters will probably talk with her verbally. It is very important to me to have my baby to communicate with me and I just feel so strongly that the best way to accomplish that is to have me stay home. I already struggle with communicating with others and I don't want that struggle between me and my child. So, sorry....I'm selfish and want Ben to be done with school. All the prayers you can give will be wonderful. But whatever Heavenly Father's will is...I will accept, I know he will provide a way for us.

We are thinking about moving out of this apartment and moving into a better maintained apartment. As horrible as this is, we applied for government assisted housing and hopefully we'll get approved. I feel stupid, but the conditions in this apartment worries me... the carpet is falling apart and I don't know how clean it is. I feel so germ-phobic but I worry about Baby Curtis crawling around grabbing gobs of carpet and eating it. The apartment is heated by baseboard heaters and I worry about her getting her hands stuck in those...I know...sorry if any of you roll your eyes at me and think...oh bother...she's going too far, but I do have those concerns and have to follow my instincts.

Anyway....I need to go to bed right now since I work at 8 tomorrow morning. I hope all is going well with each and every one of you. I wish I could communicate better with most of you. Have a wonderful day!

It's a.....

Hello, hello!!! I have very exciting news!! Ben and I will be welcoming a little princess in our home in a few months!! We also got the chance to get a good look at this beautiful princess's face! It was the most amazing experience! The ultrasound tech told me that she is a little mover. My mom came to interpret for us and she told him that this baby takes after her mommy because her mommy moved around a lot too. I know I'll have my hands full with this little ball of energy! The moment we found out, I got the most amazing feeling and knew for sure that Heavenly Father picked me to be her mother.

I've been feeling very strongly that this little one was a girl. I've had a few neat experiences in the past few weeks. I am the Miamaid Advisor in my ward and New Beginnings was at the end of March. It was such a spiritual night and I grew so much. One of the speakers was telling a story about a princess and during the moment, I had a little whisper in my head that I was going to be entrusted with one of Heavenly Father's princesses and that she was exquisite.

I just can't believe I'm going to be a mother to a little baby! I'm so grateful for the technology we have now so that I can know for sure that my baby is healthy and strong. I am just amazed with the love that just fills my heart and I can't wait to meet this little one! Looking at her pictures...I just know she's so beautiful and the spirit that is to inhabit that body is even more beautiful!

I asked Ben a few minutes ago if he was disappointed. He told me no... not at all. I know he'll probably do anything for her knowing his tender big heart.

Here's a picture of her flexibility skills! Her cute little feet are all the way to her head. I was just amazed!

I better go. I have a lot more other things I need to post about, but I'll save that for another day and go to bed. Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!

Long time...

I have again not posted for a long time. I need to try to be better!!! This post will be short as I have to go to work soon. I just thought I would give everyone the update and let you all know how we are doing. I am doing well. Finally through with the morning sickness stage and relieved! The thing I struggle with the most right now is working and being on my feet all day. The first thing I do when I get home is sit down and put my feet up. Ben is doing well...keeping up with his studies and working at Best Buy. He seems to enjoy his new job and I'm happy for him.

We had our doctor's appointment on Tuesday and things are going well. The baby is growing and has a good heart beat. I got to hear it's heart beat on March 2nd and it was amazing! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hear it but it was very loud and could not be missed! Ben also got to hear the heart beat on Tuesday. We will be getting an ultrasound in two weeks to find out if baby is boy or girl...if it cooperates! I have mixed feelings about this...I'm not sure I want to know because I'm afraid of being disappointed even though I don't care if I have a boy or girl. I have already had a nightmare about having an ultrasound so I'm starting to wonder if there's something deep down inside bothering me. :)

I have been able to feel the baby move for quite some time. At first, I could not really tell if it was just my imagination. But now I can tell and I love it! It likes to move a lot when I'm walking around at work. I'm still in denial that I'm actually carrying one of Heavenly Father's children. I feel so strange and at the same time I'm very excited!

I will have to post again soon. I hope...if I don't...those of you who live close-by can remind me!

Yes.....it's true.....

Hello everyone!! I'm back on this blog finally updating my blog. I have absolutely no excuse. I just never really had the time to really sit down and blog. I don't know where all my time goes but I assure you, it disappears fast!

Ben and I would like to announce that there's a new little one coming into our family! We went in to the doctor today and finally found out our due date. Little Curtis baby is due August 31st. We also had the opportunity to see the cute little bug in an ultrasound. Here it is... The little circles are the arms and the biggest blob is the head and the little blob is the body. I hope that makes sense. I had a hard time trying to watch the ultrasound and trying to figure out what they were saying. Next time, I am just going to ignore them and watch the ultrasound. I did have to laugh at Ben because he said, "it's moving around?!" and I just almost cried.

I know it isn't much but it moves around so much and was the neatest experience of my life. I just sat there and felt so warm inside. I can't believe Ben and I are going to be parents and I already worry for this little one but I know if I have faith and keep on going that the Lord will bless us.

We have felt so blessed over the past couple weeks. Even though I have been sick, throwing up and being exhausted, I feel that the Lord is preparing me to become stronger spiritually. This is silly, but I was convinced that because I couldn't hear, the Lord would not curse me with morning sickness...however, I feel that being sick has made me appreciate my own mother more. I don't understand how she went through this ten times, but I'm glad she did because I'm number 9 and if she stopped before that, I wouldn't be here.

I know many of you are surprised because we always said that we wouldn't start a family until after Ben graduated. We have both felt strongly that we needed to start a family and decided to leave it to the Lord and let Him decide. That for me was really hard....to completely trust the Lord and know that He will provide for us in the next year. That is one big leap of faith for us.

I will be sure to blog more often. I am also thinking about making my blog private because I've heard a lot of scary stories out there....especially over the internet. Anyway...that's all I have to share for now.

Long time...Lots to say...but not enough patience

I recently got a wall post on my facebook from my cousin saying I needed to update my blog! I really have no excuse but that I've been extremely busy. I also struggle with the getting some computer time as well. However, those are not really valid excuses so I will do my best to update you all on my life.

On October 18th, I flew with Nicole (my sister) and two of her friends to Miami, Florida to go on a cruise. It's a long story and I don't have any pictures with me right now. I forgot my camera and so Nicole took lots and lots of pictures as well as her two other friends....I guess I can say they are my friends now because I still keep in touch with them! :) I will do that in another post in the future when we are able to compile all the pictures that were taken.

Right now I am in sunny and warm Arizona visiting my brother and his family. They just bought a new house and are still in the process of unpacking in their new home. It is a very beautiful home and I'm happy for them. I've just been helping and relaxing and enjoying myself. However, Ben isn't with me and I miss him a lot! I feel bad for the poor guy, he's been stuck at home and going to school while I've been off having adventures! I thank him for letting me get away and putting up with my messes when I got home since I didn't completely unpack from the cruise because I knew that I would be leaving again.

I will be back in good ole, cold, freezing Idaho next week on Monday. I am looking forward to seeing all you Idaho folks again, however, I am not really looking forward to the cold and wind in Idaho. I told Ben that we will have to move to St. George or someplace that has perfect temperature year round! He just laughed.

I really don't know what else to say so I'll close for now...I don't have the patience to sit at the computer for a long time anymore. Hope everyone is doing well!

New Calling

I decided to do smaller posts for easier reading so here's on to my news. Two weeks ago today, Ben and I went to Mara and Gus Clark's twin girls baby blessing (Mara is a really good friend of mine from high school and she is amazing!!) We were planning to go to their sacrament meeting and to the luncheon after and be done with church for the day. However, Ben got a call from the 2nd counselor in the bishopric right after sacrament meeting asking if we could meet with him 10 minutes before Sacrament meeting started (our church started at 1 PM and the baby blessings were at 9 AM). So we went to the luncheon and then left to talk to the 2nd counselor. Ben was a little nervous because he already has a calling as 2nd counselor in the Elder's Qurom Presidency and he thought a primary calling was coming. However, I had a feeling that the calling was for me because I knew that Ben would stay in his calling...it was a strange feeling and I was scared. However, we went and talked to Brother Anderson. I accepted the call to become the Miamaid Advisor for Young Womens. I was a little shocked and excited. I look forward to all the experiences that this calling will give me. I admit that I'm a little out of my comfort zone but sometimes that has to happen in order for great experiences.

Our Young Womens is very small and so we all meet together every Sunday and have a combined lesson every week. I had the opportunity to give the lesson today. I don't think I've been this nervous to teach a lesson before. I love teaching but this was the first lesson I taught verbally. All the other lessons I've taught have been in sign language and I prayed all morning this morning. The Lord truly is watching out for me and He knows that I am capable of things that I don't think I am. I was able to get through the lesson and I just hope that I was able to inspire at least one girl as much as my Young Women's leaders inspired me. However, at one point during the lesson, the power went out and I was almost ready to panic because I could not see anyone in the room well enough to understand them. I said a quick little prayer and the lights came back on immediately. Amazing that the Lord can hear this small, insignificant prayer and answer it quickly!

I am so excited to be in Young Women's and am already loving where I am. I look forward to the many experiences I will have and hope I can do some good in this calling.