1. We had our second ultrasound appointment where the technician and my doctor were both thoroughly convinced that we are having a boy. Most ultrasound images are about as clear to me as a Jackson Pollock painting, but they seemed very confident, so I am also very confident. Having a boy will be wonderful, provided we can pick a name for him before he forms a confused identity as a nameless child. Our list of girl names was really progressing pretty well, but I guess that had nothing to do with parental intuition. My father suggested that we set up a sort of name raffle where people can pay some amount to enter a name, and then we use whatever name we draw from the entries. This would definitely simplify things, and perhaps give an early start to our son's college fund. However, I fear that my dear, but sometimes mischievous, brothers would not be able to resist some unfortunately creative entries, and so we'll probably go about things the usual way. The ultrasound also revealed that our unborn child is becoming cuter and less alien.
2. Russell and I finished our first reading of the Book of Mormon together. We have read several other books together (by together, I mean aloud to each other), including Till We Have Faces, The Magician's Nephew, and The Social Animal. However, the Book of Mormon is definitely the most important of our list, and is probably the one of the few books that we will continue reading to each other as long as eyesight permits (and then there's always the audio recordings, right?). Today I rediscovered a delightful quote from Marion G. Romney, who was an apostle in the LDS church in the mid-late 1900s. He said: "I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, . . . [t]he spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. . . Faith, hope, and charity. . . will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace joy, and happiness" (General Conference, April 1980). Who doesn't want that? I can use all the love and wisdom I can get, so I'm definitely on board.
3. We got to spend almost two full weeks over Christmas in St. George, UT with my delightful in-laws. There are always more places that we would like to be than we can be, especially at holidays, but as much as I missed my own parents and brothers (and grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, . . . ), I think we picked the right place for this year's Christmas. All three of Russell's sisters were there, plus the husband and children of his one married sister. It was really wonderful to have everyone together and to get mostly away from work and school. The pictures we took give the impression that we spent most of our time eating at Cafe Rio; I'll need to get better about photo-documenting things, because we did a lot more than that. Other happy memories include, but are not limited to: celebrating Russell's birthday (we actually did this twice: once in Iowa, once in Utah), watching my sister-in-law Miquelle play Mary in a brief nativity at Tuacahn (complete with real camels!), having the traditional Leslie family Christmas Eve sherbet/soda drink, Christmas morning gift extravaganza, four-wheeling (not so much me as Russell and his sisters and dad), making baby blankets with my mother-in-law, after-Christmas sale shopping, and a multi-day "Bones" marathon. Probably best of all was going to the St. George temple so that my husband, Russell LeVan Leslie, and his dad, Russell Allen Leslie, Jr., could do temple work for my Russell's grandfather, Russell Allen Leslie, Sr., and great-grandfather, Russell Uralee Leslie (and if you're wondering if we might name our son Russell, the answer is yes, very possibly).
People often ask me how I'm feeling. I'm not sure if this is out of concern for my physical comfort or in expectation that I'm filled with excited anticipation and/or anxiety. I am feeling well. It is getting more difficult to put my shoes and socks on. Sometimes I can feel the baby move. Other times, I'm not sure if the baby is moving or my stomach is growling (I know, rookie mistake, right? I'll probably get better at telling the difference). So far, he has not lodged himself under my rib cage or kicked my bladder. As for my emotional state, I am feeling very pleased about having a baby. Lately I have not been very worried about the difficult decisions that will probably come with his arrival, but as my friend Sara aptly put it to me a few weeks ago, everything feels bigger when you're pregnant. I don't know if this is a universal experience, but I certainly feel that my emotional pendulum is swinging wider than usual.
Well that was more than I expected to write and probably more than anyone really wanted to read (thank you for your patience if you've made it this far down the post). We're planning on caucusing this week (yes, I have registered as a Republican for this voting cycle), so next time I'll have the inside scoop on the Republican caucusing experience.
