Sunday, September 28, 2008

All Done!

During my breaks from work (I work for a temp agency) and Bryce’s nightly studying, I tend to get bored. Since I have done all the puzzles we own at least twice, my friend Amy kindly offered to let me borrow their Mickey Mouse puzzle. I’ve had it for a few weeks now, but finally finished it this past Wednesday. It’s 1000 pieces and each piece is a mosaic of some Disney movie. Needless to say, it took a bit longer to complete than most puzzles, but I got it done. Now I think I’ll take a break from puzzles for a while.


So, as I mentioned, I work for a temp agency. My most recent assignment is to fill in as the Administrative Coordinator for CEPAR (Critical Event Preparedness and Response). It’s part of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins, but at their administrative offices up in Mt. Washington so I don’t have to go into the city (i.e. I can drive there and have free parking). They coordinate all other university and medical departments’ disaster response plans. So, if there is an emergency, each department has someone that they go to in order to make sure there isn’t a lapse in communication between the entities. The department also has a grant from Homeland Security for a National Center of Excellence in preparedness and critical event response (PACER) so the physicians and researchers work with other universities across the country to study and coordinate disaster response. My job is basic administrative support, but I’m starting to do some other projects for them as well as they discover I’m able to do more than just answer the phones and schedule conference rooms. The temp position is for six weeks, but they have offered me a permanent position, either in the job I’m doing (if the person I’m filling in for decides not to come back), or they will find something else for me to do until the baby is born. It’s nice to know that I have something set and fairly consistent for the next few months, and I like the people I work with. It may be that I can still do some part time work for them from home after the baby is born, but that’s something I’ll have to discuss with them once things get settled and I see what they are having me do. At any rate, I’m now working 40 hours a week and have much less bored time.

There have been some requests for belly pictures, but those will have to wait a few more weeks as it’s pretty hard to see still, despite not fitting in any of my clothes any more. Have no fear though, I will post some eventually.

Bryce is doing fine. He’s got another test next Monday (6th) so this will be another week of cramming. He passed his first test fine which was a big relief. He’ll still be studying a lot though. He’s had a love/hate relationship with the rainfall for the last few days; he loves rain, but hates it when it prevents them from playing football on Saturday mornings. He’s also been called to be a Teacher’s quorum advisor and Assistant Varsity Scout leader. I teach some lively 6-7 year olds in Primary.

We finally got couches so I’ll post some pictures of our apartment in the next few weeks. We just need to do some organizing and hang some pictures, but we’re getting settled. We have our 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday so I’ll post some pictures of that as well.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

And the Results Are in...

It appears that the cake continues to be the most accurate way to predict a baby's sex. Yes, we are 99.5% sure that we are having a boy. Well, either that or we saw something pretty funny on the ultrasound. Bryce and I had kind of been feeling that way, but knew that those feelings are often wrong. We are very excited. Now we'll start thinking seriously about names and all the other baby stuff.


Tuesday, September 9, 2008

If It Were Up to the Cake...

Our friends James and Amy Bloom have a tradition of baking a cake that is half blue and half pink. The cake is then frosted and placed on a turning plate. The father-to-be is charged to turn the plate and the expectant mother then cuts a slice.


Whatever color she cuts determines whether or not they are having a boy or a girl. Yes, another old wives' tale. Yet, for the Bloom family, it has been 100% accurate. So we decided to see if it will hold true for those outside of their relations.



And the result? Well, it appears that we're having a boy. Thanks James and Amy for making the cake and having us over. We will hopefully find out on Thursday at our sonogram what we're having so we'll let you know if the cake method worked!