I’ve been having headaches almost daily for maybe a couple of months now. I’ve blamed pregnancy hormones, which could still be partly true. But at the same time I also had a terribly stiff neck and shoulders, especially in the mornings after waking up. Rob had to give me daily massages (not complaining about that!) but it was just getting so frustrating.
A few weeks ago I mentioned that as much as I love sinking my head into a big, soft pillow at night, maybe I need to try one of those contour pillows to see if it helps. Last week Rob had to run to Walmart and out of the blue picked me up just a cheap memory foam contour pillow to try and see if it helps. I woke up the next morning with NO stiffness in my neck and shoulders and I haven’t had any since which translates into NO headaches!!! WOW!!
A few details:
I usually toss and turn at night, but since getting the pillow I’ve noticed I only roll over once or twice.
This particular pillow is small. It’s probably too small for someone who isn’t petite. I have seen other brands in bigger sizes, though.
It’s also the cheapest one you can buy (since it was an experiment). Sometime we’ll invest in a more expensive brand. But for now it’s working just fine.
We also have a memory foam pad on our mattress so I haven’t tried the pillow on a firm mattress.
If you’ve had the same tension headache issues I had, try a memory foam contour pillow and see if it helps. It was TOTALLY worth the 15 bucks!
I (Julie) don’t like home improvement. At all. I blame it on the fact that while growing up my parents had a large home improvement project every few months. At least it felt like every few months. I enjoy watching home improvement shows because they always make it look so easy, fast, and fun. But, boy, it sure isn’t. It’s dusty and disgusting and messy. It’s expensive. It’s muscle-tiring work. It takes 3 times longer than your best estimate. It makes me grumpy. Rob does all the hard labor and I complain when he asks me to go to Lowe’s for supplies.
We are currently replacing old tile, linoleum, and a strip of carpet with new tile. We (by we I mean Rob) started taking out the old stuff on Thursday night. This continued Friday afternoon and night, and allllllll day Saturday. Just to get 300 square feet of old flooring out!! That doesn’t include installing the new stuff!
I kept asking Rob to tell me what I should do to help. He gave me 4 different jobs and I wasn’t able to do any of them. I’m small and pregnant…so it didn’t go so well. Finally he said I could chisel out some of the old tile adhesive that was as hard as concrete. I sat there on the floor chiseling away (barely) and steaming mad about how I’m not a slave in ancient Egypt so why am I doing this??!! I told this to Rob and he apologized saying he didn’t know my “chisel capacity” when he assigned me the job. I told him he expects too much of me when it comes to home improvement. He told me not to worry…he doesn’t have any expectations of me when it comes to home improvement.
So now the floors are concrete, appliances are all over the place, and tomorrow is Monday. Great. We considered working on it today but then Nate asked us what day it was and that he thought we weren’t supposed to work on Sunday…
But Rob’s worked very hard and we can tell how great this is going to look when it’s finished. Here’s to finishing!!
Rob and I used to play tennis…by “play” I mean we used to try to play tennis. We never got very good, but we always enjoyed practicing.
I found these pictures from a year ago that we never posted. They were taken as part of Liz’s senior portrait session. She was on the tennis team at Taylorsville High School. Over the summer after senior year she started dating her now fiance! We took their engagement portraits a couple of weeks ago (they’ll be posted soon) and in a couple more weeks we’ll be shooting her bridals.
The constant headache that follows me around every day.
The fact that I have to tell Rob “I actually did clean today” because by the time he gets home everything is a mess again. I remember my mom complaining about this when I was young.
We’re too busy to go on a day trip I have planned.
Every morning until about noon I get lightheaded and dizzy every time I stand up. The blood rushes to my head like I just got spun around in a bucket.
I can NEVER find a pen. I remember my mom always complaining about this, too.
I don’t sleep very well, especially while pregnant. This makes me…
CONSTANTLY tired. Even more annoying when I have some free time but am too tired to do anything fun.
The tray extender on the printer always gets pushed in so whenever I print something, it falls to the floor. Extra points when the document is 20 pages.
Kids sitting on or pushing their elbows into my belly.
When I think I’m going to have some quiet time when Nate goes outside to play but then Madeleine wakes up and wants to go outside, too.
Forgetting to defrost/rise/prep dinner before 5:30pm.
Smelling whatever is in Nate’s toilet that he forgot to flush.
No new episodes of my favorite shows.
Reading back on past posts, I’ve noticed that most of my “annoyance” posts occur when I’m pregnant. Coincidence, I’m sure.
I just want to say that I’m really grateful for my Julie. I’ve been studying like crazy the last few weeks for my licensing exam and have been pretty non-existent at night after the kids go to sleep. I finally took the exam yesterday (Friday) and feel really good about my performance. A load of stress off my shoulders (Even if it will be a few weeks before I find out if I passed). Ha! Anyway, Julie surprised me with some alone time today to do some photography in an awesome location. It was exactly what I needed. More to come on the photos I took! Julie, you are wonderful! THANK YOU!
Rob and I have been musing a move for some time now. We always planned on moving after 4 years and time has gone by so fast! With the thought in the back of our minds for the last few months, we’ve just been waiting for it to feel right. Well, now it feels right.
Our time has come to leave our great community, our simply fantastic ward and friends, and our nice little neighborhood. We’ve truly loved every minute here, but with Rob’s commute to Murray and the housing market the way it is currently, we feel it’s best to move to another area and into a bigger home.
We are planning on putting our home officially on the market in a couple of weeks (after painting and installing new flooring) but wanted to give friends and friends-of-friends and friends-of-friends-of-friends an opportunity to grab this place before it’s up for the masses. So spread the word to anyone looking for a great layout with updated decor in a small, friendly, quiet, clean townhome community.
Stats:
$149,900 Layton, UT 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath 1400 sq. ft 1-car garage Small flowerbed/garden Mature landscaping in front and back yards Updated: Tile floor and shower surround in master bathroom, all lighting fixtures Soon to be updated: All flooring and paint Swimming pool Clubhouse (Great for family and friend get-togethers)
Here’s an unofficial picture of the area but we want to wait to do more pictures until after we’ve done our updates.
So spread the word!!
Conversely, we are looking to buy a home in the South Jordan/Riverton area so if you hear of anything come up, let us know! We’re also soliciting advice, suggestions, referrals, and anything else to help us through this craziness!
These two shots of the kids are some of my favorites from the last year. There’s just something about the lighting and the treatment that shows a mysterious calm about them. They’re not smiling or showing any emotion, really. It’s just them. Simple and pure.
It’s important to blog about this member of our family. Well, past member. This is bear. Madeleine slept with it and sucked on its arm for over a year. It just got too nasty to hold on to anymore. We had to let it go free but not without getting a portrait first.
Since bear left, Madeleine has adopted a new friend named Cow. It’s really a sheep, but it looks like a cow to her. And aren’t you impressed by her creativity in naming her little friends?? Luckily, she doesn’t suck on Cow so it’s a keeper.
Well, technically we only camped 1 out of the 3 nights we had planned, but that’s okay. Valley of Fire State Park is a GREAT and beautiful area between Mesquite and Las Vegas. I (Julie) was sick of the cold and we had to go that far south in order to get some decent weather.
We stopped at Cove Fort for lunch (covered in snow) and then stopped at a friend’s house in St. George to let the kids play for a while and then by the time we got to Valley of Fire, the 2 campgrounds were full. Pretty strange since I’d been there multiple times before and had never even seen anyone else in the park.
We played in the sand for a while before we drove to Las Vegas (our last time EVER) and stayed at the Stratosphere. As soon as we walked out of the parking garage Nate looked up and saw the tower and exclaimed, “Hey!! This is the world’s highest roller coaster!!” I guess he saw a show about that…pretty funny that he remembered and recognized it. I think it really made his night as he kept saying it over and over!
The kids were pretty mesmerized by the lights, sounds, and “games". I had to keep quite the hold on them. This is the first time we’ve had Madeleine share a bed and after a while, success!! Good to know we can all fall asleep in the same hotel room together. Of course, that means Rob and I have to go to bed really early, but with me being pregnant that wasn’t a problem at all!
The next morning, we grabbed some pastries from the Paris before heading back to the park and grabbing a great campsite. After setting up camp we spent the rest of the day exploring, climbing, running, and playing. We all had so much fun! Can you even imagine how perfect this place is for a little boy and his dad?? They were seriously happy.
That evening the wind and cold really kicked up. I was hesitant to camp, but we did. I’m not a deep sleeper at all, especially while pregnant, but Madeleine and I had to share a sleeping bag in order to keep her warm. It was not fun at all. Between the rolling, kicking, occasional crying, not being able to move, the wind whipping up the tent like crazy, and the drunks singing as loudly as they could (and it echoing off all the rocks), you could say I didn’t get much sleep.
The next day was beautiful but after playing until late afternoon, everyone was exhausted. We decided to drive to St. George and stay in another hotel. We’d get some rest and it’d make the drive home the next day shorter. We showered, ordered pizza, watched a movie, and all fell soundly asleep.
Our drive home included a stop at Kolob Canyons but it was covered in snow so we weren’t able to leave the parking lot. That was a bummer. But the rest of the drive home was great. Our kids are such good travelers!! Yay!!
We have quite a few landscape pictures, but who knows when we’ll ever get to editing/posting those. But here’s a short video of our campground (see it here in hi-def) and if you’re interested in more family shots, they are here.
Above is a petroglyph (one of hundreds in the park). I thought it described our family perfectly :)
