This time of year

This time of year is kind of sad when you live in a ward full of students. We are losing a few good friends this year, and I am going to miss them!!! But of course, we are happy for them to be moving onward and upward. And it is a nice reminder that someday we will be moving on, too :) There have been weeks, especially in the dead of this dreary MI winter, when it has felt like time is standing still and that residency will go on forever. But Spring brings evidence that people finish and go on with life, and we are starting to feel like we can say "We made it through 2nd year!" Hooray!

Rob gets to say "I told you so"

For the last few months, every time I look in the mirror and Rob is home, I whine to him about how awful my skin is. It is zitty, wrinkly, and bumpy. Just all around bad. I complain for the millionth time that he should have gone into Dermatology. And Rob tells me the problem is that I use too many products.

This is my usual "beauty" routine, which I don't think is that over the top:

• Morning: blackhead-clearing scrub, moisturizer with SPF
• Night: Make-up remover, anti-acne soap, anti-acne astringent, super duper wrinkle free night-time moisturizer, and some Clearasil on the worst spots

He goes on to (self-righteously?) epxlain that he only washes his face once a day with Dove soap, and that's what I should do too. And I roll my eyes.

So finally, mostly just to prove to him how very right I am, I agreed to try it for a week. I was sure I would look like this, and it would serve him right to have to look at me:

So, for one week my "beauty" routine has been this:

• Morning: moisturizer with SPF (and sometimes I splash my face with water first)
• Night: Dove soap and makeup remover

The week is over, and guess what? I think my face actually looks better. Not perfect, but better. Certainly not like Miss Stain-on-her-shirt there. I'm amazed! And I'm publicly admitting, yes Rob, you were right.

This is great--it's saving me time and money. But I'm not throwing out all my "products" yet, just in case :)

A real person

Grace drew her first picture of a person. It is classic!

The eyes didn't scan in very well, but they are there. And that lump under the head? A bottom. Now that Grace is doing pretty well at using the toilet, maybe we should stop talking about these things quite so much.

It's a.....

After this last preisthood session at conference, Rob came home and declared that we need to have 3 boys so that he can go to Preisthood with them. It looks like we are going to be a third of the way there :) We are thrilled! Little Bert gave us a pretty clear view, so it seems pretty certain. Wow! We also saw him yawn, wave, and stretch. He appears to have all his limbs, etc., but we will get the official report next week. It is still kind of hard to believe there is another person inside my belly. This made it seem much more real. Frankly, I am scared of little boys, having never spent more than a couple of hours with any of them. It's hard to imagine myself as a mom of a boy right now--I know nothing about sports, tractors, or any other boy stuff! But we were kind of hoping for a boy (thinking ahead to the teenage years...) so we are excited!

Now that we know the gender and have some pictures, we decided to tell Grace that there is a baby in my tummy. I was nervous that she would be all confused, but she was very excited! She made her adorable excited/surprised face, with her eyes and mouth wide open. Then when we told her she could talk to the baby in there, she loved it. She started peering into my belly button and said she could see him in there. Now she can't wait for him to pop out! She keeps asking when he's coming. She talks to my stomach all the time now, and it even gets some kisses. It is the sweetest thing ever.