Ashley writes: That's right. For all of those who don't know, we are naming the baby Seth Asher Case... unless it comes out not looking at ALL like a Seth. Seth is Jason's middle name, and Asher is the male version of my first name, so he will essentially be named after both of us. :) I am 29 weeks along. Only 11 left! We couldn't be more excited for him to get here.
Lately he's been doing this thing where he sticks his head or bum (I can't tell which it is) out really far and you can feel a huge bump on one side of my tummy. My tummy then looks lopsided, which is pretty funny. I wanna know what in the world position he is in to make such a big lump in me. lol! Sometimes he'll stick out a foot or something and make a little bump, but usually it's a giganto-bump, so I don't think it's his itty bitty foot most of the time. He kicks as often as he is able it seems. I can't tell the difference between his punches and his kicks. Should I be able to? Maybe some of you moms can answer that one for me.
I babysat my newborn nephew a bit over these past couple of weeks and it got me all excited to have a newborn in the house and take care of him and all. My brother, Zach, and his wife, Holly, are adopting a newborn from my mentally handicapped cousin who is incapable of raising a newborn. This will be their 4th kid (3 of the 4 are adopted) and they are way excited. Unfortunately, the little tike was diagnosed with a blood infection when my aunt (my adopted cousin's step mom... yeah, it gets complicated) took him in for a circumcision and found out he had a fever. Aparently one of his valves between his kidney and his bladder didn't form right, so the urine travels backwards through his system for a little ways. It didn't get all the way to his brain, so that's good news. They can't operate on him, so he will be on antibiotics until he tests out okay. We don't know how long that will be, but it could be forever at worst. But because of all the complications, he couldn't be alone even for a moment for a very long time. We took shifts watching him at the hospital in Provo and at my aunt's house once he was released. It was pretty fun for me because I got to know the hospital and some of the staff pretty well and I am really impressed with their facility. It was fun to see the laboring mothers walking the halls and the anxious dads trying not to walk too fast and leave them behind. lol! It was also fun to be around the baby because it made me a little calmer about complications. That may sound strange, but things really turned out for my nephew and he will be okay, which more or less showed me that a problem is just that, and can be solved. I love modern technology!
Another reason the anticipation has increased over the past little while is because Jason and I are working on a nursery. It is slow going right now because I get heartburn really easily these days, but it is coming along and will hopefully be done soon enough. We started by ripping down the wallpaper in the only room that hasn't been re-done in the past little while in this house. (We are still living in my grandma's house, taking care of it for her since she is in the rest home.) We then washed all the walls and the ceiling. (The ceiling was gray from all the years my grandma smoked in the house... kinda gross, but gone now.) After that came filling the holes from nails and such and then sanding down the putty when it dried. Then we dusted off the walls from the sanding and started priming. So far we have only primed one wall, the closet, and the ceiling. We have three walls and a window sill left. Then we start painting. The ceiling, three walls, and closet are all going to be a light beige color. The other wall and window sill are going to be baby blue. We are going to do accents in brown and I will make the curtains on me fantastic new sewing machine. They will be dark blue with a row of big old buttons across the top. I don't have a pattern, so I will be making it up as I go along. (I've only seen them in a magazine; wish me luck!) All this will match the crib set we picked up. We have a crib and matching dresser/changing table also, and will assemble them once we have a place to put them. The nursery doesn't have a single monkey to go in it, which is unfortunate seeing as Jason really wanted it to. That is the only drawback of the whole project.
Jason thinks it would be fun if I made a prediction about Seth's personality based on his actions that I can feel. That way we can come back later and see how accurate I am. :) So here it goes...
I think Seth is going to be a snuggly little guy, but I think he's going to be way active too. He is just too active now to calm down once he's actually here I think. He's gonna crawl and walk late I fear, but only because Jason and I won't put him down enough for him to practice. lol! But I think once he is mobile, we won't be able to keep him still any longer. He'll have too much energy and too much curiosity to stay put. So there it is, my prediction. Whether I am right or wrong, this is going to be a funny blog to go back and read later.
Our photos are now online
Just so you know, you can now go to http://photos.jasoncase.com and see our photos. We have photos from when we were dating, from the wedding, the honeymoon, Florida, and others... Enjoy!
Basic Mormon Facts
I read this quote today and I thought it was a good small list of some basic things that I think many members and non-members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints don't know. I think one of the coolest ones is that we are the fourth largest Christian religions in America.
"Some facts [that] might [help others understand Latter-day Saints] include:
"Some facts [that] might [help others understand Latter-day Saints] include:
- "First, 'Mormon' is a nickname for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Members are often referred to as 'Mormons,' 'Latter day Saints,' or 'LDS.' The term 'Saint' means 'member.'
- "Second, the Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York with Joseph Smith as its first prophet and president. Today it is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with President Gordon B. Hinckley as the present prophet.
- "Third, there are now over 13 million members in 176 countries and territories. About 6 million of these are in the United States, making us the fourth largest Christian denomination in America. As one of the fastest growing Christian faiths in the world, we complete a new chapel every working day. Members pay a tithe, which is 10 percent of their income, making this and other programs possible.
- "Fourth, local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members. Both men and women serve in assigned leadership positions. "
- "Fifth, Mormons are well represented in politics and government. . . . Members also serve in high and trusted positions throughout the world in business, medicine, law, education, media, sports, and entertainment."
(M. Russell Ballard, "Faith, Family, Facts, and Fruits," Ensign, Nov. 2007, 25 26)
July 4th
So I have to say the 4th of July Weekend was awesome. Not only did I get a three day weekend but I got to spend it with my wife (Ashley) and her little sis (Alyssa). It was great. We acquired tickets for the stadium of fire for Alyssa's birthday and Christmas presents. She loves Miley Cyrus. Her mom drove her to Utah under the pretenses that she was just going to Bed Bath and Beyond in Utah and then decided to come visit Ashley and I. Al had no clue at all what was going on and just went with it.
After I got home Ash said, "I think we should let her in on the plans..." Al was like, what plans? Kathy (Ash and Al's mom) asked Alyssa to go get the stuff out of the trunk. Al came back with armfuls of clothing. She asked, "Why are all of my clothes in the trunk?" We all started laughing and I hung an envelope of sorts over her head. (Then proceeded to do some weird Rasmussen ritual that says, 'Heavy heavy hang over thy poor head. What would you do with a (you then hit then with the gift on the head) bonk on the head?' Weird... I know) She took the envelope and opened it. Ashley said this was her birthday and Christmas gift all in one. She started reading and was like, "Oh... Cool...". Then she went into what looked like a moment of deep thought... And then she squealed really loudly. :) She figured out that three tickets to the Stadium of Fire actually meant three tickets to see Miley Cyrus! She started flipping out. It was awesome.
Stadium of fire was great. Miley was ok but that's not why I wanted to go. I wanted to see Blue Man Group. I'll tell you what... I really want to go to concert that is just them. They were very entertaining. The opening show with the dancers was fun too. They had 1300 girls all dressed the same and they came out on half of the football field and lined up. They had all kinds of different sports equipment. They ended up acting out every summer olympic event in their routine. It was great. There were several parts where I was like, "sweet!" It was really fun. The unfurling of the flag and the paraschute jumpers were great. It was just all-together fun. I definitely feel like the money was well spent. If someone really cool comes next year, then I think Ash and I may try to go again. Maybe they'll bring Rascal Flatts or something. I'd definitely be at that.
So we had a great weekend going to Stadium of fire, playing games, and watching Lost. We taught Al how to play Settlers of Catan while getting her addicted to season one of Lost. We're all so into it. It's a great show! The only thing that would make it better is if they got rid of the random girls dressed in bikinis. I know I know... It's on an island so I should expect it, but it is still annoying since it has nothing to do with the plot. To say the least... We really like Lost so far.
Life is grand. The baby is growing very well, Ashley is great and I'm doing well also. We got all of the walls in the baby's room stripped and washed. We bought paint and are going to start painting soon. Yay!
After I got home Ash said, "I think we should let her in on the plans..." Al was like, what plans? Kathy (Ash and Al's mom) asked Alyssa to go get the stuff out of the trunk. Al came back with armfuls of clothing. She asked, "Why are all of my clothes in the trunk?" We all started laughing and I hung an envelope of sorts over her head. (Then proceeded to do some weird Rasmussen ritual that says, 'Heavy heavy hang over thy poor head. What would you do with a (you then hit then with the gift on the head) bonk on the head?' Weird... I know) She took the envelope and opened it. Ashley said this was her birthday and Christmas gift all in one. She started reading and was like, "Oh... Cool...". Then she went into what looked like a moment of deep thought... And then she squealed really loudly. :) She figured out that three tickets to the Stadium of Fire actually meant three tickets to see Miley Cyrus! She started flipping out. It was awesome.
Stadium of fire was great. Miley was ok but that's not why I wanted to go. I wanted to see Blue Man Group. I'll tell you what... I really want to go to concert that is just them. They were very entertaining. The opening show with the dancers was fun too. They had 1300 girls all dressed the same and they came out on half of the football field and lined up. They had all kinds of different sports equipment. They ended up acting out every summer olympic event in their routine. It was great. There were several parts where I was like, "sweet!" It was really fun. The unfurling of the flag and the paraschute jumpers were great. It was just all-together fun. I definitely feel like the money was well spent. If someone really cool comes next year, then I think Ash and I may try to go again. Maybe they'll bring Rascal Flatts or something. I'd definitely be at that.
So we had a great weekend going to Stadium of fire, playing games, and watching Lost. We taught Al how to play Settlers of Catan while getting her addicted to season one of Lost. We're all so into it. It's a great show! The only thing that would make it better is if they got rid of the random girls dressed in bikinis. I know I know... It's on an island so I should expect it, but it is still annoying since it has nothing to do with the plot. To say the least... We really like Lost so far.
Life is grand. The baby is growing very well, Ashley is great and I'm doing well also. We got all of the walls in the baby's room stripped and washed. We bought paint and are going to start painting soon. Yay!
