Pregnancy Does a Number on Shanna

Okay, folks, here is the scoop! I am very pregnant and officially due on Saturday, October 13th. I am very ready to get this show on the road as soon as possible. All you mothers out there can understand the bloated and stretched feeling that I am living with daily. I am torn between the "Get this baby out!" and the "Wait,wait,wait! I am not ready for 2 kids!" feelings. Yes, I am experiencing a dichotomy of emotions. When I feel impatient to have my baby, the feeling only lasts until I realize that the status quo of life as I know and enjoy it will change FOREVER!! I think of how little sleep I will get, how my body will hurt in all sorts of ways and how unprepared I am for dealing with 2 children! I am then able to somehow be content with the present and just wait.

I can tell that I am an emotional mess right now. I heard a song on the radio yesterday that made me cry but my sister, Misti, sat dry-eyed through it all. She just laughed at me. Humph.

I have very little patience as was demonstrated Friday when our family all met at a restaurant for dinner. The only restaurant that would take a reservation for 12 people on a Friday night was a good mexican place called FIESTA BRAVA. I started off next to the kids table but couldn't handle the noise and rough housing. When I felt like laying my head on the table in frustration, Aaron moved to take my place and separated Jacen from his cousins. Thank you, Aaron.

All the kids are very good kids but when Chase, Ella and Jacen first get together they are so excited to see each other that things seem to get out of hand. Maybe next time we can let them meet and greet in the parking lot for 10 minutes before bringing them in to the restaurant. Matt and Kelly Austin came with their little Allie who is the same age as Jacen. The Austins are not blood related but we consider them FAMILY and always have.

Matt and Kelly Austin















Aaron and Jacen saw Misti's new baby, Mitchell,
for the first time at the restaurant. Here is a
picture of Papa enjoying Mitchell.




Misti and Ken humored me and posed for
a picture mid meal.








Ken and Aaron are great friends and get along better than normal brother-in-laws. Since they were at opposite ends of the table, Ken called Aaron on his cell so that they could chat some during dinner. It was pretty funny!


To finish off the group, here is a picture of Nana and me.







It turned out to be a great and enjoyable evening with 13 of us (that includes Mitchell.) The family really is growing!


Saturday Misti and I had pedicures (wow!) and Aaron and Ken went to Target World and shot some rounds with a .22 and two 9mm. Chase, Jacen and Ella got to play together a lot at Nana and Papa's house. Later Papa took Chase and Jacen to a church meeting with him and then to McDonald's for chocolate-dipped cones. Mom, Misti, Ella and I went shopping at Kohl's and then we all went to French Park for a picnic. Sorry, I don't have any pictures to include. Did I tell you enough about our weekend?!

Another sappy post by Shanna

I remember when Jacen was 12 months old and had the cutest, gummiest toothless grin. Aaron and I didn't think he could get any cuter. But now I look at his almost 3 year old toothy grin and can't help but think the same thing!

Look at the sunshine emanating from this little boy!!

On Romance... and Reality

One day 2 weeks ago Aaron surprised me by pulling out the ol' footbath and giving my feet a nice scrub and rub "just because". He went even further by putting the recent DVD Pride and Prejudice movie on and watching it with me! Yes, he watched the WHOLE thing! Needless to say I was in heaven.



For those of you who are not familiar with P & P, it is full of romance and makes young girls ache for their own Mr. Darcy character to come and romance them away! I, however, reflected on the reality of my own romancer and felt very blessed to have Aaron there with me. No fairy tales, just someone really amazing and funny by my side as we tackle life and make our adventures. I know this is pretty sappy but I had to say it!




Here are Aaron and Jacen soaking their feet together in that same footbath.

can't let Shanna have all the fun

I know I promised 2 more posts about China, and they are coming eventually. But I wanted to write about something different right now.

Warning: Explicit material below
Jacen is the funniest kid I know. He just makes the most random comments and will ramble on endlessly in that 2-year-old-learning-to-use-new-words way. Additionally, he is very curious and likes to know how things work and of course the inevitible, endless "why?" Well, for some time now he has been noticing his body and we have taught him that he has a penis. He has also noticed that Mommy is not like Daddy or Jacen. Shanna has told him that girls don't have a penis because that is the way God made them.

A few days ago out of the blue Jacen tells me, "Daddy has a penis and Jacen has a penis but mommy doesn't have a penis. Um, maybe we could buy mommy a penis at McDonald's." I could not stop laughing. What kind of response could I possibly make?

And that ladies and gentlemen concludes today's 'Anatomy lesson from a 2 year old'

Oops, I forgot this one!

Aren't they cute!?

Better Late Than Never- Taste of Blue Ash

Jacen and Mommy posed for a picture right before we headed to Taste of Blue Ash on Aug. 24th, 2007. I know that was 3 1/2 weeks ago but I wanted to post these pics even though they are late! We had such a good time together as a family.

Aaron tried these unusual kebobs that promised to be very yummy but weren't as good as the reviews said. We did a lot of eating that night so that we could truly get a TASTE of Blue Ash. I guess we really don't need an excuse to do our favorite pasttime of eating! Our favorite item of the evening was a chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick! Jacen loved it too and had it all over his face as you can see in the photo below. He thought it was an icecream! So, while none of these photographs are particularly flattering to any of us Olmsteds, I have included them so that we may always remember that fun evening together!

One thing that we learned from our night in Blue Ash was that Jacen needs to spend more time outside doing sportslike activities. During some of the free kiddie games we realized he didn't have a clue about how to swing a golf putter or a bat so we quickly bought a little teeball set. We have made it a point to get Jacen to the park more to teach him how to swing and catch/throw. We have a fantastic apartment but NO YARD and we must seek out green patches of grass where we may.

Here are a few pics of us at the park practicing our swing.

Good hit, Jacen!

Jacen shows us how it's done.

We spent most of our time following Jacen around this huge field. He carried his teeball set from place to place only pausing long enough to hit a ball or two. We thought we were teaching him how to play ball but he actually taught us that it is perfectly all right to play ball with no rules. It is so liberating to be able to hit the ball in any of the cardinal directions with no regard to where the other players are located, to feel no guilt at stealing "home plate" on a whim and carting it off to a new field of play, or to self-congratulate at regular intervals by saying "that was a good one!"

Overboard, I know!

Shanna again. So I AM going a little overboard with two posts in one day. But really, I'd better get some bloggin in before the baby comes. New baby Olmsted should come in less than 5 weeks (Oct. 13) and I think our world will be turned upside down again.

We are considering 2 names and would like to poll our loyal bloggees to get opinions about the following names:

Hayden Noah

Ian Noah

Any and all input is appreciated. Well, almost all. Don't tell us that you like neither 'cuz we don't want to start from scratch again. Two choices, that's it.

Next item of business: Our adorable Jacen! Just look at his DIRTY face from playing with his trucks in the dirt. His whole body was covered with dirt and he LOVED it!

These pictures were taken at a Labor Day picnic.

After I beat the plumes of dust out of his clothes and used 8 or 9 diaper wipes to clean his face, arms, and legs Jacen walked a tight rope tethered between two trees.

He seemed to enjoy the accomplishment and I was very proud. See the proud, pregnant mommy lady in the picture? That's me. Wow, I am really pooching out. Maybe I ate too much.

More Disco Fever Pictures

Too many pictures? Perhaps. But just look at these cool cats! Names can be matched up from the group picture on yesterday's post.

Shanna's back in charge

Howdy all! Shanna here. I have decided to help Aaron out by occasionally posting pics and news in his stead. I know many ( like myself) have been patiently waiting to hear about the rest of Aaron's trip to China. I feel, however, that the wait may never come to an end. I may be wrong but I doubt it.

So, I have moved on and am pleased to present to you pictures of our latest disco escapade. We hosted a HOW TO HOST A MURDER party that was called Saturday Night Cleaver. As you can see Aaron and I dressed up in our groovy duds. Appreciate the fine workmanship of Aaron's bell bottoms (wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) I am super pregnant in the photo and yet am able to pull off a young, hip and groovy look. Thank you Aaron for my platinum hairdo and white lipstick! It sure was a fun night with some of our friends!

L to R: Mike (Knight Feevah) and Alexis (Angina Palpatori) Harrington, Carolyn (Belle Badham) and Dan (Manny Baritone) Miller, Bryan (Vinny V. Divichi) and Beth (Chaka Moon) Wise, and Aaron (Brady Bunsch) and Shanna (Polly Esther Stuffincupp) Olmsted

Bei-Jinger

So on July 26th in the weeee hours of the morning Shanna drove me up to the Dayton airport and I boarded a flight that took me to Newark, New Jersey. After a layover of a few hours I boarded my flight to Beijing. I was on my way!! If any of you have ever flown over an ocean you know how ridiculously long and painful those flights can be. On our flight we actually flew over the North Pole, pretty cool that. If you haven't had the chance to take a 13-hour intercontinental flight then well, I highly recommend it!! Free movie and food! blech.
I arrived in Beijing with 3 other students and one of our professors in tow. We hung around the airport because two more flights with students were landing within the hour and we were all going to ride a bus to the hotel. An hour turned into two but we finally managed to find everyone and now we only needed to find the Chinese students that were supposed to pick us up. That eventually did happen and we headed to our bus. The first thing you notice when you step out of the airport is the MASSIVE amounts of pollution. The sky is gray as if overcast and you no matter where you look you cannot see any blue sky and you can barely see the sun. In fact the polution is so bad you can look directly at the sun without straining your eyes. I heard a rumor while there that exercising outside for one hour is equivilant to smoking 77 cigarettes. I have no proof to back that up but after living there for a week I tend to believe it.
While in Beijing we had Chinese language classes every morning (Ni hao). It was all VERY basic stuff and words and phrases that you would find in any travel guide but we had fun with it. After language class we had lectures from the Chinese professors that taught at our host university. We had classes on Chinese culture, history and economics. We then had a little free time for lunch and then a company tour or cultural tour in the afternoon. I won't bore you with details about the company tours but they were interesting.
We got to see the major tourist spots in and around Beijing including:

Tianamen Square and The Forbidden City

The Temple of Heaven

The Great Wall (notice how crowded it is)

If you think walking the Great Wall is a leisurely stroll think again. It was a workout!! STEEP steps and each step different in height and width because they were all hand made.

The Ming Tombs (as in Ming Vase Ming). That is money on the ground and on the tombs. It was like our wishing well, people would throw money for luck.

The Summer Palace

Now everyone knows that there is tons of piracy and counterfeiting in China. It is rampant. We went to two shopping areas in Beijing, Pearl Market and Silk Market, that had loads of counterfeit goods. Just about anything you wanted they had. Some were really good knockoffs and others were just pathetic. The big thing about shopping at either one of these two markets is the haggling. The sales people, and there are lots of them - all at their individual stalls/shops, are extremely pushy and aggressive.

The haggling is actually quite fun. I'm sure you know how it works--they start out at a ridiculously high number (because as we later discovered some people will actually pay it) and you respond with a low counter offer and eventually meet somewhere in the middle. Talking them down is hilarious. They act like you are stealing candy from a baby by getting them to lower the price. And they will not let you leave either. They grab your arm, backpack, purse, stand in front of you, whatever it takes. Some people really hated it but I got a huge kick out of it.



In fact five of us got suits made while we were there. They measured us one day and we picked up our suits 24 hours later. It fits pretty well too. I wore it to church yesterday. Left to right: Shop owner, Scott Neidhold, Matt Shambo, Kyle McCarthy, Marcel Kleiner, Me, our saleslady. In hindsight I wish I had gotten a shirt made as well but oh well.





Well, I think is enough for today. Beijing was a great time and despite the pollution I, we, really enjoyed it. You can see that there is a lot of activity as they prepare for the Olympics next summer. They have to get the polution under control before all those TV cameras roll in.

Tomorrow: Guangzhou on the Pearl River Delta

i'm baaack

Well, I have finally returned from China. I actually got back Tuesday morning but have been recovering from jet lag since. I was supposed to get back late Monday night but my flight from Newark to Dayton (near Cincinnati) was cancelled because of weather. So I got to stay in a lovely roach motel in New Jersey then fly out early the next morning. And jet lag has kicked my butt more this time than ever before. About 4pm I can feel it and I'm dragging by 8. I am waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning too. In fact it is 4:23 am right now.

China was incredible. I will post more details later but suffice it to say that I had a great time and learned a lot. I will wax cheesey for moment and say that I do feel like I only saw half of China because I didn't see it with Shanna. It is really important to me to hear her perspective and opinion so when seeing the sights that I did I felt like I was missing something.

I honestly did try to blog from China but apparently blogger is blocked in China. I tried in two different cities but with no success. Remember that China is still a communist country and has a lot of controls in place despite having open markets. There were certain portions of Wikipedia that were blocked as well. One of the girls on the trip was doing a project on human trafficking in China and most of the websites she tried to visit for information were also blocked. Gotta love censorship.

I've decided to include a few photos to wet your appetite then starting tomorrow I'll update once a day and go through my trip city by city, one city each day. I know I know that is more than you're used to from me so you might overdose but take 2 aspirin and I'm sure you'll be okay. Beijing tomorrow!!

This is not a rainy day-that is pollution. It was like that everyday the entire week.

On the Great Wall. Just jam packed with people

the end is near

Two weeks since my last post. I'm sure you (the 4 four people who read this) thought that I was slipping back into my old habits. Well, you were right. Actually I got extremely busy with school and just didn't have the energy. But now school is just about over, at least for little bit. Shanna's last day of work was today so that is certainly something worth celebrating. She is looking forward to being a housewife for the next few months.

I forgot to post about it but Jacen and I went on a father-and-son campout a couple of weeks ago with my brother-in-law Ken Moran and his son Chase. We went to Hocking Hills which is about 2 hours from Cincinnati. We almost didn't make it as there was some confusion on the directions and major communication problems later. My cell phone couldn't get a signal so I couldn't contact Ken. We finally found the place and hooked up with Ken at about 10:30 at night. Jacen was a trooper the whole time. He finally fell asleep in the front seat of the car while I set up the tent.

After I got the tent up and moved Jacen I started working on some dinner for Ken and I. I asked Ken if he wanted some hot dogs to hold him over while the steaks cooked and from my tent I hear Jacen yell, "Yeah! I want hot dogs." By the time I stopped laughing and made it over to the tent to check on him (about 90 seconds later) he was asleep again. Random. Ken and I had these MASSIVE rib eye steaks that we cooked on the campfire that were just absolutely fantastic. We also had some campfire beans and someone did a dutch oven peach cobbler that has convinced me I want to learn how to dutch.

The next day we had breakfast and sat around the morning campfire talking while all the boys ran around and played. Later we went "hiking" to some caves and a waterfall.

boy names

As you know we have been trying to figure out possible boy names for a couple of weeks now. When we found out our first child was going to be a boy we started tossing out names and when Jacen was suggested Shanna and I both chewed on it for about 2 minutes before knowing that was the right name. It just FELT right. After that we couldn't even come up with any new names. His name was Jacen and there wasn't really any reason to try and come up with something else.

Well, it isn't set in stone or anything but we have the same feeling about the name Hayden Noah for our 2nd boy. When I sit down and try to think of possible names the only thing that comes to mind is Hayden Noah. We considered Noah for a first name but I think it flows better as is. Let us know what you think. Oh, and don't tell Dan and Carolyn Miller. Not until the baby is born at least. :-)

Good News

Got notice in the past few days that I got grants for both Summer Quarter and for my Study Abroad to China. Although it won't pay for everything it certainly helps. I'll always take free money.

It's a boy!!!

Well, so much for hunches. We were just SO sure the baby was going to be a girl that we didn't even bother to think of boys' names. And as fate would have it, we went to the doctor today and got a sonogram (by we I mean Shanna--my role was purely supportive) of the baby and it is definitely a boy. We saw it before the technician could say anything it was that obvious. I'll scan the pictures in a few days and post them here.

And no we aren't disappointed. We are excited to have a baby and aren't at all bothered that it's a boy and not a girl.

In the meantime, any ideas for a name?

updated the movie list

just click it

It's nothing dangerous but I need everyone to click HERE. It is part of an online game I'm playing. It will open up another window that you can just close (or join the game if you are interested). thanks :-)

and just where do YOU fit in?

The World's Smallest Political Quiz

No surprise to anyone I am a conservative. An almost libertarian conservative but conservative none the less. Send me my neo-con-right-wing-conspiracy invitation now please.

Just so you're prepared

I am a HUGE movie buff. I just love watching movies, especially big summer blockbusters. The summer of 1999 I watched EVERY SINGLE movie that came out in wide-release. All of them. Including Inspecter Gadget and I have the scars to prove it.

And this summer is going to be one of the best. I can't remember a more movie packed summer and summer is always big. For those of you who aren't as enthusiastic as I am I have prepared a schedule for you for this summer. I will confess that there are some Romantic-Comedies thrown in--gotta keep the wife happy as well :-)

Hold Shift and left-click on the title and it will take you to the trailer.

May 4
Spider-Man 3


May 11
Blind Dating

The Ex


May 18
Shrek the Third


May 25
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End


June 1
Knocked Up


June 8
Ocean’s 13


June 15
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - UPDATED w/ new trailer (5/3/07)


June 22
Evan Almighty


June 27
Live Free or Die Hard


June 29
Ratatouille


July 4
Transformers


July 13
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


July 20
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

Hairspray


July 27
The Simpsons Movie


August 3
The Bourne Ultimatum


August 10
Rush Hour 3 - UPDATED w/ new trailer (5/3/07)

Stardust -ADDED (5/3/07)

Spend the rest of the summer rewatching your favorites!

Does this mean I lose my Firem'n Chit?

this past weekend we packed up the family and went camping. Just one night at a nearby car camping place called Miami White Water Forest. Great little place. We had a great time cooking our meals over the campfire, trying to teach Jacen how to roast hot dogs and marshmellows. Well, I won't go into the details of HOW but at one point Saturday morning my pant legs caught on fire. I don't have pictures of the burns on my legs (blisters but nothing too terrible) but this is a pic of my pant legs post blaze.

Now if you are finished laughing.....on to the good stuff.

we have a bean!!!

We went to the doctor on Wednesday and met Shanna's new OB and Shanna got a sonogram and we got to see our new baby. It is 1.7 cm long or about the size of a good sized kidney bean. Everything looks good so far.

We REALLY like our doctor. He is very laid back and extremely nice. He is alone in his practice and prefers it that way and you can tell he really loves his work. There are pictures of babies all over his office. Many of the photos are him holding the new baby and I swear he is smiling as much as the new parents. He made Shanna comfortable which is very important to me because I don't think she is real fond of doctors.

Anyway, we have the sonogram pictures but we don't have a scanner. I need to convince Shanna that we need one...you know, for YOUR sake.

updates

I think the title "Hypocritical Blogging" is very appropriate simply because I never really write anything.

A few updates--

1) please note the addition of the Twitter on the right hand side. Twitter is a very cool site that is basically a more personalized status indicator. Not status like "i'm cool and you're not" but rather status as in "away" or "busy" ala instant messenger. Of course I will probably update it as often as I update this blog.

2) I'm going to China. I applied, interviewed and was accepted to go to China as part of a study abroad program with the College of Business. I will be gone for 3 weeks starting the end of July into August.

3) Most importantly--Shanna is pregant!! She is about 7 weeks along and we are looking at a possible due date of October 13 (that's a Saturday for those of you who care). We are, of course, extremely excited. I have to admit that I'm a little concerned as well simply because when Shanna was pregnant with Jacen she was sick for 9 months. We are hoping that NOT moving to foreign country this time will make it easier on her. I think we are both hoping for a girl but naturally be happy with a healthy baby. We recognize that we are extremely blessed and can't wait to see what life will be like with two beautiful children. We will of course take name suggestions for either gender. On a similar note, my mother in law had a dream a few months ago (before Shanna was pregant) in which Shanna or her sister Misti was pregnant with twins. Misti is pregnant as well and for sure isn't having twins so I guess the onus is on us.

cobwebs pt 2

Because I don't know enough about publishing on my own website I had to break the photos into separate posts.

We were very fortunate to be able to spend Christmas in New York City. A few photos from that trip.

Christmas day in NYC just wore Jacen out

Misti and Shanna in Times Square

Rockefeller Center

Not a very flattering photo of us I admit but we were having a good time. This is at M&M World in Times Square

dusting off the cobwebs...

I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I've posted anything. I've wanted to, I've thought about, I've even started to on a few occasions. But in the end I haven't and that's all that really matters anyway isn't it. But you really aren't here for the excuses or my rants so I'll just get to the photos.

Late October we went apple picking at a HUGE apple orchard near Columbus. The kids had a great time and we STILL have some apples (and man are they good!)

L to R: Chase, Ella, and Jacen

Ella and Jacen

Funny Videos

It's funny video day on Hypocritical Blogging. I've wanted to post these for a while but have been too lazy. Now I'm not.

The first 3 videos are commericals for Deseret First Credit Union in Utah. If you aren't LDS then these probably aren't that funny to you.

Active

Wedding

RM - Far and away this is favorite of the 3

Coolest Whiteboard Ever

How Lord of the Rings SHOULD have ended - brilliant, just brilliant

Opinions

I wanted to share some quotes from Tuesday's Wall Street Journal editorial page. I think these are absolutely fantastic.

REGARDING THE FOLEY DRAMA:
"Some of those liberal now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert's head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. Are those Democratic critics of Mr. Hastert saying that they now have more sympathy for the Boy Scouts' decision to ban gay scoutmasters? Where's Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on that one?"

REGARDING THE PREPONDERANCE OF LIBERAL PROFESSORS IN UNIVERSITIES:
The author in this article is basically writing that although the vast majority of professors at major universities are liberal there is no reason for Republican parents to fear that their kids will get brainwashed and become left-wingers when they go to school. The study he quotes is from the University of Michigan's National Election Studies.
"First, people who go to college are more likely to vote Republican than those who don't go to college. Adults 25 and under from Republican homes are, for example, 11 percentage points more likely to vote Republican if they attended college than if they didn't. And young adults from Democratic households are 11 percentage points less likely to vote Democrat if they've gone to college than if not.
Second, nearly everybody grows more likely to vote Republican as they age--but especially college graduates. It is no shock that the vast majority of people of all educational backgrounds from Republican homes vote Republican by age 40. It may come as more of a surprise that 40-year-olds with Democratic parents are far less likely to vote Democrat if they've gone to college than if they haven't. In fact, while three-quarters of the uneducated group still vote Democrat, the odds are only about 50-50 that the college graduates vote this way. and they've not all become skeptical political indepenants: Fully a third are registered Republicans."

In other words -- uneducated people vote for the Democrats, educated people vote for the Republicans. Makes perfect sense to me.

REGARDING THE U.S. POPULATION:
According to the Census Bureau the U.S. population will reach 300 million in the next few weeks. The author states that it is a great time to be an American because we are living longer, healthier, wealthier lives.
"Yet, skeptics will ask: What about the inevitable headaches of crowded classrooms, highways and all the other problems associated with ore people sharing a finite land area? In the short term, more people can mean more congestion. But anyone who has bothered to look out the window of a plane on a trip from the West to the East Coast knows that America remains a vast, unpeopled land. Texas alone is so large that we could put every U.S. family of four in the state and give them two acres to call their own--and the rest of the country would be deserted."

Can you tell I just LOVE that last part. Of course that isn't a realistic option. Although Texans are the friendliest people on Earth we don't want Californians or New Yorkers moving in to screw things up.

New Bed

Several weeks ago we converted Jacen's baby bed into a toddler bed. It was something that Shanna and I had been talking about for a while but we weren't sure if he was ready for it (or us for that matter!)

Well, Jacen has made the switch just fine. The first few nights he would fall off the bed but it is only a couple of inches off the ground so he would just roll off and keep on sleeping. One night we went in and he was about 6 feet away from his bed sleeping soundly. We considered buying some kind of bumper or bed rail to keep him but we didn't like how they looked or how they would have fit on Jacen's bed. And we certainly didn't want to spend the money.

So we ended up just propping a couple of pillows up against his bed and that seems to have solved 99% of the problem. Anyway, the other night before going to bed I peeked in to check on him and this is what I saw.