Reflections on 2010

Ok, so a lot of these thoughts will be about pregnancy and stuff, so just bear with me here..
--During pregnancy, I learned that my feet are very important tools and should not be taken for granted.
--The most perfect thing you can say to a pregnant woman is “You look great!”, no matter how far along she is. It neither implies she is big or small. I will always use this saying from now on.
--Graham is an awesome husband. No, he’s not perfect, but he treats me so well. Case in point: the night I went into labor, my feeling was that this was my last night before we had a baby, so we may as well enjoy it. He took me to Taco Bell on the way home from the doctor’s office and even left for Dairy Queen around 9 PM to pick me up a Blizzard. Was it good for my gestational diabetes? No.. But I had Carter the next day anyways, so it didn’t even matter!
--Stretch marks suck. That is all.
--I really like keeping a family journal. I started one a couple months after we got married, and I record all of the significant events in our marriage. It helps me remember some of the funny things that have happened, as well as the sentimental things. I had Graham record his experience with Carter’s baby blessing, so it was neat to have him relate his story.
--I wish I could do more geneology. We attended a random family reunion in September in Washington for our Icelandic branch of the family.. I am really interested in this side of the family, and so it was neat to meet all of these random people that I am distantly related to. I mean really, who has relatives from Iceland?
--Camping in the rain BLOWS. We planned a camping trip early in the summer, like mid-June, because our summer was packed with plans for baby showers and stuff. We chose the camping location.. a big lake and a nice campgrounds… but one of our friends chose the date… and they didn’t even end up going! So anyways, I was like 20-something weeks pregnant, and I was starting to get a belly… I made a deal with Graham that I would only camp while pregnant if it were nice outside. The whole trip was a bust. It started raining heavily that night, we used our AeroBed in our tiny tent and it got a small hole in it, we had drunk neighbors who stayed up past 3:30 AM (imagine me yelling in the middle of the night “would you shut up already?!”), and we left out all of our chairs in the rain.. so we couldn’t even sit by the meager fire our husbands spent hours trying to make. I BEGGED Graham to just let me go home.. I’d take the car and he could stay with our friends in the rain if he wanted. But apparently, the wives weren’t having it either, so we all left early afternoon. Talk about lame. Camping in the Northwest is never a sure deal though, so I guess I learned my lesson… No camping whatsoever!
--Thank goodness we have good health insurance. We racked up some big bills this year! I was shocked after seeing the anesthesiologist’s bill for my epidural--$2500—but I would’ve paid for that baby straight cash if I could.
--I will never take Priesthood blessings for granted ever again. I’ve seen and experienced miracles through blessings that I cannot deny.
--Again, my testimony of tithing was confirmed. When I calculated how much paid leave I had, it would only cover 7.5 weeks of my maternity leave. Magically, I received a full pay check for all 10 weeks. It’s like the story of the loaves and fishes… or maybe I just calculated something wrong. Either way.. we had enough money!

I learned a lot in 2010 about myself and the world around me. Being a mother has definitely taught me the most.. but I’ll save that for another blog entry.