happy birthday, chad

march sure is a big month for birthdays in the sellers family. my brother chad turned the big 1-9 on friday. his mission papers are in so he's just waiting for a big envelope to come in the mail.

thanks for constantly cracking me up, chad. i'm so excited for all that you will learn and do on your mission. you will grow so much and i can't wait to hear all about it. love you!

lds church goes youtube

a couple of weeks ago shane and i logged onto lds.org and were quite excited to see that the church is now hosting a youtube page with official "mormon messages" posted to balance out the misleading anti-mormon videos constantly drifting across the internet.

messages like this one from president hinckley are truly inspiring:

little indulgences

confession: "tummy rub oil" and other products from mama mio have become my little indulgences over the past several months. the oil and "tummy rub butter," are part of my daily routine. not only do the products have the most soothing smell (especially the oil), they really do appear to increase skin elasticity and have saved me from the dreaded belly itch. i'll definitely be turning to more of mam mio's products to aid my recovery after baby larsen arrives.

in fact, i've liked the products so much that i've already picked up a third to get me through the next several months -- after all, who doesn't need help defying gravity?

happy birthday, chels

i'm a little late in getting this up but i wanted to let chelsea know how grateful i am to have her as a sister. i didn't always show that gratitude growing up (we shared a room for years and definitely didn't always do the "sharing" part very well) but i sure am glad to have her in my life.

happy birthday, sis. wish you were still on the east coast so we could see each other more often.

nursery colors

shane and i finally found some "nursery colors" we agree upon. we were kind of feeling guilty for a while there because people kept asking and to be honest, we hadn't given it much thought. we rent an apartment so there's not much incentive to paint walls or really put together a nursery. sure, if we had our own place and were done with school we'd probably put a little more effort into things (who doesn't like to decorate a new room?) but for now, we're keeping things pretty simple.

anyway, we found some bedding items that felt a bit less hokey (is it just us or are items for little boys always built around some zoo/truck/train theme?) and would work for a girl if one ever comes along. pretty much the color spread is neutral like the rest of our place: chocolate brown/tan/creme and then some baby blue and sage green for accents. think they work?

cravings

i can't say that i've had the odd cravings you hear about with pregnancy (are they mostly a myth?) but i will say that when i decide something sounds good, it's hard to talk myself into something else.

one of my favorite treats is trader joe's roasted vegetable pizza with fresh avocado mashed on top. for better or for worse, my cousin, amy, introduced me to it a while back and now there are times when nothing else will satisfy. pair it with hot soup or carrot juice and i'm a happy camper. plus, no cheese means my tummy appreciates it too.

it really is delicious. shane won't touch carrot juice with a 10-ft. pole but i catch him stealing slices of the pizza every now and again -- all the while denying how tasty it really is.

my other weakness is definitely dark chocolate. nothing new there but it sure hits the spot at times -- especially when coupled with raw almonds. yum.

35 weeks and counting

last thursday we reached the 35-week mark so shane snapped quick picture at the end of what had been a long day, which is probably why i'm giving him a little attitude (love you, handsome!).

oh, baby!

my sweet female co-workers threw me a little baby shower this week during our lunch hour. more than a dozen of us made the trek to two quail, an eclectic victorian restaurant near capitol hill. it kind of felt like one big tea party. on our plates were these candy bars:

(underneath "oh, baby!" it says: the larsen baby -- 3.26.09)

we played a game while waiting for our food and then just relaxed and visited over a yummy meal. before we left they had me open gifts from the group. the biggest surprises: a pack 'n' play and a boppy (if you don't know what that is, don't worry, i didn't until a few months ago). to be honest, shane and i have considered forgoing a crib altogether since the pack 'n' play comes complete with a changing table, bassinet, and mat for sleeping -- he'll never know the difference, right? i mean, my first bed was a cardboard box so this would definitely be step up. ;)

(just what i need: more chocolate -- ha!)

the whole outing was such a treat. i really enjoy the ladies i work with and was so grateful and surprised by their generosity.

v-day

valentine's day was quite the event this year. shane showered me with lots of fun surprises, including breakfast at my favorite little diner and some gorgeous fuchsia-colored tulips. probably the best part of the weekend was the time spent performing sealings at the temple, something we haven't done since our own sealing.

early in the evening we went to see "coraline" in 3-D (fun movie but i would definitely warn parents taking children about a certain scene). ironically, the theater was so packed we had to sit separately. however, we made up for it with a romantic dinner at carrabba's italian grill. neither of us had ever been before and we were not disappointed -- great atmosphere, great food and great service (reminded us a bit of maggiano's but at half the price).

definitely a boy

folks have been asking so i wanted to be sure and confirm: yes, we are still expecting a baby boy next month. our initial ultrasound was a bit sketchy (the little guy was squirmy and uncooperative) and the technician told us she really wasn't 100% sure it was a boy and not to go out and buy a bunch of blue clothes just yet.

we thought we'd have to go on that until delivery day but our doctor requested a second ultrasound to double check a few things and this time it was very clear that a little boy will be joining us soon. it was nice to have that confirmed because we didn't want to be scarring a little girl for life with talks about "our son" and all. besides, now we don't have to go quite so neutral on the nursery gear.