A Peek at the Poulsens

One of the first things that everyone asks me when they find out my wife is pregnant is, “So is she craving pickles on her ice cream yet?” I, too, used to believe the stereotype that pregnant women always wake their husbands up at 3:00 AM with an insatiable appetite that will only be appeased if their husband brings them very large amounts of something that couldn’t possibly be purchased so early in the morning. This, however, has proven to be nothing but a myth. The only thing that my wife has truly craved during her pregnancy has been onion rings. But then again, she always craves onion rings—even when she’s not pregnant. Something that is not mythical, on the other hand, is the affect that hormones have on my wife’s emotions. The following is a typical conversation between my wife and me before bed: Jessie (in a voice that usually means she’s upset about something): “Honey, I don’t know what to do.” Me (in my most calming voice): “About what sweetie?” Jessie: “I d...

We didn't do any grilling or camping or visits to cemetaries or anything that was particularly Memorial Day-y, but Austin had work off so we spent the whole day going on a marathon of dates.  Our day started at 6:40 AM when Austin woke up to go play a pickup game of basketball at the church.  We had spent the night at Austin's parent's home to be on dog/house duty while they were on a mini-vacation.  I was in charge of letting Flicks (the dog) out that morning, so while he did his business I stood in a stupor in the living room waiting for him to come scratching at the door.  Then I looked down and realized the cookies that Austin and I had made and brought over were on the chair with crumbs everywhere and teeth marks in the bag - RUDE!  This dog that doesn't like me but who I was serving by letting him go to the bathroom had tried to sabotage our perfect, delicious cookies!  I salvaged what I could and cleaned up the mess, but Flicks got some intense scowl...

On our second date (ever) Austin told me he wanted 10 children. I did one of those typical movie moments: "hahahaha...*realized I'm the only one laughing*...oh, you weren't kidding."  I think I've successfully talked him down since then, but he is still holding out for at least six, hopefully eight (can you tell we like even numbers?)  Who knows what the Lord has in store for us, but I did the math and if we had six children I would be pregnant for 1680 days. That's four and a half YEARS . So I figured I would get nice and used to it, and record some of my favorite things about growing and carrying a baby. FEELING KICKS One night as we were falling asleep I suddenly felt a sort of fluttering in my abdomen.  I had been waiting to feel our baby's first kicks for a little while, but my belly was still so small that I didn't think it would come so soon.  I went really stiff to see if she would do it again, and sure enough I felt a tiny li...

                In regards to my wonderful wife’s earlier blog post, I would have to say that I, too, share the concern that no one in their right mind would want to read about my life and what few updates I actually have to blog about. I am, after all, a very boring person. I have basically the same schedule every day of my life: I wake up, I work, I try to find time to work out, and then I spend every possible second I can with my wife. Like I said, pretty boring…except for the part about spending every possible second with my wife J . No matter what we are doing, we always end up having a great time. Whether we’re snuggling on the couch watching a sappy chick flick or rolling around in sleeping bags on the floor playing “caterpillar,” we usually end up laughing until our sides hurt. One of our favorite activities : )              ...

A Worry I have How-Many-Posts-Did-I-Just-Read syndrome when it comes to blogs; I could stare at stories from young moms or photo shoots from weddings all day (and don't even get me started on baby pictures) - I open a blog and just keep on scrolling until I run out of "older posts" buttons to press.  However, until now I couldn't bring myself to write my own.  Who wants to read about a Mormon piano major soon-to-be mom living in Lincoln, Nebraska who watches Pride and Prejudice bi-weekly and thinks Birkenstocks match every outfit?  "Not I," said the little red hen.  So my worry is this: I finally sit down and make a blog, and then no one reads it; ever.  Embarrassing.  But then I thought about being able to show this to our future children, and being able to look back ourselves, and I thought that maybe there were friends and family scattered across the country who would be interested in s...