A Peek at the Poulsens

I think it is just this stage in our lives but I feel like everyone and their dog is getting pregnant! And I'm totally okay with that. : ) It's too bad that our friends are mostly spread out across the country, but it is fun to keep track of those who are expecting too. Congratulations to all! Less than 8 weeks left folks! She's huge! Today we had the fun of playing with two happy, beautiful babies, Jameason and Emma Jean.  Emma is my best friend Lauren and Chris's 14-month old, and Lizz from work is Jameason's mommy.  (He's 6 months.) They are great! When Emma showed up she was post-car sleepy and kind of clingy and it was super adorable. She wouldn't let Lauren move her arm haha. Jameason LOVEDDD Austin - they are bros. Emma and Jameason were enthralled by eachother. (Then we started laughing and her feelings were hurt...sad but super cute.) His little feet - so cute! (That's our canopy on his car seat... he wouldn't fall ...

Don't be fooled. It isn't wasps. Although wasps  are awful, horrible, evil beings.  Who doesn't freak out when they see THIS in their face? Even at a distance they are nasty insects. And today, I let one in the house. Okay, I think I let one in.  Which is almost worse. And it's all the fault of the dumb water balloons (WBs).  I needed to get the cooler that we keep on our deck into the kitchen so I could put the filled WBs in there. The cooler lives on the side furthest from the sliding door, so I stepped out, checked for spiders, and snatched it.  As I was turning around to go back inside, I noticed a HUGE yellow and black venemous dangly-legged thing veering around right at the top of the open sliding door.  I did what anyone would do and let out a gutteral yell with wide eyes and flailing hands while I dove to get inside and whip around to slam the door.  Unfortunately, I made the classic mistake of losing sight of th...

Every summer our church puts on a program called Youth Conference that is exactly what it sounds like: a gathering of teenagers participating in meetings and projects and events for a few days with mass-produced food and far too few showers. From the moment you see the kids, you know which side they fall on: the I'm-here-because-Mom-made-me clan or the I-LOVE-CHURCH-AND-MEETING-NEW-PEOPLE-YAY! sector. There are no in-betweens.  I have to say, though, that our expectations (aka concerns) of this event were not always warranted - even though there were the inevitable productions and issues, the kids we met and worked with really impressed us and made our experience funny, sweet, and memorable. Our first task as Group Leaders was to plan get-to-know-you activities and make a team poster.  When Austin heard this he said with anxiety, "Do we have to? I hate those kinds of activities."  Let's be real: everyone does.  So we started off by watching this...

My mommy came to visit me on Wednesday! We had an awesome time laughing and making fun and catching up and being piles. ( Pile: the act of laying around, usually in some sort of stretchy/unattractive/unfitforpublic ensemble.)   We got pedicures first, a staple in our repertoire of activities, but we had never been anywhere in Lincoln.  The salon where we ended up looked good but turned out to be a little bit of a production - it was too busy for the three workers there, so they kept telling people to come back in half an hour.  The problem was, they'd forget that they had customers returning in 30 minutes so they would randomly let other walk-ins sit down and essentially take their place.  It was awkward when those people came back and had to wait even longer...yikes.  The other issue was the ladies would switch back and forth between us (who came in first) and these other women who they didn't really have time for, so we ended up w...

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...