December

December was a very busy month. Kyle finished another semester of school, so we are one step closer to graduation. Hurray! After a couple of stressful weeks trying to finish final projects, he finished mid-December. After that, Becca got to stay home and play with Daddy. She loved it.

My work was busy because we started our new fiscal year, finished our old fiscal year payout and tried to do everything before a holiday break. I spent my lunch breaks working on a gift that I wasn't able to finish. Fortunately, there are other times to give gifts, so I'm not too worried.

Our most anticipated event in December was our ultrasound. We had told our parents that our ultrasound wasn't until after Christmas. My mom was very disappointed and tried to get me to talk to my doctor. Since it was all a ruse, I tried to change topics pretty fast when that came up. We had our ultrasound on the 22nd. With my ultrasound with Becca, it hadn't even occurred to me that the ultrasound was for something other than discovering the gender. I hadn't even considered there might be some abnormality. I've heard enough horror stories since then that I was mostly anxious to find out that the baby was completely healthy as far as we could tell. Shortly after confirming this, the ultrasound technician got a picture that showed the gender. I'm not sure she was planning on revealing it so soon, but it was absolutely the perfect shot. Kyle saw it on the screen, pointed with open-mouthed amazement. The technician soon confirmed that we are having a boy. I think Kyle actually yelled in the room. He had the biggest smile. While he would have loved another little girl, he wanted a boy to ensure he has a Father & Sons buddy, a camping buddy, etc. I had been thinking I was having a boy for the last few weeks, so I was satisfied as well. We thought we had a name picked out, but every once in a while we wonder if that's really the right name, so we're kind of undecided for now. I would like to have a few possibilities and then we can decide once this precious little boy is born.

We went to California the day after the ultrasound. The drive down was not too bad and it was so nice to be in warmer weather. We spent Christmas there. We took videos of Christmas, but didn't actually take pictures. Oops. Becca loved being around so many relatives. She got very good at asking where everyone was. It was so nice not to have to worry about her. My parent's house is relatively Becca-proof, and there were enough people around that Becca was able to be very entertained. We relaxed a lot, went shopping, and played.

We planned to head out on the 30th, but we couldn't decide when we wanted to leave because there were snow storms forecasted almost the entire way. We finally settled on leaving mid-morning. Then we had a set-back. My knee had been bothering me for a week or two. I could bend it fine, but when I tried to straighten it again, I'd have to wait for it to pop back in place. It was painful, but not impossible. On the morning of the 30th, I knelt down and when I tried to stand back up, my knee never popped back into place. I couldn't put any weight on my leg. This completely slowed our departure. My mom was kind enough to postpone her plans and helped get our car loaded and get us on the road. I couldn't have done it without her.

The drive back was awful. We hit traffic immediately. I'm not entirely sure what caused the traffic, but it was bad. It took us six or seven hours to get to Vegas. After Vegas, traffic was a bit better, until we hit the snow on the roads in Cedar City. It wasn't snowing heavily, but the roads had a lot of built up snow and it was awful to drive behind, or be passed by, a semi-truck. We quickly learned to avoid that situation. We made it home in one piece during the wee small hours of the morning on the 31st. We had a lazy New Year's Eve day. I called a friend and borrowed crutches so I could at least be slightly independent. We spent New Year's Eve at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Salem. It was very laid-back and pleasant. We left 2010 with many pleasant memories, and some wonderful hopes for the future. I was a little worried about my knee, and of course, there are other worries, but overall, I think 2011 will be a wonderful year.