First Flights and House Hunting

Well, world, we made it to New York! Matthew is doing great at his new job and I am loving having him home around 4PM every day.

We flew here on December 29th, so--if you're curious, Anthon was 6 weeks old in them. Everyone we talked to in the airport was convinced he had to be two or three months old. The flight over was super easy, thanks to our angel baby. We made sure to nurse during take-offs and landings so his ears didn't pop, and he slept the rest of the way. I mean--the entire rest of the way. Everyone complimented us on how awesome he was. The credit went to the right place, since we had worked so hard to teach him proper plane etiquette. Oh, wait. . . .  :)

That boy is an angel all on his very own. In case you didn't see them on facebook or Instagram, here are a few pictures from our trek over. We had an hour layover in Chicago.

Out cold while Matthew held him for me to get situated

What he looked like most of the time, snuggled up with me :)

The view as we were landing

The first thing we saw as we were driving out from the airport was the Albany Hockey Facility. Yep--we're not in Kansas anymore!  

Matthew's company has put us up in temporary housing for our first little bit here. We had a week of being in New York to house hunt before Matthew started work, which was really nice. By house hunt, I mean apartment hunt--but it doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely. 

Here's a picture of our little mister pre-house hunt

Couldn't you just EAT him up??

and....after

hehehe. He was sure tuckered out after a long day of in and out of the car to look at apartments. We ended up (not on our first day of looking, naturally), finding an apartment we love. Matthew and Anthon both win patience awards, since it took three walk-throughs/return visits and one extra return visit for "us" to finally decide on one. They are too good to me :) And...it's all worth it in the end, because we have an awesome apartment!

New York has been good to us since then. Matthew has been adjusting well to his job, and the little Mister and I hang out together at home during the day. It is SUCH a nice change to have Matthew getting home in the early afternoons, especially after so long of him working late nights. I need to record a video of Anthon and Matthew's daily first post-work interaction; Anthon gets SO excited to see him and it is the cutest thing you will ever see. 

I have loved being home with Anthon and I just love being a mom. The first few weeks after he was born were exhausting, just with all of the adjusting and him being up so much at night. Now that he's a little older, we both get more sleep at night. I have loved 

• giving him baths
• sitting and talking to him
• learning to "read" his cries and learn how he communicates
• his big grins and his eyes lighting up as I talk to him
• talking back and forth as he gets more and more interactive
• getting up to be with him, even in the middle of the night

It's funny, actually. Sometimes he's awake and fussy--you work SO hard to help them go to sleep. But, once they are and stay asleep for awhile, you just miss them so much!!! Last night, he slept for 5 hours straight (yes--and he's done more. Again, angel baby), but, I found myself laying in bed wanting him to wake up just because I was missing him. Motherhood is so funny. I love it. 

This is one of my favorite outfits on him. This boy is all torso, like his mama.

Here's a picture I took on the day he "turned" 8 weeks old. I think this was his second to last day in  newborn sized clothing; as you can see, he has grown too big for them.. 

Crazy, right?? 

I've found that I rarely get a picture without a blurry bodypart; this boy likes to wiggle, kick, and just move all around :) 

Anthon's first day at church. haha, I just set him down for a second to pack the diaper bag up and I couldn't not take a picture after looking at him. We made it through first hour, and then spent the majority of church in the mother's room. Not because he was fussy, but hungry. Again, angel baby. 

We are healthy, happy, and loving life.

I have the best husband in the whole wide world and we have the best baby.

Delivery Day

Okay, Mommy Bloggers out there. Seriously? How you have time to blog is beyond me. For the first few weeks, I was lucky to get a shower and two square meals a day. Lucky for me, Matthew stopped working about the time we had baby; he did SO much (and still does, now that he's started working), but it was a huge help. How you mommy bloggers do it is beyond me. I have a feeling my already sparse updates are going to become even sparser.

Lucky for you, this is doubling as my journal entry about Anthon's birth, which is why this entry is happening at all. This fact is also unlucky for that same reason; it's going to be jam packed with details I doubt most of you will find worth your time. That's what the scroll button is for. Or, your ability to skim. I'll never know the difference :)

Our due date was November 16th. Here is a picture of me that day, just for kicks:

However, I hadn't even starting having contractions (or what I thought might have been contractions) until the day before that. Even then, I wasn't sure they were contractions. So, as of the 16th, I decided that baby was going to come in his own time, and that I might as well just wait for my water to break, rather than expecting something every day; that just makes time tick insanely slowly.

The morning of November 17th, I woke up mid-dream. In the dream, Matthew and I were at a store and I was trying on a red tank top. All of the sudden, I hunched over and said, "oh my gosh, I am having horrible cramps; we have to go home!" I woke up in our bed with the same cramps from the dream. That was at about 7AM. The cramps felt about the equivalent of what have typically accompany my periods so I still didn't know if they were contractions.

Those continued throughout the morning, but were fairly sporadic. And, to be honest, I couldn't really remember what the time stipulations were to go in to the hospital. They also varied in intensity, so I wasn't really sure how to count them. Either way, I didn't really think that was necessary. Despite this, I had told Matthew that I thought I was having contractions, so that was exciting. (Especially since, for the last month, we've been half expecting an excited phone call to his work that I'd gone into labor and for him to rush home, but we hadn't seen the slightest sign of labor...besides, well, being dilated to a four...haha)

9:30
My mister made me some toast and I went into the kitchen to eat it. As I stood in front of the toaster, I felt a tiny little "pop", release of pressure, and what COULD have been my water breaking. It wasn't anywhere near as like a full-sized water balloon popping as the movies make it seem. Actually, I wasn't sure at all if it HAD even broken. We'd heard tons of stories about people going to the hospital only to find they'd actually just wet themselves. . . .

Needless to say, I didn't want to be one of those people. So, I suggested we just go ahead and go to our doctors appointment instead (which was scheduled for 10). That being said, we put our hospital bag in the car, just in case we changed our mind. When we got in the car, we still weren't sure whether we were going to drive to the doctor or the hospital. I kept saying we should just go to the doctor, and Matthew kept asking if I was really sure, or if we should go to the hospital; it was clear he thought the latter would be better. But I still hadn't had what I'd heard about as contractions....so I remained unsure.

When it came time for the turn-off to our doctor's office, Matthew asked again. I responded that we might as well just go to the hospital.

10:00
We pull up to the hospital (Matthew was disappointed I wasn't having insane contractions, because he'd really been looking forward to some race-car like speed driving and maneuvering to get us to the hospital) Ha. Anywho, we pull up to the hospital to the building I had been told we needed to go. Just to be sure, I hopped out of the car to ask if we were in the right place. As luck would have it, we weren't. As I walked back to the car I had a MASSIVE "cramp"--yep--my first cahoonah of a contraction. I walk back to the car hunched over and about dying and sit in the passenger seat next to Matthew. He looks at me and jokingly says, "you sure you don't want to go back and just go to the doctor?"

Needless to say, it didn't take long for him to realize that this was NOT the time. ha, especially considering I used just those words to tell him so.

We drove around to the other building (the one we had originally needed) and Matthew dropped me off at the front doors so he could park the car.

10:10
We checked in where there is a desk of nurses. There was one nurse mid-conversation on the phone, and I will just tell you what that conversation consisted of:
Nurse: "Yeah, she pushes for one or two seconds and then just collapses in tears saying she can't do it"
Matthew looks at me, wondering if I had caught the conversation. I sigh and laugh, saying "Whelp this will be fun!"
We then here screaming and banging on walls in one of the hospital rooms nearby.

I smile at one of the other nurses and tell her,"I'm just going to tell myself we're right next to the psych ward. Is that alright?"

10:20
At this point, we've checked in and I've changed into an extremely flattering hospital gown. The nurse does a little stick test thing and informs us, that it is, in fact, amniotic fluid and that they're clear to take us back to a room!

I would say things started to feel real...but, then again, it's almost like it wasn't real until we were leaving the hospital. . .

10:40
They wheel me to the hospital room we'll be in and put me in another bed. The nurse says that the anesthesiologist will be going into surgery at 12:30 and asks if I want the epidural before then. At this point, I still hadn't had another big cahoonah contraction. Also, she had just finished saying how having an epidural too early can be harmful to the baby. What does she think I'm going to say after that? "Um. Yes please! I'd love to harm my baby; I'm not having contractions but...send doctor man in!"? haha. I told her I would wait.

She then proceeded to misplace my IV twice. The second stab was still not producing any blood for a blood test, so she thought it would help to move the needle back and forth repeatedly.

Now, keep in mind, I've been on accutane, which involved monthly blood draws; I have no beef with needles. But, Matthew looked at me from the end of the bed and saw tears in my eyes. He asked (via mouthing words and motions) if I wanted him to get another nurse. I can't read lips when I'm focused and in a happy place, let alone when I'm getting jabbed with a needle. I figured that was what he was asking, but still wasn't sure what to say. I finally just said yes, and Matthew took to the hallway.

My husband is a saint.

The head nurse said they would reassign someone else. I couldn't have been more relieved. I know for a fact that I would have had unhappy thoughts everytime that first nurse walked into the room if she were going to be the one with us throughout the whole process.

10:50-1:30
The new nurse (who I loved, already, after talking with her for five seconds), told me they would put me on pitocin, just to help move things along.  The next two hours involved me redefining what I called a "big cahoonah contraction".  It also involved me establishing absolutely no understanding WHATSOEVER of why anyone would choose to have labor without an epidural.

The cramps came every ten minutes for awhile, and then about every 3-5 minutes. During this time, Matthew tried to hold my hand and be as helpful as possible. Why everyone says squeezing someone's hand is so helpful, I don't really get. For me, it wasn't. If anything, I wanted him to squeeze mine when a contraction hit. But, more than that, I wanted to get out of bed. Each time one would hit, I would sit up on the opposite side of the bed and either stay seated, or get up and walk to the bathroom. This got harder to do the more cords I got hooked up to, and the stronger the contractions got. However, sitting and standing gave me the feeling that I had some control over SOMETHING, which was nice.

After about an hour of this, I told Matthew thank you, but that there really wasn't much he could do. So, he turned on the TV and asked what I wanted to watch. I was a slightlyyyy distracted and told him he could watch whatever. He chose ESPN. He continued to ask me how I was doing everytime a contraction hit.

I've got to hand it to husbands, it has got to be really hard seeing your one and only in such pain and not being able to do anything about it.

1:30
I asked the nurse if we had passed the point where an epidural was harmful to the baby. She looked at me and said, surprised: "oh, yeah! You can have an epidural whenever you want" (***insert confused, angry thoughts towards first nurse). I smiled and told her, "um. Yes. That would be lovely." You want one now? "Yes, yes mam I do" :)

Epidurals really are no big deal. You feel the needle that goes into numb the area, but that's all. I've heard it would really freak me out to see an epidural administered; this, my friends, is why I chose never to watch. I had my epidural administered in blissful ignorance :) I have no regrets.

2:00-6:30 (I would break up the times more...but it's kind of a blur)
Pause to tell you about a little machine that was next to my hospital bed. It told us how far apart and how strong my contractions were.

I watched that machine for 2 1/2 hours of contractions--the line spiking everytime I had a particularly big contraction.

Let me tell you, there was nothing more magical than seeing that line spike after my epidural, and not feeling a dang thing. I tell you, I got a kick out of it. I actually would laugh every few and mention to Matthew how wonderful epidurals are.

These hours consisted of contractions, (which I felt little of), movies, and Matthew leaving to grab food for himself. The only movie I remember watching is Confessions of a Shopoholic; ha, Matthew had brought back a slew of movies from the nurses desk and was, I'm sure, thrilled with my choice ;)

I wasn't allowed to eat after being admitted to the hospital, so I had ice chips and ice slushies. The ice slushies came in two colors--green and blue. This means tons of patients get a blue, frozen, creepy dead looking lip look to them. Some hospital flavor chooser must have quite a sense of humor.

6:30 or 7
Based on my contractions, the nurse said it was likely our mister baby was turned backwards, so she had me turn from my right side to left in thirty minute intervals to try to help him turn.

7:30
Our doctor, whom we LOVE showed up. Matthew went to get himself some dinner and was told he'd have plenty of time.

8:00
Matthew came back, only to find that we were just about ready to start pushing. He finished eating, and the fun began.

I say fun, not in a sarcastic way, but in a, "my doctor, nurse, and husband quoted rat race and cracked jokes with me" kind of way. haha. It, honestly, was tons of fun. Our doctor found out that the room next door was at a similar stage of labor and determined we have a race with them. So, whenever the nurse from the next room would come in, he would ask where we stood. In the end, we won :)

At one point, Doctor Empey told me that, a lot of the time, women give their best pushes when they're angry. So, he told me to get angry. ha, I just looked at him and said, "but...I'm not angry..."

Labor was fun. That sounds weird. But, it's thanks to modern medicine and some really fun people in the delivery room. (Choose your husbands wisely, people) Oh, and your OBGYN, too :)

I had never taken birthing classes, which a lot of people said I was crazy for. But, pretty sure it turned out just great. They tell you everything you need to know, and you just got for it! It's interesting, because you use your whole body to push, but, with the epidural, can't feel a whole lot, at the same time.

You hear your husband telling you he can see baby's head, and your doctor and nurse (who, did I mention, I LOVED), with him, telling you how awesome you're doing and cheering you on.

Really, I loved it. They had me push in sets of three for ten seconds each. The first two sets worked better if I only went to about eight, and then the last I would usually go for twelve or thirteen seconds, knowing I could collapse back on the bed for a good minute or two before the next spout of pushes.

9:05
Anthon Glen Hutchinson was born! People talk about how spiritual experience it is when a baby is born. I'll never really be able to describe the feelings I had when they first handed me our baby boy. It was still surreal, that's for sure. But, suffice it to say there were tears. I'd sum it up as something like this: joy, awe, exhaustion, and disbelief. (I don't think disbelief is the right word...but I'm also not sure what is...)

Here are some pictures of his first few minutes of life:

 

And a few more from our stay in the hospital:

To this day, our little guy loves to sleep with his hands up by his face; he always had an arm up by his face in his ultrasounds as well. It's so fun to have reminders that this is the same little guy who spent 9 months inside/with me

Our little man has grown up a lot since that first week. We love him more and more every day. I cherish the day he joined our family and wouldn't trade it for the world. This picture was taken the day he came home with us from the hospital. It's one of my favorites.

East Coasters. . .

I think every young couple (and individual) has their struggles. Some with family, some with schooling, some with employment, some with finances, some with getting pregnant. That's not to say that many people aren't faced with more than one of these trials.

My mister and I both finished our degrees at BYU; he got a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and I in Recreation Management. We were married in December of last year, and our "young couple struggle" has been unemployment. Having decided to start a family early and on me staying home, meant this search was for Matthew, rather than myself. The first few months of marriage were filled with online applications, phone interviews, and then a few fly-outs for interviews. Some jobs felt really right, were just what we were looking for, and then didn't work out. Others were duds overall. Some sounded AMAZING and had incredible pay as part of their offers, but just didn't feel right. If you've ever been unemployed (and expecting a baby to boot), I'm sure you can imagine it's hard to say no to a job with no exact promise of another. Some people thought we were crazy. But, there's much to be said for prayer and personal revelation.

In May of this year, my mister flew out to upstate New York for an interview. Actually, when he was applying online back in February or March, I remember him asking me, as he sat behind his computer, "Would we ever live in Iowa? Pennsylvania? California? etc..." As you can imagine, the variety of places I said yes to increased with the amount of time we job searched for. I specifically remember him asking about upstate New York; I remember thinking "It's really cool up there...we probably wouldn't ever end up living there...but, sure...why not." And telling him to go ahead and apply.

I don't think I REALLY thought it through. And, as much as I did think it through...it was more for fun and "well, why not", than for actually having thought we'd end up moving there.

Well, that company contacted us and wanted to fly Matthew out for an interview. I think the person on the other line asked only two questions when he talked to Matthew. 1) Whether or not we'd be okay to wait for a security clearance to go through before starting work, and 2) If the GPA on his resume was actually his GPA. After hearing Matthew's responses, he told him they wanted to fly him out. Boom. Easy as that! What??

Matthew asked me about flying out. I think my mentality was, again, the "hm. why the heck not", rather than, "oh, wow. We could end up moving to New York if/when we get this job." Ha, again, for those who have experienced job searches, I think the idea is more just getting a job, rather than what and where.

Well, the time came for Matthew to fly out for his interview.

He.loved.it. 

The location, the company, the people, the job. His biggest concern was me, and whether or not I'd be okay moving there.

Meanwhile....in Utah...I started actually researching upstate New York, and the area we would be living. From the start of the research, I didn't think there was a real chance of me feeling good about moving there. But, the more I looked at it--the area, the people, reviews of people who had lived there, the weather--the more I loved it. And, really, just felt amazing about moving there. This being said, I didn't want to sway Matthew towards moving there if he didn't want to.

Matthew called me after his interview and I could tell from his voice that something was different about this one. I could tell it was right. We were both worried about not wanting to push moving there too much (for the other's sake), but both felt amazing about it.

I'll never forget how insanely happy he sounded on the phone; his voice was totally different than it had been talking about any other interview or company.

One of those times you can just feel the "click", you know?

Well, we got the job. And, we accepted it, feeling amazing about the decision. With our acceptance came the need to wait for a security clearance. This clearance could take anywhere from 2 to 6 months. Or, even more. But, we felt right about it.

We accepted the job in May, and got the clearance last week. We've been on Cloud 9 since.

The wait has been long. Has our first year been as I might have pictured it? Probably not. But, like I said, every couple has their struggles. Every couple also has their blessings, godsends, and answers to prayers. I've learned that patience pays off. I've also learned that Matthew is my rock.

One of the greatest blessings is knowing you've made a decision that God wants you to, even if haven't seen results yet or things aren't panning out like you thought they would. This waiting game has been a lot like that.

Hearing the clearance finally went through last week was like Christmas :) We couldn't be more excited about this next phase of our lives. The fact that this adventure is going to take place with an additional new best friend for us just makes it that much more more awesome.

That being said, I'm grateful for the time Matthew and I had this year. I'm grateful for our struggles, fun times, and so, so stinking grateful for that boy. 

My dearest "2nd Aunt" sent me a picture yesterday from her recent trip to upstate New York; Schenectady is the city where Matthew will be working. 

Oh, and here's a link to part of the Taylor Swift song that has been the soundtrack of our life this week. Yes, we've listened to it more times than I can count.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81doBkpkdJQ

Week 38

Whelp, considering the fact that today is the 5th, Matthew's prediction (the arrow to the 30th), was a little off. It did, however, sure make me smile to see it drawn on our whiteboard. 

About four weeks ago, we went into the doctor and he told us I was dilated to 2cm.  They were shocked that I hadn't been having a lot of contractions. (Actually, any, to be more specific). He and the nurses went on to tell us that we could really have the baby any day, and that their money was on an October baby. Naturally, this news came as a bit of a shock. I kind of freaked out, considering we still hadn't gone to Target for a big run of everything we didn't have for baby yet, including the carseat for our little guy to get home from the hospital in. I mean, we were under the impression we had five more weeks to prep. . . 

It was on that particular visit to the doctor that we asked about travel, in case our clearance went through in the next few weeks and we had the chance to go house hunting or such. He told us that, if Matthew were going to St. George--he'd say go for it; if I go into labor, they can just call him and he can be back in time for baby. He did say, however, that New York would be a little far of a trip for that. Ha--what he didn't realize was that we were actually asking about ME traveling. When Matthew clarified, Dr. Empey said something to the effect of, "Oh, heck no. She shouldn't be going anywhere."

Ha, our appointment ended with him saying something like this: "Well, obviously I can see you're not in labor right now, which is the only reason we can let you go home...but that's not to say you won't be in labor tomorrow..." 

As you can imagine, the following few days consisted of a record-setting Target run (complete with registering for things as we threw them in the cart, so we could use that handy-dandy 15% off card), moving things from one closet to another, and filling baby's closet with all of his things. We had also been apartment hunting for something in the Salt Lake Area, but decided on staying put for the time being; nothing felt right. And, although we would have loved to have our own space for baby and us, we just felt better about staying. 

I have to say, making that decision and setting up the basinet, closet, and baby things brought SUCH peace to me. It was just such a comfort to know that we were ready for baby. Which was good, because, apparently, he could come ANY day. 

Well, it's been approximately four weeks since that appointment. haha. I have since decided that, no matter how dilated, effaced, or "in-labor" like I may be, I'm not going to expect a baby really....until my water breaks and we head to the hospital. haha. Every week I get more and more dilated--but, you know, I think he's just taking his dear sweet time and my body is just prepping for him. 

I laugh whenever people say things like, "Are you just SO ready for him to be OUT?!" 

Um...no. I'm fairly certain that the second labor starts, this whole pregnancy thing is going to be looking PRETTY nice in comparison. It's likely that it's because I've had such a great pregnancy, but, at this point, I really don't understand people getting induced early or even hoping baby comes early.

It could also be due to fear or the next phase and the unknown. Don't get me wrong--I'm SO excited to be a mom and to meet our little guy...but, with birth comes the possibilities of health problems, complications with labor, and, to be honest, just the fear that maybe he will be born with disorders, disabilities, or any wealth of health problems. It's a scary thing that I think all moms, especially, have on their minds--though many don't talk about. I can't imagine how much I'm going to love our little man, health problems or not. But I can also just imagine the huge relief I will feel if/when they hand him to us for the first time and he is healthy. Either way, I can feel that this little one is exactly who Heavenly Father wants in our family; I know he's been waiting to join us for SO long--and we've been waiting for him. 

A funny little tidbit for you: 

One of my favorite ways to sit in the pews at church is the put a hymn book on my lap, and then to lean forward and put my elbows on the hymn book. Since being pregnant, I have developed a need to give my stomach a little more room. . . So, what was once one hymn book became two hymn books, and what once was two hymn books, became two hymn books and my scriptures....and has since then become two hymn books, my scriptures, and my journal. haha, things sure tend to get crowded. I do have to laugh every time it comes time to add another book to the stack. 

Anywho. . . the wait for baby continues, and, (as I said), I'm perfectly okay with that. 

It is funny though, every night we go to bed. . . .you know how sometimes you'll leave a shirt, or book out, planning to pick it up the next day? My thought now is always, "if I go into labor tonight and we have to leave, I don't want to come back to this room with our little man and have it cluttered!" haha. I even put my scriptures in their scripture case, rather than leaving it unzipped, or leaving my scriptures just placed next to the case. I should live my life like I could go into labor every day. Our room would stay spotless. 

Dr. Empey also referred us to a pediatrician that we LOVE; we met him on Monday. Another relief--check! We randomly stopped into his office to meet him and get a feel for him, and he proceeded to sit down with us for 20 minutes on things to be aware of both before and after childbirth with baby. He answered questions I hadn't even thought of, and more. He wasn't as eccentric or outgoing as Dr. Empey (who we LOVE), but more soft-spoken--which, really, is what I'd want for a pediatrician anyways. His name is Dr. Brasher. The only sad part about all these doctors we love is that we'll be leaving them (ideally) in only a few short months. 

OH! Great story for you. I realize this post has gotten forever long...but, bear with me. I had a dream Saturday night that Matthew had gone to the hospital and had the baby without me. He didn't go into labor or anything--but somehow, in the dream, he went to the hospital without me and came back with our baby. It was SO sad! Baby proceeded to sleep for three days straight, and woke up talking like a toddler and looking more like a one-year-old. I asked him if he had gotten lots of pictures at the hospital, seeing as he was CLEARLY past the newborn phase (which broke my heart--because I had missed it!) Luckily, he had. However, our little guy was not so little anymore. I hadn't gotten to breast-feed him (okay, TMI, probably....but it's one of those things you hear about as being a type of bonding-time for mothers and children), and he only took bottles now. 

Ha, you might laugh and think it's ridiculous--but it was traumatizing! I kept feeling sad all day long, despite the fact that I knew it was only a dream. I think one of my fears is our little boy growing up way too fast, since that has been a recurring theme in my dreams while pregnant. Talking at a day old, running around as a toddler after two days. . . .

I tried to find a picture to post next to this story. Here are two that definitely DON'T relate... hahaha

Well, at least I sure hope they don't relate/aren't accurate.  

Halloween, turned awesome.

So, I found myself in an empty house last night, thinking I would spend the evening writing bills and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with trick-or-treaters or with writing bills/budgeting while my husband is away at work for the evening...but, I won't say I was completely STOKED about my plans for Halloween as I drove home from dropping my hubby off at work. When, lo and behold, what do I find in the mailbox, but a Halloween card from my dearest, most incredibly wonderful neighbor, Cathy. She and Lin are our godsends. They, if you recall, are also the ones who basically stocked us with an entire wardrobe of baby clothes on our last visit to Colorado. They are far too good to us. 

Anywho, along with this card was $20. So, you know what I decided to do? I decided to make friends with my Pinterest account, make a trip to Walmart, make use of my godsend gift, and turn on some Halloween music while getting my craft on. The following resulted: 

It was SO fun. I ended up taking some of the goodies to Matthew and his co-workers, which was so fun. AND, to top off the night, my mister got off work at 8PM, as opposed to 10:30, which is when he was supposed to. So, we finished off the evening with some quality time, and then snuggled up on the couch watching a scary movie. 

Isn't it amazing how far one thoughtful act goes? That card and gift made my day, it really did! I am so grateful for thoughtful people like Cathy, for Pinterest, and for sudden resolves to make what might have been a lamer night...a better night :) Granted, that resolve was mostly inspired by her sweet surprise in the mail, rather than my awesome attitude....but, I sure am grateful! 

BABY!

Well world, another day, another deed. Actually, a few deeds. Today’s deeds included buying the majority of the remaining items on our registry and straightening out our room to make a place for baby. With our security clearance in the air and our living situation unclear, we had put this off (because, really, if we were to get it all set up, we’d just have to take it all down again before moving). However, at our most recent doctor’s appointment, I was dilated to a three and doctor man said travel is out.

Really, he did us a favor. New York, you’ll have to wait a little longer. (If we hear from you soon enough to make you wait…that is). Okay, ready for this?

BOOM.

If you didn’t just become insanely overcome with excitement for us, I want you to refresh your browser, start reading from the beginning of this post one more time, and—this time, when you see the picture of our soon-to-be BABY’S closet…well, yes—become insanely overcome with excitement. Choose to ignore the poor quality and lighting of the picture. Do it.

I can’t even tell you how happy it makes me to look at that thing. Oh, and that carseat you see sitting in front of it? Yes. There’s going to be a baby in there.

It is SO nice to finally know where we’ll be having our baby and to be able to set up for him. We are so grateful for all of the exciting things the Lord has blessed us with lately.  (Oh, AND for all of you wonderful people who gave us wonderful gifts to help fill that wonderful closet…by the way :)

We recently had the opportunity to have maternity pictures taken. For all of you who were wondering how to increase self-awareness during pregnancy, well, I would suggest taking pictures when you’re over 9 months pregnant. That’ll do it.

It might be because I’ve been good about exercising throughout pregnancy, or maybe just that the mirrors I look in are angled to make me feel smaller than I actually am, or even just because I’ve had such an awesome pregnancy and therefore haven’t really paid attention…

Whatever the reason, I am bigger than I thought I was...

What's great about this is:

A.  I have a husband who tells me I’m not as big as I look in the pictures (bless his heart)

B. I LOVE the pictures. They make me sooo happy, and

C. Thanks to this reality check, baby’s arrival feels closer and closer!

Here they are, for your viewing pleasure. I mostly
just included my favorites. Give all the credit to Alicia Marie Photography. She happens to be my amazing cousin who was in town recently.

This picture is by far my favorite. I just LOVE that I married someone as excited about starting our family as I am :)

I know what you're thinking...if ONLY we had spaced those letters evenly. . . 

I'm just loving them! :)

Happy day(s) with my mister...

Well, this week is two years since Matthew and I's first date, and one year since he proposed to me. 

For those of who who don't know it, here is our story :)

The first date

Senior year at BYU for me was an awesome one. I was blessed with two amazing roommates, one of whom invented something called "Bomb Dating" with me. Bomb dating is where you show up at someone's door, having a date planned, and ask them if they're ready. They usually respond by saying, "....uhh...for what?" To which, you happily respond, "for a date, with me. Right now :)" 

We usually had a fun date planned. Usually two phases, actually. If the first phase went well, we'd continue to the second half of the date. If it didn't seem to be working it, we might call it a night after the first activity (not having told our dates there indeed was, a second activity :) 

****Please note: there was not always a second phase planned. If you are a "bombee", if you will, reading this--don't think we cut you short just because there was only one activity :) 

Anywhoooo....There are two types of Bomb Dating. Classic Bomb dating (when you pick a random apartment where you know members of the opposite sex live), and Strategic Bombing. Strategic Bombing is when you have scoped out someone you think is cute and are interested in and bomb them. You may or may not have actually spoken to that person before. 

In Matthew's case, it was a strategic bomb. Chelsie, (my awesome roommate), played wingwoman for our double, (which, might I add, almost ended very differently when Matthew almost wasn't home for the bombing :) I had met Matthew at a church activity and spoken to him once thereafter. I thought he was super cute, fun, and a little eccentric. I was interested, but wasn't sure whether or not I was his type. 

Anywho...as it so happens....he had been wanting to ask me out on a date. And then, boom--we show up on his doorstep with our bomb invitation. 

Due to many eyes that I'm sure have started scanning by now...I'll sum up the date in short. We went to Nickel City (an arcade) and then to SubZero (an icecream place). The fact that he wouldn't let me pay for either were further reasons to like him. It was super fun. He fake proposed to me with the ring I bought with our tickets. I ignored the brilliant thought I had to take a picture that night. I mean, who would have thought we'd end up getting hitched? :)

Dating

Apparently, I'm a little (overly) cautious when it comes to dating. This resulted in some periods of figuring things out and taking steps back. But, overall, we just had fun together. You couldn't really dream up a boyfriend that treated me better than my mister did. Really, you couldn't. We loved doing things for each other, whether it was buying favorite foods, or more elaborate surprises. Matthew is just one of the most giving, thoughtful people that has ever walked the face of the planet.

I know, a seemingly random picture to the worldwide web. But I love it for many reasons.

This picture was taken after having figured things out and returned to moving forward after my few steps back. On an epic camping/hiking trip with some good friends, might I add :)

The Proposal

Whelp, Matthew knows that I love surprises, and that I didn't want to talk about plans for the wedding or, even getting engaged really, until I had a ring on my finger. So, that's what he strove for. He had a few accidental slip-ups that tipped me off to the fact that he was planning on proposing. That being said, I still wasn't sure he was going to propose until he pulled out the ring. 

Anywho....On the year anniversary of that very first bomb date (which, I probably wouldn't have known was the year anniversary on my own, I'll be honest; that was one of his slip ups), Matthew had a date planned for us. We went to Nickel City first--I got another ring to commemorate another year, and then we went up the canyon to go longboarding. It was both of our first times, and we LOVED it. We then walked to Bridal Falls, and then back to the car to get things to make a fire and cook the tin foil dinners Matthew had prepped. 

It was after we had eaten that he popped the question. This question popping included a "magic trick" that turned my newest Nickel City ring into the ring he proposed with :) Sweet things were spoken, I maybe teared up a little bit, and the car ride home was filled with excited phone calls to family members and friends.

There are more pictures...but, mostly, they are for my journal, and not for you, oh, dear sweet, endless amount of random people who may stumble upon my blog :) 

This Year

To commemorate two years since our first date and one since getting engaged, we returned to our beloved Nickel City yesterday,  got me yet another ring to add to my collection, and then went for a walk up the canyon where we had longboarded. We also made a stop at the campfire site where the deed was done. 

Who would have thought, two years ago, that that Nickel City visit would be done all over again by the two of us, splendiferously married and expecting our very first baby together. 

 

I love this husband of mine, and I love our story. 

We are also LOVING this bundle of joy in my belly. 

Who, might I add, may be making our little twosome a threesome sooner than expected, or at least so says our beloved Doctor Empey, who we visited today :)