Baby (and other) Updates

Well, I've received a few complaints the past couple of weeks that I haven't done a good job updating the blog, so I thought I'd throw a post together today. Jared and I are back in SLC and things are good so far. We are living in a townhome in Sandy, and we really love the location, it's close to everything! For those of you who are wondering (which is basically every single person that we talk to these days), Jared is liking his job here 100,000,000 etc. times better than Trek, so no need to worry about that anymore. He's currently working on a project for a big client that should take up most of his time until our baby comes in August. He's done some really cool stuff with it so far, and once the rebrand goes public, I'm sure he'll post some pictures on his website for people to see.

My days are pretty much up in the air most of the time. I work from home on a research project I started during graduate school and have continued doing the past few years. I only spend a couple hours on it each morning though. Other than that, I run errands, hang out with my sister and my friend Dana a couple times a week, make dinner, play piano etc. It's nice to not be working full-time right now, but I am getting a little stir crazy here. Luckily the pool in our complex opens next week, I will probably be found there most afternoons now :) 

That's us in a nutshell. I'm feeling good and baby is doing good too. He kicks quite a bit and lands the occasional one to my ribs, which doesn't feel so great, but other than that he has been pretty nice to me I guess.  Here are some pictures of the "baby tum," sorry if you've seen some of them already on instagram!

13 Weeks

17 Weeks

23 Weeks

26 Weeks

I saw this pregnancy question thingy and thought it would be fun to fill out since I like reading the ones my friends have done in the past. 

How did you find out you were pregnant?  I took a home pregnancy test.

What kind of Pregnancy test did you take?  I don't remember, maybe 1st Response or something.

How many?  I took two

What were your first symptoms?  I remember feeling a little queasy for a couple of nights in a row, but I waited until I was a few days late to take a test.

Who did you tell first?  Jared was there, and then after that it was a few friends in Wisconsin because we wanted to wait to tell our families in person.

Who was with you when you found out?  I got home kind of late from a girl's night but Jared was still awake and I needed to go to the bathroom, so I thought, "what the heck, might as well try it out and see," so it was just the two of us at our apartment. 

First reaction:  We were really excited and happy. I had it in the back of my mind that I was pregnant, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high, so when we saw the positive sign we were just happy. 

Was your baby planned?  Yep.

When was the baby conceived?  Um. . . I don't know for sure, but sometime around Thanksgiving.

How far were you when you found out?  I was probably around 5 weeks or so.

How did your parents react?  Both of our parents and families were really excited. We surprised them with the news over Christmas. 

Due Date:  August 20th, 2013

Do you know the sex?  A little boy

Any names?  We have a few in mind that we like, (Parker, Liam and Graham) but we probably won't make a decision until we see him, and our preferences could change before then anyway!

Any Ultrasounds?  We had one around 11 weeks and then 17 weeks to find out the gender. We also did the 20 week ultra sound and everything looked good, so we are grateful he is growing healthy and strong so far.

Have you heard the heart beat?  Yep, at every doctor's appointment.

Who do you think it will look like? I wouldn't have a clue, we both have brown hair and green eyes, so it would be fun if he had the same.  

Have you felt the baby move?  Every day. It was weird because I didn't know what it felt like at first, but then he sucker punched me pretty good a few times so then I knew what it was like. He now keeps up a constant flow of acrobatics in there.

Did you have morning sickness?  Honestly, not really. It was actually the worst when we were in Utah over Christmas for a couple of weeks, and even then, it wasn't too bad. I know, I'm lucky!

Have you had any cravings?  Not too many so far. Most random ones have been tuna fish (don't worry, I only eat it every once in a while, I'm not going to OD with the mercury), toaster strudel, and fries. Luckily, I've been able to eat and keep down pretty much anything, so my diet really hasn't changed that much with pregnancy. 

Have you had any mood swings?  I was wondering if this was going to happen to me, because I've never really had mood swings in the past, and luckily I haven't had anything too bad yet. I'm a pretty laid back person, so I'm just going with the flow, and I try not to get to anxious about all the changes that are coming (and expenses, that's where I can easily let myself get worked up). I could probably manage tears a little easier now then before given anything remotely sensitive. 

Are you a high risk pregnancy?  Nope.

Any complications?  Not so far, thank goodness.

Formula or Breastfeeding?  I don't have super strong opinions either way. I want to breastfeed, but I'm also not opposed to using formula if/when needed. 

Have you bought anything for the baby yet?  We got a ton of hand-me-down stuff from my sister, but we have bought a few little outfits and we are in the process of figuring out what kind of carseat, stroller, etc. we want. 

When did you start to show?  Well according to many friends and family members, I still don't look that pregnant. It really just depends on what I'm wearing and how I'm standing though. I look pregnant to myself, and I've noticed it more the past month, so I guess 22-23 weeks?

How long could you wear your regular clothes?  I'm still wearing regular shirts. I've tried on some maternity jeans and shorts and they are still way too big for me, so I just bought some jeans a size up the other day that I'm going to cut off and use as shorts for the next while. 

Will you keep the baby’s clothes?  Considering 90% of the clothes he wears will be thanks to my sister, we will probably give them back to her when he's grown out of them :)

Home or Hospital?  Hospital. 

Natural or Medicated birth?  I'm all for an epidural. 

Who will be in the delivery room with you?  Jared, and probably my mom and sister. 

Will you cry when you hold the baby for the first time?  Probably

What’s the first thing you might say to the baby?   I don't have a clue, I'll probably be talking more to Jared than the baby, but maybe something like "Hey there little man" or "I'm glad you can't kick my ribs anymore you little stinker!"

Will you let anyone video tape the birth?  My sister will probably be taking pictures, which is great. I haven't thought about taping anything though. 

Are you excited?  Yeah definitely. It's kind of hard to believe right now that we are actually going to have a baby, and if I think too long about it, I kind of get freaked out because I know everything will change. . . but for better or worse, this kid is coming!

Who will help you with the baby after the birth?  Well, I think my mom and mother-in-law will both come and stay with us for a bit. A bunch of our siblings live around us, so I'm sure we will have no shortage of visitors after that.

What is your favorite thing about being pregnant?  It's really cool being able to feel him move. I also enjoy the free back scratches that Jared so willing gives me before bed whenever I ask him (I used to have to trade for similar services before!)

What is the worst thing about being pregnant?  I really can't complain because I feel like I've had it pretty easy up to this point, but some of the downsides. . . sore back, bending over, nasal congestion, feeling hot and wearing garments (seriously, the. worst.) 

What’s one thing you miss doing since being pregnant?  Being able sleep through an entire night without having to get up multiple times to pee.

Any days you wish you were not pregnant?  Not really, but if our AC ever breaks, then I'll probably be cursing up a storm.

Are you ready for a baby?  We still have a few months to go, so the easy answer is no. I'm sure once we it gets closer we (and especially I) will feel ready and excited to meet him.

Do you have insurance?  Yes, even though we just found out yesterday that our monthly premium is going to triple starting next month. . . awesome, thanks Obama. 

How many kids do you want?  We’ll see how the first one goes, but probably 3-4.

Do you talk to the baby?  Eh, not really.  I'm constantly rubbing and touching my belly though. Maybe I'm just the only one who thinks talking to my stomach when I am home by myself is weird :)

Do you still feel attractive?  Tough question. I'm in that awkward stage where random people who don't know me (and even some friends who do) would never think I am pregnant, so I kind of just feel "bigger" not necessarily "pregnant." It is hard sometimes to see my body going through changes even though I know they are completely normal and healthy changes. When I get ready, I still feel cute and pretty, but I just don't really feel that pregnant yet from a looks basis, so I'm kind of blah about that question.

How far along are you now?  6 months

Well. . .

It's nice to have a talented husband who can 

create cool things like a baby announcement!

Jared and I found out right before Christmas that we are going to have a baby in August! We are excited and looking forward to the craziness that comes with parenthood. I'm about 12 weeks along and so far I've been feeling pretty good. We surprised our families with the news as their Christmas presents from us, and the reactions are pretty priceless haha!

My Family 

(my sister is a little crazy lol!)

Jared's Family

When we were in STG we got some family pictures taken before we told everybody. We came across this wall that some other couples must have used to take pregnancy pictures and everybody thought it would be funny if Jared and I took a picture like that as a joke. . . little did they know we really were expecting! Thanks to Wess and Melissa's little niece Lila for standing in as our prop in this picture!

Anyway, I'm sure there will be more details to share in the future, but we just wanted everybody to know our fun news!

Thanksgiving and 28th Birthday

We decided to spend head to Cleveland to spend Thanksgiving with my Oma this year. We had a really fun time! Oma is the best and took care of us all weekend, and it was fun for Jared to be able to meet some more of my family out there. We had a delicious turkey dinner on Thursday and then just hung out the rest of the weekend. We did a little Black Friday shopping with my cousins and then celebrated Jared's 28th birthday on Saturday. I told him on the way over that he was going to get the best birthday cake he's ever had, and I wasn't lying! My aunt and uncle own a bakery out there, and they seriously make the BEST cakes hands down, and Jared's was way good.

I don't want to get too mushy, but I'm lucky to be married to such a great guy! I hope you enjoyed your birthday, love you!

 Thanksgiving

On Friday night we went saw a show at a club with my aunts, uncles, 

my cousin Jess and her husband Mike, it was pretty interesting. . . 

A"Mardi Gras" theme and I'll leave it at that! :)

Jared's face in this picture cracks me up!

We went out for lunch on his birthday

Delicious cake!

When we got home we had a sweet package in the mail from 

our nieces and nephews, they are the best!

We decided to put the Christmas Tree up yesterday. 

New Year's "Resolutions" Revisited

Today has been an interesting day. President Obama got re-elected last night, and a lot of talk on social media has been about how much doom and gloom we can expect in the next four years. You'd seriously think it was the end of the world, which is a little dramatic if you ask me. I will admit that I voted for the other guy and I wasn't particularly happy to see that Obama won, but  all this pessimism me thinking today of the good things that Jared and I have that we can focus on. This got me thinking about this past year and how much has changed for us, so I decided to take a look at the New Year's "Resolutions" that I listed back in January and give updates about each one, which are listed in blue if you care to read any further :)

Things we will do. . . 

1. We will pay off our student loans, only 4 more months to go baby (We are so close. When I wrote this in January, I was only considering Jared loans, which we did pay off, but we still have a little ways to go with mine that kicked in after I finished Grad School.)
2. I will finish writing my thesis-of-doom and graduate with a Master's Degree! (Speaking of Grad School, I kicked the crap out of my thesis-of-doom and I officially graduated back in August.)
3. Jared will get a roof rack for the Subi. . . already has half of it now (Yeah he got the rest of the rack, I will admit that it looks pretty cool.)
4. We will pay off my car loan (Paid in full!) 
5. I will continue to make dinner most nights (Most is the key word here people, and I can say that I have done well to keep trying new recipes.) 
6. Jared will continue to go on lots of bike rides (This is the biggest understatement of the year.)
7. We will be moving up toward the SLC area, not sure where exactly, but somewhere north of Provo! (Bahaha, not so much, we are currently 2000 east of that destination.)
8. I will turn 25, the big quarter century year! (It's a perfect square year too, 5 x 5 = 25, there's really only 9 realistic perfect square years one could reach, so I thought it was a pretty cool, math geek here!)
9. Jared will turn 28 this year. . . nothing special about 28, other than it sounds old haha  (Yep, his b-day is Nov 24th and we will celebrate with some delicious cake from my Uncle's bakery.)
10. We will watch the rest of the second season of The Walking Dead (We finished watching the 2nd season and starting watching the 3rd season a few weeks ago. This past episode really pissed me off though, so I'm boycotting the rest of it!)
11. I will exercise only when I feel like it, which is not often haha! (Perfectly true statement here, I definitely have not exercised very often this year, although I did try out a Zumba class with a friend of mine, it's actually pretty fun!)
12. Jared will continue to curse the crappy Utah drivers on his commute to work. (Now he curses the crappy Wisconsin drivers. . . I don't think the location really makes a difference, everybody is a crappy driver in his eyes :) ha) 
13. We will be watching alot of basketball in the next four months and then alot of summer Olympics after that! (I watched the Olympics all day, every day. It was the best part of not having a real job over the summer!) 
14. I will continue to watch our budget like a hawk because I'm a little OCD when it comes to finances (Guilty, we just had a little budgeting pow wow last night before bed, it's amazing how fast you can blow through money if you aren't careful.)
15. Jared will design some sweet stuff at work and will likely pick up some free lance projects on the side (The verdict is still out on whether or not Trek will actually implement some of Jared's good designs. . . )
16. We will spend alot of evenings hanging out and relaxing together, we just aren't the most social people on the planet! (This is even more true now that we are living in Wisconsin)

Things we want to do. . .

1. We want to get some new couches, we are thinking a sectional (Haven't made this purchase yet, we are still making due with my parents 15 year old hand-me-down couches.)
2. I want to fly back to Cleveland sometime over the summer so that Jared can meet the rest of my extended family back there (One perk of living in Wisconsin is that we are close enough to drive to Cleveland. Jared has been able to meet alot of family back there, and he will get to meet even more when we go for Thanksgiving.)
3. Jared wants to get fog lights for the Subi (No luck there yet, it's further down the list now that he has access to discounted Trek merchandise) 
4. We want to see the Hunger Games movie (Good show)
5. I want to find a new apartment that is big enough to fit my piano (Done, just in a different state then originally planned when writing this list!) 
6. Jared wants to find a new apartment that is big enough for all of our biking and camping junk! (See above)
7. We want to go on a fun road trip somewhere with friends (Hmm. . . if we count each other as friends, road-tripped to Cleveland, and we plan to road trip to Lambeau Field this weekend haha)
8. I want to get a job as an adjunct professor at BYU teaching math (this is a freakin long shot but it would be cool!) (Well I did get offered that job at BYU, but we moved to Wisconsin, which still counts for something I'd say! At least I'm still working at the college level out here, much better fit for me than public school teaching)
9. Jared wants to get a job at REI Headquarters (another long shot, but this is a list of "wants" people!) (I'd say Trek is a pretty good deal for him)
10. We want to go to see a Jazz game when they play Jimmer's team (Never ended up getting tickets to watch the Jazz when they played Jimmer's team, not that it mattered because Jimmer is not a very good NBA player as of yet.)
11. I want to learn how to cook some good German food like schnitzel and spaetzle (I'm going to have my Oma teach me over Thanksgiving if there is time)
12. Jared wants to design a christmas card for us this year (I don't know if he really wants to, but I'm going to make him!) (Considering it's still just the two of us, I figured a legitimate Christmas card from us would really be underwhelming for friends and family. . .)
13. We want to do something cool for our anniversary this year as we've always been too busy with school and family stuff the past couple of years (Yes! We stayed at an awesome place in downtown Madison and spent a great weekend together, it was great!) 

And last but not least

14. I want to get pregnant. . . totally depends on where we are at toward the end of the year and what I feel like I should be doing with my career at that point in time, but we aren't gettin any younger folks and we want to start having kids sometime in the next couple of years. (Working on it, and that's all I will say about that)


 A lot has happened this past year and we still have almost two months to go! I would say it's been one of the best although bittersweet years of my life. Best because we've really been blessed with good jobs, a nice place to live etc. but also bittersweet because we are now so far away from our families. But overall, it has been a great year so far and I look forward to many more great years, regardless of who the dang President is!

Slacking

I guess I've officially joined the club of people who are slacking on their blogs. I'll try to be better for the sake of our family who probably reads this. . . but I'm not making any promises. The past couple of months have been busy, but good. My job is going well. I like teaching and my class is fun, which makes it easier to go to work everyday. The hour commute both ways gets tiring by the end of the week, but I really like my students and it's cool to see the progress that some of them have made. It's different teaching college freshman, makes for some pretty entertaining moments at times! I try to keep it light during class, their favorite thing to do is call me out whenever I spell something wrong on the board, which is about 3 times a day, no joke! Anyway it's going well and I'm lucky to be doing something that I love and that I am good at.

Jared's job is good. It's still been a struggle pushing new ideas in the creative department at Trek, but he's been making some progress which is encouraging. He had a business trip out to Vegas last month for a couple of days, and so he was able to spend some time with my family in STG. I'm jealous he got to visit without me, but he had a great time and I'm glad he was able to go! He decided to buy a bunch of winter riding gear so that he can keep riding to work even when it's cold. . . like 25 degrees outside, no thanks! 

We went back to Cleveland for my friend Addie's wedding a couple of weeks ago. I was pretty lame and didn't take any pictures, but it was great wedding and she was a beautiful bride. We stayed with my Oma and she was excited to cook for us :)  Jared hooked up her new blu-ray player and we coerced him into watching The Sound of Music with us. He'd always bagged that movie even though he'd never seen it before, and now he admits that it's actually good (or maybe I might be putting words in his mouth)! 

My parents came to visit this past weekend which was really nice. We saw some cool sights here around Madison and then we took my dad over to the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee yesterday. He was in heaven! It was actually a pretty sweet place to check out, even though I'm not way into motorcycles. Only down side now is that Jared is set on getting one in the future, we'll see about that. I am slightly obsessed with the show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" (a.k.a Triple D) that's on the Food Network and I got my parents hooked on it a few months ago. There is this little diner in Milwaukee that was on the show, so we decided to check it out after the museum. It was pretty good and my parents thought it was cool to hit up a Triple D joint! Anyway, it was really nice to have them visit us, even though it was too short and it makes me miss all the rest of our family even more now. 

We spent Labor Day in Milwaukee. We went to the Art Museum and to the 

top of a cool lighthouse among other activities.

I decided to chop off a few inches of hair last month

His winter riding gear

A couple of weeks ago, some of my friends ran and finished a marathon

on a morning of 15 mph wind, rain and sub 40 temperatures, they were amazing!

Out to lunch with Oma!

The Harley Museum

Some of the engines on display

Different paint schemes

Haha, the mini bike! Our nephews would love cruising

on this little thing!

Captain America Bike!

At the end of the tour, they had a bunch of motorcycles you could sit on

Haha, an early scooter version of a Harley!

I'd take this hot pink ride haha

On the old man trike bike :)

In your dreams baby

August

Well the summer is winding down out here, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It's a bad thing because I've really enjoyed having a relaxing summer to recover from my grad program, plus it's been nice having no obligations and being able to do whatever I want, when I want. It's a good thing because I'm ready for something new. I'm excited to start my job and to meet new students. I never thought I would admit this in a million years, but a bunch of friends have been talking about going back to school lately and it's really weird knowing that I'm not going back to BYU this semester, I might actually it miss it a little (other than the thesis writing, homework doing, finals studying etc.) Anyway, here's an update in pictures of this past month. 

Olympics. . . all day, everyday

I got my haircut again and the girl convinced me to grow out my bangs, something about longer "fringe" being better for my face shape, blah blah. I'm trying to decide what to do, they are kind of driving me crazy at the moment. This pic is on a great day, if my bangs looked like that everyday and stayed out of my eyes I'd be fine with it, but my hair skills are terrible, so I end up pulling them back 99% of the time. Okay I'm done with hair venting. . . 

We got "volunteered" to take the youth down to the Chicago Temple. I'd like to think it's because we are cool and the kids think we are awesome, but it's really because we are the only couple in our ward who don't have kids of our own! It was a fun trip though, we'd never been there before, so it was nice to get a chance to go.

Trek has a big trade show every year in Madison where they show off all of their new bikes. These are the spaces Jared designed for it. It's been a learning experience for Jared in how marketing and design functions from an organizational standpoint when working for a big company like Trek, but I think he was pretty happy with how this project turned out. He was able to push through more of his own ideas, and hopefully the higher ups are starting to realize he is capable of showcasing the brand effectively, and that he really knows what he's doing, even if he's only been out of school for a year.  

I've been hanging out with my friend Char and her kids quite a bit this summer, another perk of having so much free time. I told her I've adopted them as our nieces and nephews since ours are so far away. Her oldest son Tyler is obsessed with sports, my kind of kid. Jared and I played Bocce Ball with him and his little brother Jaden last week, and I went over and played basketball with him this week, good times! I found out that Jaden, is obsessed with all things Legos. I told him Jared has a box of old Legos (thank you Carolyn for forcing us to take those off your hands when we moved! haha) and that I'd take some over for him to play with. We have been BFFs ever since, and he affectionately calls me his "lego buddy" now haha. Then her youngest Kambree thinks I'm the greatest babysitter around because we make playdough, watercolor and do nail polish. Fun kids!

Jared was inspired by Jaden's Lego obsession one afternoon

We decided to brave the hoards of teenagers and go to the fair 

so I could get a funnel cake and corndog, definitely worth it!

Our nephew Cole had his birthday a few weeks ago, so Jared was able to hook his parents up with a good deal on a bike. This was the pic Heidi sent us, she said he was pretty excited about it! Jared is already corrupting the young minds, this will be our own kid in another ten years or so!

And this is an old random pic I found and posted it 1) because Jared is hot 

2) because it was taken in my friend Dana's neighborhood and I miss her and the twins!!

Overall, things out here are still good. Some days are better than others. Obviously we miss our family and friends and wish we didn't live so far away, but we are happy and just taking things day by day.