Christmas 2013

Our Christmas this year was different than we had planned, but it was wonderful. A year or so ago, we had planned to spend Christmas in Colorado with Jon's family. Once I found out I was pregnant and due a month after Christmas, we decided to spend Christmas more locally, but still travel a few hours. We finally made plans to go to Virginia to spend Christmas with Jon's brother Brian and his family. A month or more before, I got the ok from my midwife and we set up plans to go. Well, the Friday before Christmas, I asked the midwife again, just to be sure and she said no- basically they don't recommend traveling more than an hour away after 34 weeks. I was at 35 weeks at this point. She told me a horror story about a girl who had her water break and she was just over an hour away and had to deliver at a hospital where they had none of her information.

While the midwife told us this, I still said in my head we were going, I didn't really care what she said. After all, I went white water rafting during my second trimester- which was breaking all of the rules. Well Jon and I thought about it, talked about it, asked for advice, and prayed a lot. I started to feel really uneasy about going and felt as if we should stay home. We both had a hard time distinguishing the spirit from our own thoughts. Ultimately we both felt better about staying home. Neither one of us thought I would go into labor or have anything bad happen if we went, but just felt more at peace with staying home. I started to get pretty sore one of the days we were deciding- I think it helped us realize traveling might be a little harder than we thought.

So we stayed. I think this decision was more agonizing than any other we have made together. We cried and prayed a lot. I hated so much that Jon wouldn't be with his family. I told him he could go without me but he wouldn't. We made the decision 100 percent together and I feel like it strengthened us. It is so hard to follow the spirit, especially when the answer isn't what you want.

We had a wonderful Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went and saw Catching Fire and then went to our friend's home for food and reading of the Christmas story in Luke 2. Afterwards we went caroling with both sets of missionaries. Once we got home we read the story about the Christmas Orange- a tradition in Jon's family. Jon pulled our mattress into the living room and we slept out by the tree. It was so relaxing.

The next morning I woke up early and kept trying to get Jon up but he was out. I was so excited to open gifts and see him open the gifts I got him. I finally fell back asleep until about 7:15 and then I was able to wake him up. It was a quiet and simple Christmas but it was wonderful. I got Jon a fishing vest, some children's books about fishing (some he requested, others just for fun) and clothes for work. Jon got me rain boots, some board games, and a painting that I have been wanting for years. He made French toast, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. Later that day we ate steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans for dinner. We filled our day skyping with a TON of family! It was so fun to talk to almost everyone! We also played games and just relaxed. Our Christmas break was very relaxing and we were able to get a lot done around the house.

My parents came the weekend after Christmas and we did Christmas with them and two of my nephews. We also babysat that weekend (what was I thinking) We babysat 5 kids, plus my 2 nephews, plus my neighbor. It was insane but fun! 3 of the kids were 2 years old! I was worn out after everyone left that weekend. Also, my dad and Jon hit a deer on their way home from home teaching Sunday night. They were fine but my parents car was not so lucky.

Elder Simkins, Elder Zambrano, Sister Miles, Sister Kronmiller, and me.

One More Month!

Can you even believe our baby boy is due a month from today? I am in disbelief, time has just flown by!

The third trimester started out good, but I have progressively gotten more tired, more uncomfortable, and more sore. Overall I feel pretty great, so I can't complain. I feel totally unprepared for labor/delivery, life post-postpartum, and motherhood. It seems like the more I read or learn, the less I know.  Jon and I really feel the power of the story of Mary and Joseph, with me expecting at this time of year. We feel like we can relate on some level, and we wonder how much more inadequate they must have felt. It is amazing to think that the Savior of the world was a tiny baby once.

I love feeling little man move and I love when Jon can see and feel him. Jon reads and/or sings to our son every night. I love it so much. He is already so involved. I still am not totally sure about contractions-people always ask about this. I feel like I have had some here and there but it is hard to tell. I woke up 2 nights ago with a big/tight one and I woke Jon up to tell him. (I feel bad because I always wake him up when I feel something, I can't help it).

The most common things I hear from people is: "you're huge!" "you are all baby!" you are all belly!" you are so tiny!" (yes, I get told I am huge and tiny) "I could tell it was a boy because you are carrying low." 

We had two baby showers- one at church and one at my work. Everyone has been incredibly generous and giving, we feel so loved and blessed. Of course it feels like there is still always more that we need, we have been blessed to get a HUGE amount of things for free, most of which are very gently used and in great shape!

I am still working full-time. Fortunately, we have a low number of clients right now so I have been able to work from home more than usual. I am planning to go back to work part-time (16 hours a week). I am still not sure about how it will all work out, but Jon and I feel it will be good for me to have something to do to keep from going stir-crazy, since I am used to working outside of the home. This part-time position was very unexpected and is a huge blessing. I get to stay with my same team and do my same job, just work less. It should be pretty flexible as well and I can still do my notes and emails from home. I will just have to leave for sessions with clients, meetings, and trainings.

Financially I feel nervous, since our income will be cut significantly, plus I will lose my insurance benefits when I go part-time. Not to mention we will have a whole bunch of new expenses thanks to baby. I know we will make it work but it is scary to think about. Jon and I have tried to be good with our money but of course it feels like we always are buying something. Hopefully being frugal and utilizing student loans will help us survive.

I am so nervous, excited, overwhelmed, anxious, scared, worried, happy, and everything in between. Ready or not, this boy is coming soon!!

glad he does the lights, I hate doing the lights

The star is my favorite part!

33 weeks and 1 day

the walls aren't so crazy in real life

Jon at 2 months (and his sister), a frame for baby, and me at 2 months

the walls look way better in real life

35 weeks!

"cutting" down our tree from Lowes

Freeze Time

Right now I am in a place where I just want to freeze time. Yes, I am excited for the baby to come, but I also get a little sad when I realize it will never just be Jon and I as a family again. I love spending time with him, he is my very best friend. I feel like we have done so much together in the short time we have known each other. I will miss it being just him and I. Despite being really busy, we still get to spend a lot of time together- especially now that Jon is on break from grad school for a month. The other night after we decorated the tree and the living room was lit up for Christmas, I put on a song and slow danced with Jon. I got emotional as I realized how much I just wanted to freeze that moment forever. It was perfect.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We went up to Maryland to be with my cousins, parents, and some aunts and uncles. My cousin Max just loves Jon. They are great buds. It is so cute seeing them together. Max doesn't have any brothers so Jon is really like a brother to him. He is only 13 but is very mature and is a great kid.

The pie bakers- Aunt Cindy, mom, Jon

Jon's Sour Cream Apple Pie

Max and Jon pre-bike ride

Uncle Otto and Aunt Susy

the crew

We went on a walk to see the Potomac River and Falls- it was gorgeous!

freezing cold- Aunt Cindy, dad, and mom

he was LOVING the rocks

there was lots of dancing- Aunt Susy and Uncle Otto

We did a sealing session with most of the family- this temple is beautiful!

the crew at the temple visitor's center

My cousin got these hats for all the men- it was so funny

there was lots of jamming- Jon, Simone, Ethan

more dancing- Cosette and Max, so sweet

I am due in 6 weeks and 6 days!! Time is just flying!

Gender Predictor

So this post is long overdue. The night before we found out our baby's gender, we did some of the little tests you can find online to predict the gender. Although I realize most of these are totally inaccurate, I still thought it would be fun. As you can see, the results were very mixed. This is something fun I just wanted to blog about so I can remember it. Here are some of the tests we did and the results:

Chinese (conception date and my birthdate):
Boy

Heart Rate (140 and above =girl, below 140=boy):
Girl (166bpm)

Mayan Legend (Even age- 26/odd year-2013):
Boy

Key (This was something to do with how you pick up a key-this one was the most obscure one to me):
Boy

Breaking Out (more zits=girl) Luckily my zits didn't get any worse!:
Boy

Ring Test (This one was weird too, the ring turned both ways, so we decided it was inconclusive):
Didn't count

Sickness (Apparently girls make you sick- well our little guy has given me plenty of nausea and barfs):
Girl

My New Hobby

I have developed a new obsession over the past few months. I guess it started a few years ago - around the time I met Janet. I have always said that if I got into fishing I would be most into fly fishing because it seems so much more involved. Around the time I met Janet I started to look more into fly fishing, but decided to back off because of how expensive it is. When Janet and I got married, her dad gave me an old spinner rod and bit by bit I started figuring out how to fish. I went to a river in town several times and tried my luck with night-crawlers and such. No luck. Soon I started buying lures and still no luck. I tried fishing when we went to the outer banks - and alas - no luck! I mentioned this to our bishop who decided to take me fishing on the lake by his house one morning, and promised me we would catch fish. We fished for about two hours and finally decided to head back. When we finally got into his cove, I finally caught one! It was a beauty!

I've tried fishing so many times since to no avail. I've been to local ponds and lakes, ponds and lakes out near Janet's parent's house, again at the Outer Banks -- nothin'. I was starting to be discouraged and think that all fish had conspired against me since people I go fishing with don't catch anything either. Well... there was one time that Janet's cousin Max caught a little fishie much like the beauty featured above when we were fishing together at the outer banks. But yeah - my morale was down, yet I kept trying.

Maximus Prime and Michaela

I mentioned not too long a go to a friend in the ward that I had been interested in eventually learning to fly fish, and he said he had some gear that he hasn't used in years, but refuses to get rid of. He told me he would love to let me borrow his stuff to see how I like it before I go and start spending money on it. I tried it several times and still not even a bite - though I was still super fascinated by it. I started to look up videos on how to cast, how to tie lines, what flies to pick etc. Soon I began watching plain old videos of people fishing. Janet started teasing me at that: "You're NOT EVEN fishing!" and so forth.

In October I went up to South Mountains to hike with some of my students in the Outdoor Club. We finished our hike about half an hour early and had time to look around the "river" near the picnic area and I saw several people fly fishing. I was kicking myself for not bringing the gear I had borrowed! They stock the streams there so there were trout EVERYWHERE! I resolved to return ASAP, and soon found an excuse going up for a picnic with Janet and a family that we are very close to. It was a gorgeous day, and we had some glorious food, but I quickly ran back out to the creek to scout out the trout and start casting. We let our friend's daughter Carmen take pictures with the fancy camera.

I caught a tree bass on first cast!

Carmen had a lot of fun taking pictures of nature and the happenings on. She did a great job! She was pretty happy to catch me snagging that tree, and my frustration at doing so.

If you look closely you can see several trout.

After about half an hour I caught one! It is so awesome to see the fish surface to gulp down your fly! I held it for a few minutes waiting for Carmen to come and take a picture, but when she got there, I tried to hoist it out of the water and it got away!!! I was so upset! I guess that's why they use nets to pull them out of the water. I have witnesses however that I did indeed catch an 8-10 inch trout which is a descent size for the area.

The crew at the creek.

Poor Janet got bored and laid down while we explored and fished.

Numero Dos

For our 2nd Anniversary Jon and I went to Charleston, SC. It was the first time we had ever been there. It is one of those places that everyone talks about so we planned to go for our "babymoon." We loved it! We left Thursday evening and arrived in our lakeside cabin late that night. We stayed at a KOA Campground which sounds ghetto to me but it was so nice and beautiful there.  We woke up to crazy sugar ants invading our food. We had to throw out most of us, which was very sad for this pregnant momma but we survived. We then took a freezing cold shower, planned our day, and off we went. First stop was Boone Hall Plantation. We learned about the history there. We toured the house, the gardens, the plantation, the slave cabins, and watched a performance about the Gullah culture. We absolutely loved it. Our favorite part was the amazingly beautiful oak trees that are very famous and this plantation has appeared in movies like the Notebook. After the plantation we went back to the cabin to rest up.

That evening we headed downtown to see the historic sites and go to the pier (The Battery). We planned to rent a tandem bike we didn't have much time before the shop closed and we didn't want to rush it so we hoofed it. We walked FOREVER past tons of fancy stops then switched over to another street. At first we were not too impressed but then we saw lots of old houses and buildings. The houses were SO fancy and all had gates around then. We kept peeping through the fences at the gardens and they were gorgeous. Jon and I love us some plants...seriously, it was incredible. We tried to get on a trolley but we walked so far that we passed all of the stops. Finally we made it to The Battery and it was so lovely. The sun was beginning to set and the water was so peaceful. It was gorgeous. We didn't stay there too long because we were hungry and I had to go potty. We walked back down the street with all the fancy shops in search of food. Jon picked a winner! We ate at this amazing BBQ place with mouth-watering cheddar biscuits and Mac The Cheese (as they call it.) For days Jon and I could not stop talking about those biscuits and that mac. When Jon first bit into the biscuit he practically threw the other one at me and said, "taste this!" It was so good he wanted me to experience it right with him. It literally melted in my mouth...yum. Ok anyway, we ate walked the long haul back to our car and headed home. It was a really fun day.
 




The next day we took another cold shower, packed up and headed to the beach. We planned to go to Sullivan's Island but it was a dinky place that said no swimming so we headed back to Isle of the Palms. It was pretty crowded for October but it was a gorgeous clear day- 80 degrees and sunny. We layed out, walked the beach, and got wet. I just put my feet in but Jon went all the way in. I was pretty uncomfortable due to my belly and back so we didn't stay too long. We got some lunch (and my meal was free because they ran out of what I ordered and didn't tell me until after Jon got his food). I wasn't upset at all but they told me my meal would be free....sweet! Then we looked at a tourist shop, got some yummy Ben and Jerry's- (7 Layer Bar) the same stuff we had our second date on Pearl Street. We headed to see Angel Oak tree, a crazy old oak tree that is unreal. It is pretty famous but pictures do not do it justice. It was really cool to see and of course all Jon wanted to do was climb it- but the signs said he couldn't. The tree was supported by braces all over because it is so old. After this we loaded up and headed on home.

It was a pretty quick trip but it was so nice to spend those two solid days together. We have not had a vacation alone since our honeymoon, as we normally vacation with family. We LOVE spending time with family but it was nice to have some us time, especially before baby boy comes. Jon worked hard preparing this trip and it was much needed. I cannot wait to go back someday. I cannot even believe it has been 2 years of marriage to Jon. It has flown by but at the same time I feel like he has been in my life forever. Sometimes I feel as if I cannot remember a day without him. He is my best friend, my soul mate, my rock. He is patient, caring, and so thoughtful. I cannot imagine life without him.

A story that warms my heart every time I think of it: Last year around Halloween time I kept talking about going to a Pumpkin Patch. It was something I wanted to do very much with Jon. Well we were busy and hadn't made it and I don't remember much but I know I was a little sad about it. I for some reason felt we had to go and we hadn't. We couldn't find a patch nearby that worked with our schedules. Well a church in town had pumpkins for sale on their lawn. Jon's car was in the shop and I was working late one night. Jon rode my bike down our crazy busy road, down another crazy busy road and picked up two huge pumpkins, stuffed them in a duffel bag, and road home. When I got home and he told me what he had done and I cried. I felt stupid that I made a big deal out of it yet at the same time overwhelmed by how much he was trying to do to make me happy. I still get emotional thinking about this. Jon always tries so hard to make me happy and I know he would do anything for me, although I definitely don't expect it. He is so hard-working and supportive. I love him more than I ever can say or show.

The Latest

I am sure you are all just dying to know what we have been up to...so let me give you a little rundown:

Jon is insanely busy but is balancing everything tremendously. He is teaching guitar 2x a week, teaching high school full-time, running school "Outdoor Club," in grad school (1 night of class per week and a LOT of homework), and in the YM presidency. Somehow he still makes time to take care of me and the baby and fix up some things around the house. He also helps with cooking and cleaning too. I think he is Batman in disguise.

I have also been very busy, but I feel like a slacker next to Jon. I am still working full-time and growing a baby full-time. I am the Primary Secretary which is a really busy and stressful calling, but I love it. I feel like I am doing so much, but I guess it isn't too bad. I really have been hating cleaning lately but I love to cook, mow, and organize.

Baby boy is busy kicking, moving, and wiggling. He eats like crazy and is making me feel so hungry all of the time.

I went for my monthly check-up yesterday. I weigh 152! The little man had me worried because it took a second to find him. He was tucked away on my lower right side. My uterus is measuring 24 inches which is perfect since I am 24 weeks. Next month I have my first glucose test and then it is bi-monthly visits after that since I will be in my 3rd trimester by then...it is crazy how fast the time is flying by.

Overall I have been feeling great- more energy, no vomiting (bless that little pill), and less pain. My ankle has been killing me for some reason and my left upper side aches a lot. Other than that I feel great! Now if we could get Jon healthy, that would be good. He keeps battling this weird cold bug.

Coming up next time....a mushy, gushy, 2nd anniversary post.....be ready.