Halfway to Our Future

20 Weeks!!

I am halfway through my pregnancy and am feeling pretty good. I'm just hungry all the time and my lower back really likes to be in pain, which I would prefer it not to be. If you haven't seen by other means, Bryan and I have decided to name the baby Max Aidan Jones. Max has been the only boy name either of us really liked from the beginning. We seriously went through hundreds and hundreds of names and nothing stood out to us in the least! So Max was easily agreed upon. I feel him kick ALL THE TIME now!!! I started feeling flutters around week 15 and by week 17 there was definite kicking and punching going on, but usually just at night. Now, he's having a kick fest morning, day and night. I LOVE feeling him kick!! It's such a wonderful feeling to know he's alive, well and active. I just can't wait until Bryan will be able to feel him from the outside so he can experience a little of the joy I feel every day. (However, I do still think it is extremely bizarre and unnatural.)

In other news, Bryan has accepted a spot in the Gonzaga University law program in Spokane, WA. It looks like that's where we'll be heading in August if BYU decides not to get back to him (he is currently on the wait list). Aside from the fact that we'll be extremely far away from our families, we are actually very excited for this new adventure to begin. Spokane seems like a very lovely place and I hear it has a very strong Mormon population, which is always nice. I'm so nervous for Bryan to start law school and hope the transition is easy for him. It will be something different indeed.

It's So Obvious

That we're having a BOY!!!!

Our wonderful little baby boy!!!!

It's amazing how clear these pictures are!!

14.5 weeks!

Belly Pic!!!

I am now in my second trimester! Woohoo!! So excited to finally be in this stage and have high hopes that my nausea will dissipate soon! We went to the doctor's a couple weeks ago and of course, don't really know how things are going because I won't get result of anything until my next appointment in a couple more weeks. One interesting thing though, I was about 12 1/2 weeks when we went, but my doctor thought I was much further along than that: at LEAST 14 weeks, he said. I think that's impossible considering I pretty much know for a fact we didn't get pregnant any sooner than we actually did. Anyway, I'm trying not to speculate too much because I don't want to get my hopes up for something that may not happen. Oh, we did hear the heartbeat!! It was such a wonderful experience, but as soon as the doctor found it he took the doppler away, so we only heard maybe 4 or 5 beats. We have our first ultrasound on the 15th and I will be over 16 weeks then, so I desperately hope they can tell if it's a boy or a girl!! I just want to really start focusing on names and start buying things that are gender specific! Oh yeah, I got full Medi-cal coverage for the pregnancy, which is such a lifesaver! It only worries me that Bryan may go out of state for law school and then we just may be stuck again so we'll see what happens. Speaking of Bryan and law school, so far he has been accepted to Gonzaga University and the University of LaVerne!! I'm so proud of him!! So that's our update, hope you enjoyed it!!

Some Details

My due date for now is September 28th and Bryan and I could not be more excited! So I'm about 11 1/2 weeks now and still have not seen a doctor! This makes me so nervous! I applied for Medi-cal shortly after finding out I was pregnant and still haven't received word as to whether or not I qualify. I think we're just going to have to set up an appointment with a doctor as soon as possible and may just have to pay out of pocket for the first visit if that's what it comes to. I just want to see the baby so badly so I know it's really there! I'm so afraid of the doctor telling me that there's no baby in there. That would be another nightmare come true!! But I love reading every week about what the baby's developing and what food size it compares to. Right now it is the size of a walnut or a fig. I feel like I've been pretty lucky as far as nausea goes so far, but I've read that I should be finding relief from it, when really I feel like it's just starting to pick up. I'm so happy that I have such wonderful support from my loving husband and I love more than anything to hear him talk about "our baby" and to be happy about it. It's a crazy, scary, and exciting experience and I can't believe I have to wait a whole 7 months or so more to hold my baby!!!

Excited because...

WE DID IT!!!

We are finally graduated from BYU! It is about time too! We seriously could not be happier. Bryan graduated with a BS Psychology and I a BS in Communication Disorders. Unfortunately we don't have pictures of us in caps and gowns because BYU only has a ceremony in April and August, so we may go back to walk, but we'll see where our lives are in a few months. Nonetheless, it feels so good to be done with school. It hasn't quite set in yet, but I know it will when vacation's over and we don't drive back up to Provo with everyone else. We're big bad adults in the real world now! It's crazy!!



So what's next for us? Bryan is in the process of applying for law schools. He is applying to BYU (which would be ideal because of the costs), Chapman in Orange CA, La Verne in Ontario CA, UNLV, Gonzaga in Washington, and U of Denver. We are(temporarily) living with Bryan's parents until Bryan starts law school in Fall 2011. We are both just looking for jobs right now, hoping for something good since we have are awesome Bachelor's degrees! Right now we're just kind of taking life as it comes.

However, the main thing occupying our minds right now is when to start a family. I wish I could fast forward time 8 months from now and see what our situation would be like with Bryan in law school and a baby on the way and see how well we can handle it. So this is where I need opinions!!! We really want to be able to have our own place to live throughout law school, but the only way that seems possible is if I work full time for the next few years. If we choose to have a baby, then we may be forced to live with our parents until Bryan finishes law school, which isn't ideal. I just want to be independent and still have our full privacy and continue to be our own family. I just wish my desire to have a baby wasn't so strong!! So I want to know how you mothers do it. How do you have a baby while your husband goes to school? Do you continue to work? Does your husband work? Who takes care of your baby if you do work or go to school? Anyway, I would really appreciate any advice you could give me about having a baby, living in your own apartment, and being the sole provider of your family!!!

The Phantom of the Opera

Was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness. I cannot even describe how good it was. So Bryan and I took a brief trip down to California to go see The Phantom of the Opera at the Pantages theater in LA at the beginning of the month. It was a short, but sweet trip. We got to see both of our parents (who also came with us to see the play) and even had time to relax and watch General Conference. We were running SUPER late the night of the show and just BARELY made it through the doors before they closed behind us! Boy were we lucky! I seriously refused to miss even a second of it. My favorite part of the whole thing was that Bryan absolutely loved it!! He just kept telling me leading up to it to "don't expect anything", "I already know I'm not going to like it",...yadda yadda yadda. He loved it and couldn't wait to get home and watch the movie. That made me so happy! Hopefully it is warming him up to actually wanting to go see more musicals with me :) Here are some pictures of the fabulous evening:



Bryan's parents are on the left and mine are in the middle