Preparing for Baby

With only a month to go until our precious one is due, I am feeling somewhat overwhelmed. I have 17 teaching days left, and now only 30 days until that day marked with a star on the calendar, the day that the doctors say our little one could be here. But I am done with work a short 3 days before that day marked with a star. Jeff and I have been busily getting things ready here at home for his arrival. I still need to take pictures of our new apartment, and especially the waiting nursery, but I always have things I need to straiten up or put away when I think about it, or just plain have no energy to be able to get off the couch to find my camera. And we have a few more pictures to hang on the wall of little Jackson's room too.

Jeff has been kept busy with little projects putting things together. The crib is set up and ready to go. The playpen/ bassinet that will be in our room is sitting in it's case under our bed, ready to set up when we bring our little one home from the hospital. My rocking chair is set up in the corner of the nursery all ready for all the time I will spend sitting there feeding our little boy. The stroller is set up and the carseat base is installed in my car. The swing is set in the corner of the kitchen where I will be able to keep an eye on baby as I make dinner or do the dishes. There are cases of diapers stacked neatly on the floor of the closet and the changing table is all ready with baby changing gear. The clothes are hung in the closet and onesies and blankies are waiting in the dresser.

Jackson's bag is all packed for the hospital...then again all he needs is a coming home outfit (I've got 2 choices, one in a newborn size and one in a 0-3 month size, just in case and some socks and adorable little shoes) and a blankie. Though I also threw in a nursing cover up and burp cloths that Grandma made him. I've started packing my bag with a few little things, and I plan to finish what I can this weekend, with a list of exactly what else we'll need to grab as we run out the door for the hospital (cell phones and chargers, iPods with labor music, wallets, etc.) We also need to pack some food for my poor husband, because there is very little chance that I'll let him leave my side long enough to go find something to eat while I'm in labor. :)

I am definitely feeling pregnant. Jeff has painted my toenails the past two times I've done it. He's also being good and washing the dishes when we get a big pile, because the counter hits my belly right where it makes things difficult. Rolling over in bed at night is getting to be a joke. More than once I've woken him up yelling out in pain from a killer charlie horse in my leg. He also misses me cuddling into him at night, but it is just too uncomfortable to not have my body pillow under my belly and therefore between us in bed when I'm facing him. The kicks and jabs coming from my belly are very distinct now. And I can often feel that little head resting on my hip bones or a little bum or foot wedged under my ribs. I smile every time I look down and see my belly moving because he is moving. And it always makes me giggle to feel the hiccups coming from Jackson. He may not enjoy it too much, but I find it hilarious. I do feel blessed though...other than riding in the car up to Grandma's funeral in Idaho, my feet really haven't swollen up.

We are starting to feel very nervous. This is, after all, a huge life change for us. Here we are, less than a year into marriage, and we're going to be parents. It wasn't necessarily planned out to be this way, but we know that the timing is right and that little Jackson was ready to come to this earth. We are grateful that we were chosen to be his parents, and pray that we will be able to take care of him and raise him in the best way possible. We are trying to prepare ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. But, when it all comes down to it, I don't know if we'll feel ready even when that first contraction hits, or when we hold him for the first time, or when we bring him home, or even with he turns 1 or 10 or 20. But we are grateful that this precious little baby is supposed to come to our family and we are excited to welcome him with loving arms.

Pictures coming soon...as soon as I find energy to clean my apartment and get off the couch to get my camera :)

Another Goodbye

Just 7 1/2 months ago, we said goodbye to my Grandpa Thompson. Last night, just before 11:00 I got a call from mom telling me that Grandma has now passed to the other side of the veil as well. We have known it was coming. Her health took a drastic turn for the worse after Grandpa died. When we were in Idaho last month for Lance's play, she was hospitalized and when I said goodbye before leaving that day, I knew it would be the last time I saw her in this life. I'd felt the same way with Grandpa before he died. Mom told me she is now at peace, something that I completely believe.

Mom told me yesterday that she would be gone by the end of the weekend. Her oxygen levels were way too low and her heart was beating way too fast. And she hadn't had anything to eat or drink in a few days. Jeff and I went to the temple last night. The Spirit was so strong as I thought of the reunions she would have when she did go. She had a stillborn son. She lost her first husband and another son in an accident over 50 years ago. Her parents and siblings. Many friends. I was almost positive that when we left the temple, I was going to have had a call saying that she was gone because of the strong feelings that I had.

But, even though it wasn't a surprise that she was going to be passing to the other side, answering that phone call wasn't easy. It was anything but. I laid in bed in Jeff's arms and cried after I hung up with my mom. I had so hoped that she would be able to meet little Jackson when he is born. I wanted him to meet his Great-Grandma Thompson. But at least I am at a point where I still feel like traveling to Idaho for the funeral--even if I do have to ask Jeff to stop frequently so I can make a potty run.

Yes, she will be missed, but she leaves a great legacy and many people who will carry on her memory. How grateful I am for the Plan of Salvation and the knowledge that I will be able to see her again.

As of late

The Lord really is watching out for us and blessing us as we are waiting for our precious little boy to join us. Only 3 more months now until he is due. He is so active and I love feeling him move and kick every day. I often find myself talking to him and rubbing my belly to see if he'll respond. I think it is such a miracle to be able to have this little life growing inside of me. Jeff is excited as well. Last week during lunch, he texted me that he'd gone and bought the crib during his break from work. I had picked it out so I'm happy with the one he got. I thought it was so adorable that he is so excited for our little Jackson to join us.

We have also been very blessed in finding a new apartment. We will actually be managing a small complex down in Sandy. It will be a bit of work keeping up the grounds, especially this winter, but our rent will be less. This will allow me to be able to stay home. I still want to find something to supplement our income so that we can continue to put money into savings for emergencies and so we can build up our food storage. We are moving at the end of the month--less than 2 weeks away now. That has me somewhat stressed because we're trying to get everything packed and ready to go, and with us both working full-time and Jeff in school that isn't going to be easy. However, we will still have our current apartment through May so we'll have a bit of time to get things done. I just want to try to get it all done that last Saturday so I can spend my spring break putting things away and getting organized so I know where things are. But again, I'll be able to put things away, unlike if we'd moved when our lease is up and I was just weeks away from having the baby and not feeling up to putting things away.

24 weeks

Job Hunting

When I started my job at APA, I thought I'd be there for a good long while. I absolutely love my job and the kids I teach. And by no means is my job in jeopardy, but it kills me to think of taking my sweet little boy to daycare every day and letting someone else raise him. We have less than 4 months until he will be here in our arms, and even less time than that until I need to resign my contract for next year, or give them my notice of leaving. With Jeff still in school, my income is necessary to be able to have what we need to pay all of our bills. I've spent weeks trying to brainstorm different things I can do to be a stay-at-home, work-at-home mom so my time can be devoted to my baby. 

I've spent countless hours searching for and applying for various positions for online job opportunities--which includes researching them to find out if they really are legit. And I've come up empty-handed so far. I've recently started thinking out of the box to come up with different things that I can possibly do in order to be able to still bring in some money to help with the bills, but be able to stay home with Jackson as well. Besides, me being able to stay at home will save on not only daycare costs, but gas and car maintenance as well.

We both know that the timing of this baby coming to us was what the Lord wants right now, even if it's not exactly what we had planned on. And we are both very excited to be parents. (I absolutely love watching Jeff with my growing belly--the way he kisses it, talks to it, anxiously waits to feel those little kicks, simply laying his head on it, cuddling it as we fall asleep at night. He bought little Jackson his first "gift" last night--a pack'n'play/ bassinett--and was so excited to do so. I know he is going to be an AMAZING father.) Sure, we are scared to death at the thought of raising a son. But we also feel blessed that we were chosen to be parents to this special child I am carrying. And if the Lord wants to send us a baby, we know that He will bless us with everything we need to take care of him.

I have faith that everything will work out exactly as it is supposed to. We are being very blessed right now financially. Our tax return is much bigger than either of us anticipated, and will more than cover the costs of having a baby and purchasing what we need for him. Jeff should be getting enough money in federal aid for school to pay for most of his remaining 3 semesters. We are surviving just fine with half of my income going into our savings account, and I'll be getting that through August (the joys of being a teacher and getting paid for 3 months of no work). 

In every single one of my prayers, I ask that a door will be opened to me that will allow me to be able to stay home, that my will is the Lord's will. And I feel peace that everything is going according to the Lord's plan for our little family. We have been striving to follow the Spirit in everything that we are doing and all of the decisions that we are making right now (including hunting for a new apartment because our lease is up in 2 1/2 months and we can't fit another person, no matter how small, in our current place.).

That being said, if anyone reading this has any suggestions for me in looking for a job to help supplement our income (because we really are mostly living off what Jeff makes), we would greatly appreciate anything and everything to help us come to a decision in the very near future as we are preparing to welcome our son to this world.

And the verdict is...

After a long, crazy week of being sick and all that good stuff, we were able to go to the doctor yesterday and were told that everything with our little one is looking good. It's heart is beating 150 bpm (average is 120-160 bpm). It sounds like we have a healthy baby in there. And I know we have an active baby, I've been feeling movement for a good week now. So fun. Jeff can't wait until he can put his hand on my tummy and feel those little kicks himself. Daddy's not being very patient in that sense.

But even more exciting than hearing the heartbeat was going for our ultrasound yesterday and finding out that we're going to be having a beautiful little baby boy! I had a feeling all along that it was going to be a boy, and Jeff really wanted a boy because he "has no idea what to do with little girls." All I wanted was a healthy baby. We've had a name picked out for weeks, and it is so fun to refer to him my name, or even by a simple pronoun "he" or "him". So much more personal that "It" or "Baby" like we've been doing.

As the ultrasound tech neared the area "down there" she asked us if we wanted to know the sex of our baby. Of course we do! We want to know how to prepare for our little one to join our family. The first shot was a good shot between his legs, but it was sideways, and both of us were pretty clueless, until she pointed out that little boy part. We saw a few other shots, and yep. Definitely a little boy in there. We are so excited to welcome Jackson Snow Pond into our family in June, just 5 more months. Jackson, because we decided before we even got pregnant that if we ever had a baby boy we wanted to name him after my grandpa who passed away in September, and Snow because that's Daddy's middle name. And we just couldn't do Jack Snow...that sounds too much like Jack Frost. So we'll call him Jack.

Jeff couldn't be happier about his son. Apparently it's all he's been able to think about all day long (though I do know that he aced his quiz tonight, so I guess he's been able to focus in class, at least enough to pass it.) He kept texting me about the nursery and what we need to do to prepare for little Jack to join us. Not to mention his face when he heard it's going to be a little boy. Heck, his face all night last night after finding out! He is absolutely thrilled! I don't know if he's stopped smiling. (Or is that smile because I actually cleaned the house--including the bathroom--yesterday, which is the first time I've actually done anything in months because I've been so sick or tired or both?)

Anyway, we just want to share our exciting news with all of you. And now I'm off to bed since Jeff is in class until late and I've had a migraine all day long. If only Jackson will stop kicking me...

Waiting...

Well, we were supposed to go to the doctor today and would have found out what variety of baby we're going to have. But Mommy had to go and get the stomach flu. Not bad if you're a normal person, just an inconvenience. But, being pregnant, and not being able to keep ANYTHING down for over 24 hours, I got super dehydrated and was put on an IV. Lucky for me it was here at home, but being tied down and not being able to go anywhere is kind of driving me crazy. I was a little squeemish still yesterday, so would likely have stayed home from work. But today I've felt fine and totally would have been there (especially since grades are supposed to be handed out to students tomorrow), if it weren't for the extra precautions the doctor wanted to take for baby. Not that I'm complaining. I'm very grateful for the modern medicine that has allowed me to be able to replace all of the fluids that I'd lost. I'm also grateful for the little movements that I'm starting to feel in my tummy, reminding me of the little person growing inside. And it's only a few more days until we find out on Monday afternoon if this precious baby is a boy or a girl.

Our Little Surprise

Well, we've been keeping a little secret for a while now. And it's getting to the point that we're ready to spill the beans. 

I guess we can say that it started on UEA weekend when we decided to take advantage of me having 2 days off work so we could go down to the Monticello Temple (the last one on our list of temples in Utah to attend before the end of the year) and spend some time at Moab. I felt a little carsick on the way down, which is unusual for me. I attributed it to eating something that didn't agree with me while we were traveling. We went to the temple then headed up to Moab where we had our tent all set up so we could spend the weekend. The next morning we set out to explore Arches National Park, which was beautiful. We enjoyed ourselves and exploring new things we'd never seen before. However, before we  came home, Jeff wanted to do an ATV tour. I wasn't so sure to begin with, but he really wanted to so I let him do what he wanted and agreed to go. We had a two-person ATV, so he drove and I sat on the back. I did not enjoy myself at all. I got so motion sick it was all I could do to not lose my breakfast. Jeff kept telling me it was because I wasn't driving myself...but now I realize that there were other factors thrown into the mix. And we found out the next morning.

After we got home, I started thinking and did a little bit of math. I told Jeff, and he lovingly encouraged me to go find out. So, I headed to go take a little test that would change our lives. When I walked out into the kitchen, terrified and trembling, all I could do was show him that little stick with a "plus" sign telling us that, indeed, I was pregnant. All my queasiness throughout the weekend suddenly made sense. 

Once the initial shock wore off, we became very excited. It was fun keeping our secret, but it was difficult too, as I soon started feeling the effects of morning sickness. I was miserable for about 6 weeks, and some days walked out the door for work in tears because I felt so awful but couldn't call in because of the few number of days that I have each year. I eventually called the doctor and got something that helped me be able to make it through the days. Gratefully that was before we went to Boise to see Lance in his state swim competition, because even though I was miserable in the car on the way, I was able to keep it hidden from my family because I didn't want to tell them until we were all together and LaKesha wasn't there in Boise because of school. And seeing Jeff's family as often as we do, we were also able to keep our secret from them.

Our plan was to announce it to our families on Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeff's family. He and his mom have a tradition of giving each other "monkey gifts" and we had found a monkey with a bib that I could stitch on. So we bought that, and I stitched "Coming June 2013" onto the bib. He wrapped it up and gave it to his mom before Thanksgiving dinner when all his family was gathered around. They were all very shocked. Mom's reaction was "You're kidding me!!" And that little monkey was put on the shelf alongside the pictures of her grandkids in the kitchen.

After dinner we got in the car and headed up to Idaho, arriving at my parents' house around 10:30. When we were all gathered around, they gave Grandma Good who rode up with us her birthday present. And then I said that we had an early Christmas present for mom. She has always said that she is going to cross-stitch a Christmas stocking for each of her kids' first baby to "curse" us for the rest of our babies, just like her mom did. So we gave her a kit to do just that. When she saw it she was very excited. After all, she has been a little grand-baby hungry. Grandma was also excited, as this will be her first great-grandbaby.

That was a few weeks ago now. The Wednesday after Thanksgiving, we went to our first Doctor appointment. I expected to maybe hear the heartbeat, but the doctor did an ultrasound and we were able to see our precious little baby. It was so fun to see the way it moved its little arms and legs, and to see its heart beating. That made it all real. 

We've enjoyed having our little secret, but it's getting to be hard keeping it so now. After all, my waist has outgrown my normal pants. So, we're now sharing it with everyone, and excited to do so. Our Little One is due in June, a week after school gets out for the summer. 

Ultrasound, November 28, 2012

End of the Month Gratitude

So, I started the month out with the intention to do a daily gratitude post...and failed miserably. Honestly. And I've got my excuses, but they're pretty lame. Like the one from when I was like a week behind and I was sick and slept all day. Or like how I'm so exhausted by the time I get home from work that all I want to do is sit down and put my feet up and not think about anything else. Or like how I sometimes bring home mountains of papers to grade. See? Lame.

It's not that I'm not grateful. I am so full of gratitude. I am so blessed. A year ago when I was getting ready to moved down here to Utah, I never would have seen myself where I am today. With a good job that I love. With an amazing class. With super supportive co-workers who have helped me get things figured out. Married to the most perfect man. Wonderful in-laws. A husband who is working hard to be able to finish school. A husband who is also working hard to help support our family. A...well, Never mind. I'm sure anyone reading this doesn't really want to hear all of my mushy-gushy-ness. Just know that I am grateful for everything that I have and the many blessings which are coming my way.

Grateful Day 11

Today I am grateful for Veterans who have served and are currently serving our country, helping us have a free place to live. On Thursday at school, we had the Veteran's Day assembly. I was in tears. It was an incredible experience as the entire student body (well, 3rd through 11th grade--and we were lucky we were able to go as they found space for us at the last minute) paid tribute to the many great veterans of the country. There were many Veterans present, and it was a very touching program. The entire time I thought of people I know who made the sacrifice to serve our country. To close the assembly, we sang the following song.

Grateful days 8,9, and 10

Grateful Day 8

I am grateful for my students. They always keep life exciting and wonderful at work. And they are so considerate of each other. I feel so blessed to be able to teach each and every one of them. This week one of my students said something that made me laugh so hard! I felt bad for bursting out in laughter in the middle of class, but it caught me so off guard. You'd have to know this student to really find the hilarity of it, but I'll do the best to explain. He is one of my African refugee students. At the first of the year, he was a problem for me. I couldn't do anything to get through to him. Now, with the help of one of the administrators, he is a star student and a wonderful example for the rest of my students. He regularly participates in class. This week we were talking about the difference between statement sentences and question sentences. I asked the students how they knew a sentence I had on the board was a question sentence. My refugee student raised his hand, and seemed very excited, so I called on him. His answer? With a HUGE grin, he says, "Because I'm smart!" I totally busted up laughing, it was so random and caught me off guard. Yes, dear student, you are smart. You are very smart. And I never know what is going to come out of your mouth next.

Grateful Day 9

I am grateful that I am able to speak Spanish. I had parent-teacher conferences this week, and was able to do several conferences on my own that I would not have been able to without a translator had I not learned Spanish on my mission.

Grateful Day 10

I am grateful for missionaries. Jeff and I are both RMs, and now my sister, LaKesha is waiting to leave on her mission to the Florida Orlando mission in March. My mission was one of the best experiences of my life and I honestly wouldn't trade it for anything. Jeff says the same thing about his mission to France. I am so grateful for the example that we will be to the children that we will have one day. They will know that the Gospel and sharing it is important to us, and I pray that they will also be able to support at least any sons we will have, if not our daughters too, on their missions.