We Need a Little Christmas

So I have a million big projects and papers due in the next two weeks trying to take away my holiday spirit. Uh-uh papers, not happening! (imagine that with a sassy head bob+finger snap)

We'll be simmering potpourri, blasting the Christmas Pandora station, and watching awful made-for-tv holiday movies allll month long! Plus, we've been gift planning for the past 4 or 5 FHEs and got all three of our Christmas decorations up.

I believe we have Bethany to thank for this glitter-covered dino ending up with the rest of our decorations. He really saved the day, because we didn't have a tree topper!


Happy Holidays kiddos!

Thanks?

I know on Thanksgiving I should have blogged about how I was overwhelmed with gratitude, but I was more overwhelmed with homesickness. There's something wrong about a Thanksgiving without a million wild kids running around and a white trash buffet-style dinner out on the lawn and Mom getting excited about how tomorrow she's going to save an additional 30% off of the 50% off clearance by using her Kohls card.

I must be the worst Mormon wifey blogger ever, but in a twisted way, this is me being thankful for my family. And I am really, truly thankful for a million other things, despite my not making a cute list of them on Thursday.

2 things

1. Yes, I spoke too soon. It snowed. BUT it's kind of cool when it's at a somewhat appropriate time of year and when I wake up with our little fire burning and see white-covered everything out the windows... like cool in a reminds-me-of-Frosted-Mini-Wheats kind of way.

2. Who knew being kicked in the stomach all day would be so exciting???

.

I live in a really pretty place. I can admit that now that I know I only have to live here for another 4.5 months and because it hasn't snowed yet. It's especially nice living within walking distance of the temple.

Where are we moving? I'm so happy to finally have a definite answer to that! Jacob had one job offer in AZ and another in San Jose. As much as we love Arizona and being near family and friends, we decided to go with the better job in California. I've never wanted to live in California because it's crowded and expensive, but I think we'll end up really liking it there (perfect weather year round?!). It's nuts to think that this isn't just another summer job or internship. Real life is starting!

Nat gets fat

I know that the bigger I get the more uncomfortable I'll be, but I'm so ready to look obviously pregnant. I feel like I've been in this awkward, chunky stage forever.




...after eating a lot and maybe sticking it out a little, we're getting there.

3/23/12

Bet you can guess where I'll be at midnight, 5 days before my due date.
(please don't come early, baby!)

The baby is a...

In the words of our ultrasound tech, "See that little package?"
Why yes, yes we do.

I'm surprisingly relieved since I really don't think I'm ready for girl attitude/drama and because we've been saying "he" and "him" for my entire pregnancy. Jacob's just relieved that now I don't feel the need to go shopping for baby clothes. But seriously, we're really excited!

I keep picturing a sweet angel mini-Jacob and hoping he's not too much of an awkward spazz like his mama.

How his family found out

We were planning on telling Jacob's family pretty much the same way we told mine, because both of our moms' birthdays are in October. Then one day in September Jacob decided to order me a nice body pillow so I can still sleep well as I get fatter. Usually when you order stuff online, it comes in a box that says "Amazon" or in this case "New Egg". Nope. This giant box showed up at Jacob's Grandma's house, and his sister just happened to be over right when it arrived:



Since when do people write the contents of a package on the outside?! Nobody wants the whole neighborhood knowing what they're ordering in the mail.
Anyhow, we knew we weren't going to have a good cover for this so we decided to just make the announcement to his family that day. In retrospect, it was really nice having at least a few people who knew and could be excited with us/not think I was awkwardly gaining weight for no reason. It just wasn't quite what we had in mind.

mommish stuff

Disclaimer: this post will likely be overly sentimental and mushy (I'll just blame the pregnancy hormones like I do for everything else). You've been warned.

I always thought that before I got pregnant, I would for sure be really "baby hungry", but I wasn't really. I'm kind of glad, because I would never want to want a kid the way people want puppies.. like "ohhhh so cute, let's get one!" In fact, every time I thought about kids, I just felt really scared and thought about how unprepared I am to handle that kind of responsibility. I also thought about all the things having a baby meant I wouldn't get to do.

Luckily, in the two seconds that I stopped being selfish and really thought about it, it felt like the right thing to do. And then all of the sudden, before we could even think about changing our minds, I was pregnant!

Obv we (maybe just me) are still pretty freaked out, but I keep hearing/reading things that remind me that this is absolutely the best thing that could be happening to us right now. One of my favorites so far was a poem by Anne Campbell that President Hinckley quoted in this talk:

I already love baby so much that none of the other stuff even matters. It's the weirdest thing--in a good way.