Preschool - Baking Day

So for this past semester I was able to do my Preschool Practicum on campus. I was so worried when I began the semester because I had heard from a lot of people that being in the Preschool was a lot of work and all that. It really turned out to be not that bad.

For my first teaching week in the Preschool my partner and I decided to teach on baking. Most of our activities related back to that topic.

Here are some pictures from my first day of teaching. Joseph helped me a lot in preparing for for all of my activities. He helped me make little cardboard ovens that were child-sized. I have such a wonderful husband.

My partner and I also had a bake sale for the children to participate in during our Baking week. It was so fun to see the college students talk with the children...they were so sweet!!! It was a great week for us teaching in the Preschool.

Back in WI - Internship and All That

Well...first off I should apologize for not updating this blog in like forever...I have no excuses...just haven't done it.

Joseph and I spent the first quarter of this year back in Wisconsin. Joseph had acquired an internship with Vanden Huevel CPAs in Wausau for the tax season. Needless to say, it was an interest 3 1/2 months.

He started off only working short half days because there really wasn't much for him to do. As the season progressed though, he started working much longer hours. By the time we left in mid April he was working 11 hour days...poor guy.

I think he enjoyed himself as much as anyone can when they are having to do tax work. It was a little rough at the beginning because he really was a little unsure of a lot of the procedures that the firm did, but he caught on and life became a little easier.

Overall, Joseph decided that the internship was a great experience and it gave him actually work experience, and credits toward his degree. I think the biggest thing that he learned from the internship though was that he doesn't really want to work in public accounting after he graduates.

Also while we were back in Wisconsin we got to welcome a new member into our family. My older brother, Roland, and his lovely wife, Christi, became the parents of the most beautiful baby girl. Little miss Abigail Reina was born on January 31, 2012. She is probably the most adorable little thing that I have ever met. I tired to go down to Stevens Point to visit her and her momma as often as possible.

I also went back to work while we were back in Wisconsin. One of my old managers at the Old Navy was so wonderful and hired me again. It was nice to be able to work with some of my old friends. I found it so easy to just slide back into my old routine...I guess you just never forget how to fold clothes :) hehehe

Joseph also celebrated his 24th birthday back in March. It was a good day. We went to the doctor that day and got the first look at our new little baby!!!! It was so fun to see it move around and know that we were going to be parents again. After that I took Joseph out to Texas Roadhouse...he had never gone before...and he loved the huge slab of meat that he chowed down on!

We had a great time being back in Wisconsin and getting to spend so much time with Joseph's side of the family. They were so great to let us take over one of the rooms in their home. It was hard adjusting back to having so many people around, but we enjoyed spending time with family. We miss them all so much.

Even though we enjoyed being back in Wisconsin, we were so happy to move back out to good old Rexburg. I couldn't believe how much I had missed it!!!

Ethan Ervin Huckbody

So today marks the one month anniversary of our little baby boy's birth, and so I figured I would post a little something about his story.

I had gone into the clinic just to listen to his little heartbeat, because I hadn't felt him move much the day before. I didn't think much of it, but they couldn't find his heartbeat with the Doppler or with an ultrasound. Instead they found a pinched umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, thus cutting off his blood and oxygen supply. Our little baby was no longer with us, but instead with his Heavenly Father.

Our doctor scheduled an inducement for later that day, so we headed up to the hospital to wait. They checked me and I was 4cm dilated and 80% effaced...so I was pretty much in labor already and didn't even know it. They broke my water and started me on Pitocin. I didn't start feeling any contractions until I was around 5 1/2, 6cm dilated. I had planned on having an unmedicated labor and delivery, but with the Pitocin, I decided on an epidural around 7cm. An hour later I was ready to push and two hours after that, at 10:06 pm on November 8th, our darling boy was born. Overall is was a practically perfect delivery, with minimal tearing and everything going smoothly and without any kind of complication.

Ethan was 7lbs. 10oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. He was a beautiful little baby boy. The nurses cleaned him up and put him in a little outfit and brought him back to Joseph and I. We got to hold him and cherish what time we could have with him. He had my nose and lips, and overall just looked a lot like his momma. He was a perfect little guy. I got to watch Joseph hold his son and fall asleep with him on his chest like he had always dreamed of doing one day. It broke my heart knowing this was the only time he would be able to do that with Ethan. Joseph was even able to give little Ethan a name and a blessing with the help of our bishop.

Both of us shed many tears over our little boy. We had grown to love him so much throughout my pregnancy, and our love for him has continued to grow. We are so thankful for the time we had with him and the memories we were able to make. We are thankful for the opportunity we had to provide a body for him, and we are also super thankful for the privilege of still being his parents from now throughout all eternity. We know that we will be able to be with him again as a family, for that I am most grateful.

Both Joseph and I have grown a lot throughout this past month. We have learned to really rely and trust in our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. We are grateful for the gift of our Savior's atonement, and the immense healing it has been able to bring us. We know that the Plan of Salvation is there to bless families, and through that plan we know that we can continue to be a forever family. We are thankful for the holy temple and the wonderful blessings we are able to receive through the covenants we make there.

I would also like to say how blessed Joseph and I are to have such wonderful friends and family members that have been there with us the entire time. Thank you so much for all of the prayers and thoughts on our behalf, we have felt every single one of them and they have helped us so much.

Joseph and I refuse to look at this as a loss, because we know that we have not lost Ethan, not really. We just didn't get as much time with him here in this life, but we know that we will one day get to hold him again and love him. Both of us look forward to that day with great joy and excitement.

We are doing very well, and are moving forward with faith and trusting the Lord to lead us to where we need to be.

Pumpkin Carving

So last year Joseph and I started a tradition of carving our own pumpkins for Halloween, something I had never really did growing up. It was so much fun last year and this year was just as fun!!!

Here's what we ended up doing with our pumpkins this year. Niether of us really did a traditional carving of a jack-o-lantern. Joseph's is a little more scary with its sharp teeth. He tried shaving the pumpkin with different carving tools this year, and I think it turned out pretty cool looking.

I wanted to have fun with my pumpkin this year and decided to carve it to look like Jack Skeleton from The Nightmare Before Christmas...I think it turned out pretty good. I wish I had bought a white pumpkin, that would have made it look more accurate, but oh well.

We now have them sitting outside our apartment door guarding us from all the ghouls and ghosts of Halloween :)

22 years and waiting for Thanksgiving

So...it's been like an entire month since I last blogged something...I am sooo terrible at keeping up on this!!!!

About 2 weeks ago I turned 22...that's probably the most exciting thing that's happened in the past month. I still don't feel like I'm 22, but oh well. For my birthday, Joseph and I spent the whole day together...which was the awesomest gift in the world. He had slaved away the days before to make sure that he didn't have any homework that would get in the way and spoil my day...isn't he just the sweetest.We played a little bit of video games...my request, not his...it was a go-kart racing game, the only video game I even know how to remotely play well. Then he took me shopping at DI...I wanted to see if I could dig up any good deals on just about anything. I didn't find any cute clothes for me, mostly because nothing really fits me any more these days, but I did score on some cute onsies and a sleeper for Ethan!!! I love buying baby clothes, it's like an addiction. After DI, we went and had lunch at Subway...got to love me a $5 foot long!!! It was pretty much scrumptious. We also went bowling with some awesome friends from our ward. It was pretty fun, although I have to say that bowling with a big prego belly is not the easiest thing to do, but it was still super fun. We then went to the temple, which was great. I always love going there, it's such a happy peaceful place. To end the day, we went to Cold Stone Creamery for some pretty divine ice cream...I had strawberry with a bunch of other goodness mixed into it...pretty sure it satisfied the craving that I've had for strawberry ice cream since like week 10ish of my pregnancy!!!! Overall it was a really great birthday, and I have my sweetie to thank for making it such!!!!
Well, not much else has actually happened in the last month. Joseph is still going to school and working and studying all day long, every day. I am just chilling and waiting for my little boy to get here. We have 4 1/2 weeks until his due date!!!! Can you believe it?!?!?!? I keep asking myself where all the time has gone, it seems like just the other day that we found out that we were pregnant, and now he can come any day!!!
I am very much excited for Ethan to come. We've got his corner of our room all set up with his crib (graciously given to us by my parents...thank goodness for hand-me-downs) and a rocker (also handed down from my parents). I washed all of his little, tiny clothes and am now just anxiously waiting for the day that I can dress him up in all his cute outfits...he's going to be one good looking little guy!!!
I'm also way excited for my mom to come out and visit me!!! She's the most awesome mom in the world!! She's planning on driving down from Seattle and spending a couple weeks with us right after we have Ethan. I am way excited to actually have someone to talk to during the day and do things with while Joseph is gone away at school and work!! Like I said, I love my mom!!!
Then, it gets even better...Dad is bringing Faith and Jed down with him for Thanksgiving weekend, and we're going to have our traditional huge Thanksgiving feast at our place!!! I love food!!!! Ethan's due the day after Thanksgiving, but I'm hoping he comes a little bit before, that way I can actually enjoy all the deliciousness that comes with the holiday.
Needless to say, not much has happened in the last month, but a lot is about to happen in the coming month...and I say, "Bring it on!!!!!"

Found...Engagment Pictures!!!!!

As I was cleaning through some of our random stuff the other day I found a CD full of our engagement pictures!! I was so excited to find them and to relive all the fun we had while we were taking them.


My wonderful little brother, Sam, was ever so kind to be the one who took the pictures. He got a ton of different pictures, so that gave us plenty to choose from when it came to printing them. A huge thank you goes out to Sam for being super great about the whole thing and helping us out!!!

Joseph and I both wanted out-doorsy pictures, with all the trees and the prettiness that nature has to offer, so we decided to take our pictures at the Eau Claire Dells. It was such a perfect kind of day. The sun was shinning, and it wasn't too hot. I feel that everything turned out beautifully for our pictures!!!

So here are some of our more favorites. The one below is my absolute favorite!!! It's super cute, and Sam took it without us even knowing...we were just talking about what kind of pose we wanted to do...and bam...Sam snaps this one!!!

And this next one is Joseph's favorite!!! Neither one of us are super big fans of having to pose for pictures, so I am pretty pleased with how everything turned out and that we actually got some ones that we really liked!!


Oh and here are a couple of fun ones...Joseph just was so excited to be with me that he couldn't help himself!!!

 



Finding these pictures was super fun!!! I am so glad that I did, because the two of use were able to take a walk down memory lane and remember some of those days before we were married.

Coming Soon to a Family Near You...

I figured it was time for me to make a post about our little darling baby that is headed its way within the next 10ish weeks or so...

In late March we found out that we were going to be parents. I was way super excited about the news, and Joseph was too, but he was also kinda nervous about becoming a parent. Understandable...taking on complete responsibility of another human being is a lot to think about and try to digest...thankfully we get 9 months to fret and plan and prep for it :)

We went in for our first appointment in mid April, when I was 9 weeks along. I decided to go with the midwives that are here in town. I wanted a bit more freedom when it came to wanting a more natural birth, and to be completely honest, I wanted to see a female doctor.
The midwives are great by the way, and I feel like I am getting great, personal service with each of my appointments. Anyway, with the visit, we got to see out little baby for the first time and we got to hear his heartbeat.
We also got a huge surprise, was that there were actually two tiny embryos nestled inside my uterus!!! Sadly, only the one had a heart beat and the other was considered a non-viable twin, and I was told that it would dissolve and vanish within a few weeks. I have always wanted twins, so it was sad to have been so close to it. I had my tears, but in the end Joseph and I are grateful that we have the one healthy baby still.

Here are just a couple of the ultrasound pictures that we got with that visit. One is a back view of him, I believe, and the other is a side view of the little guy...I love how you can see his itsy, bitsy foot and hand!!!!

Because of the 'vanishing twin' I needed to go back in for another check up earlier than I normally would. The midwife just wanted to check to see how it was dissolving and how well the other was developing. So here is the ultrasound that we got from that visit. This was at 10 1/2 weeks. I couldn't believe how much he had already grown. In the picture you can see the umbilical cord already up near the top.

I had several other visits, ones that didn't include ultrasounds, sadly :(  Everything continued to go great, and our little guy just kept growing. Joseph and I were just waiting anxiously for the appointment that would tell us what gender our baby was going to be. Both of my parents, and several others thought it was going to be a girl, mostly because the baby was charting higher heartbeats, which apparently is more common for a girl. Joseph and I were happy with whatever, this being our first child and all that, it really didn't matter much to us. I had asked Joseph several times which one he really wanted, and he would always respond the same way, "A girl would be cute, but a boy would be fun."

After so much waiting, the 20 week appointment approached, and we waited anxiously for the news. Here was the magic shot that we were waiting for!!!! IT'S A BOY!!!!!! Way super excited about our little bundle of boy that we are going to be getting!!!!

Along with finding the gender of the baby, the midwife took a million and a half measurements to make sure he was developing on track, and then printed us a ton of the ultrasound shots that she took. Here are some of our favorites. There is a really good profile of his face and upper body...Joseph swears he has my nose...and then there is a frontal view of his face...love the hand up under his chin in the "Thinker" pose!!! We also got a good side shot of his arm and leg, and I love how his leg is all bent and ready to kick...and believe me he does!!! And then, one of my more favorites, the one of his little foot...just so precious!!

We decided on the name Ethan Ervin for our little boy. Ervin is Joseph's Grandpa Huckbody's name, and so we thought it would be nice to use it, and Ethan is just a personal favorite of mine. It was pretty fun to call the parents and siblings and tell them the great news of our little boy. I also am just way happy that I can say he and him and use his name instead of always having to say baby or it.

Since that appointment I have had a couple other visits just to check the heartbeat and make sure that everything is growing properly. My last visit was my glucose test visit. An hour before the appointment I had to drink this nasty tasting glucose stuff and then they took my blood at the appointment. This is done to test for gestational diabetes. Turns out that I don't have to work about that since the numbers were right where they should be, and they also said that I wasn't anemic, so that was good to find out. So far we haven't gotten any more ultrasound pictures since the 20 week appointment, but more should be coming soon...at least I hope so.

With just 10 weeks left now I can't believe how fast the last 30 have flown by. Every week seems like a new adventure with new aches and pains and fatigue like nothing else. Right now Ethan has turned so he is head down so he is putting a little bit of pressure on my lower back which makes it ache most days, but it's survivable. And then there is the fact that my bladder doesn't hold as much as it used to, so the bathroom and I have become very good friends lately. I started feeling him kick or move about around 19 or 20 weeks along. Back then it was just gentle flutters and nudges, but now he pretty much kicks and shoves all of my insides around and has even kicked my ribs a few times. He has also gotten to the stage of stretching, which feels super funny, and looks even funnier when I watch my tummy!!!

Joseph and I are so happy for our little guy and we can't wait to actually get to meet him in a few months. Thanks to all of you that have encouraged me along the way and that have supported us in this amazing adventure of parenthood!!!