Pregnancy Journal Weeks 22-29

    July is here! We are down to less that 3 months before this baby girl comes. I've been really behind in posting because Brian and I both caught a really nasty cold and kept passing it back and forth, back and forth to each other. So after 4 weeks, I finally feel back to normal! Here is the latest Pregnancy Journal Updates.


    As you can see this bump is out and getting bigger! Weight gain for me has been really odd. It hasn't been steady at all. All pregnancy I will gain a lot of weight at one time and then nothing for a few weeks and then it just cycles. I just didn't expect that at all; everyone is different I guess.
   I have really loved pregnancy so far. Who knows if I will say that with all our future children, but this has been such an amazing experience. It is so new and exciting that even the "tough stuff" isn't all that bad. I have no doubt that there is a God above who loves us. I truly feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity to raise one of God's little spirits. This just wouldn't be possible without a loving Heavenly Father. I am sure of that.

Wore Have Ink Abe Abe He

    I grew up playing a lot of games with my family. The Kendells are pretty big into their Sunday family board games-Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Sequence, Blokus, Perudo, Rook, SkipBo, Labyrinth, are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. Brian's family was pretty into a game that I heard of but never really played much: Mad Gab. I remember the first time I met his family over General Conference weekend in October of 2010-we sat down to play Mad Gab and I was blown away because I had no idea what I was supposed to do or how the heck I was going to keep up with Brian's older and younger sisters Sarah and Mandy (they are wicked good at that game).
    When we found out we were pregnant-I originally wanted to tell everyone in a way that was both fun and traditional. So I made this card below:

    I changed the bottom saying from "Might Sit Hairs Praying Nut" to Might Ought Hers" and "Might Breast Ends" depending on who I sent it to. 

   Anyway.. Brian is busy studying for boards and I'm busy enjoying my last few weeks of work with my adorable kiddos. It's going to be hard to leave them-it always is! With all 3 families I have worked with since being out here in Chicago, I have really grown close to all of the kids and it is hard to leave. I do know that with the busy summer that I have ahead of me-and preparing for this baby.. It will be really nice to have some time off to visit family, connect with Brian, and do a bit of "nesting" as well. 

HALFWAY there!!

     Can you believe that we have reached the halfway mark until this little babe gets here? I will flat out admit that I was one of those girls that kept multiple lists of baby names that I liked in the back of my journal or church notebook. No shame here!
    Now, looking through those names I am completely at a loss for what I would name this baby. It all seemed so simple back then, but this is for real now. No more Barbies or house games where favorite names changed by the season or even hour. This is serious business! I know I have plenty of time to figure it out and that finding out the gender will help in that category (I hope), but it doesn't change the fact that this is so much bigger of a decision than I had ever imagined! Here is the updated Baby Larson Pregnancy Journal!

    It has FINALLY started to warm up here in Chicagoland.. but I really shouldn't complain because I know with being pregnant through the summer, I'll soon be complaining about the heat. But it does feel so nice to be outside without goosebumps! And not just go outside but to break out the bikes for a nice ride or go down to the beach (have I mentioned how much I love living by Lake Michigan? I know I have but let me say it again, I LOVE LIVING BY LAKE MICHIGAN!)
    Oh ya-random side note-but not so random.. Trying to fit my new belly into clothes is the weirdest feeling. Thinking that only a few weeks ago I could button my pants blows my mind. Now I have to use an elastic through the hoop as I try to figure out this whole maternity pants thing. I mean seriously, they are awesome.. but they also take some time to figure out what I like and for me to get used to them. It will happen I am sure, I just thought it would be easier! Ha!

Anyway! Happy May! Happy Halfway!

Look Up

This video was going around on Facebook.. so I decided to watch it and was amazed at how much it hit home for me.

Let me take you back in time-back to September 9, 2010. This was my first date with Brian. I had a rule back then that I wouldn't bring my phone with me on dates because I didn't want the distraction. Brian and I were meeting his roommates for a night hike to the concrete playground and were driving up Logan Canyon. On the way we got lost and couldn't find our roommates. Brian's phone was dead, and he was driving an old beat up car that didn't display the time. We had no way to get a hold of anyone, and no way of knowing exactly what time it was. And so.. we drove on, half hoping to find his roommates, but the other half wanting to just continue talking together.

We ended up in Bear Lake. We stopped at a gas station and bought squirt guns, drove up on the beach and tried to have a water gun fight but the squirt guns wouldn't work.. so we turned up a CD of country songs and swung danced on the beach. And then? Because we still didn't know the time (though by this time it had to be almost midnight). We jumped in freezing Bear Lake for a midnight swim. And then it was back to Logan.. laughing and blasting the heater. I got home well past midnight, but I didn't know that. I wasn't being constrained by time or by a device itching to have me take a picture and show everyone what we were doing. It was soley for us.. him and me.


But Imagine if we had? If we had, had our phone we might have been able to call his roommates and find out exactly where they were. We might have been able to look at the clock and see 10:28 pm blinking back at us and knowing we should probably be turning around soon.

I'm not saying don't have a clock or a phone on a date.. This video just made me think about what I might have missed if we had both been distracted by our phones. It made me think about what we currently could be missing out on-even in our married lives. And it has made Brian and I both sit down and talk about what we need to do right now to look up.

Pregnancy Journal: Weeks 13-17

    I've been a bit behind at posting these. Today I am officially 18 weeks (Picture yet to come)! You can see the other pages here. So far the Second Trimester has been treating me pretty well so I cant complain! The weather is finally warming up here (though it still has mood swings that may rival Utah's weather). Brian and I have been able to resume our walks and have yet to get out and play some tennis. Brian's Step 1 exam is coming up in 49 days.. not that I should be counting or anything! :) But Brian has been cracking down on studying as the realization is sinking in!

Have You Heard?!

In case you haven't heard...

    That's right! We are having a baby this fall and we are so so SO excited! There was a time in between the miscarriage and this pregnancy that I felt my body back to normal again. I no longer "felt" pregnant. It wasn't until we were walking around Disneyland and my ankles were hurting in which Brian encouraged me to take an advil for the pain that I whispered to him, "Brian, I can't.. what if I'm pregnant?" I said it that way because that day, I had started to "feel" pregnant again. I don't know how to describe this feeling.. my body just felt.. different. At first Brian thought it was silly.. how could I be pregnant again so fast? He told me to just wait a few weeks and see. I continued to feel this way for the next couple weeks until I convinced myself I should just take a pregnancy test to be sure.. and wallah! There was the double line!
    Since then time has been a blur. I started getting really sick around week 6 and that lasted until just recently week 14. This whole experience feels so unreal sometimes, I never really thought I'd be counting time in weeks. But again we are really excited and know for a fact that the Lord is in charge. We don't know what the difference would have been between having a baby August 16 compared to September 25th, but we know the Lord knows and that is enough for us.
    Every once in a while I make a page for our marriage journal, and now I've started one for the baby. So below is my Pregnancy Journal for Baby Larson!

   Welp.. there are the first 4 pages, and I have a few more to post (I'm almost 16 weeks). This belly is starting to pop! Brian looked at me the other day and said, "Woah! There must really be a baby in there!" Haha

3 Years and Counting

    Here is the newest page of our marriage journal! You can view previous pages HERE. I had to wait to post it because our news of the baby was not yet out.
    For our anniversary I was pretty sick that day which was such a bummer but oh well. We decided that we will be going on a vacation or babymoon the week after Brian takes his Step 1 exam in June to make up for me being a sicky on our anniversary.
    Anyway, the evening of March 5th (remember evening means like 4 pm to a pregnant sick lady). We made our traditional cheese fondue. We were planning on a nice walk, but the weather decided to trick us and snow some more so we stayed inside and snuggled a bit before I had to take off for mutual that night. I can't believe how great Brian has been with me being so sick. Don't get me wrong, I always knew he would take care of me but I never thought it would be this much and this well. I feel like he does everything these days to laundry and making dinner to taking care of the cat and vacuuming. It's pretty great and I couldn't ask for better!

Happy 3 years to us!!