Elder Stika

Yesterday was a pretty rough day little man. We dropped your Uncle Taylor off at the MTC for his mission. He is going to the Virginia Richmond mission for the next 2 years. I am so excited for that boy but so sad that I don't get to see him for so long. Taylor is the clown of the family. He's also the one with the most muscles! (If he doesn't come back from his mission all chunky!) Hehe Yesterday morning we all went to Jims Restaurant in American Fork for our 'last supper' as a family. It wasn't much of a supper but it was sure some yummy breakfast food! After that we headed to the Provo to take some pictures and then it was off to the MTC. We pulled up and piled out of the car. Taylor gave each of us a hug and we said our goodbyes. He looked SO excited and so much like a missionary. He smiled, waved, grabbed his bag, and walked away. Nana, Poppa, Savannah, your Dad, and I piled into the car and just cried. We drove in silence except for the sniffles for a while then decided we were going to keep ourselves busy so we didn't start crying again :) We decided to head to a movie. Savannah and I went and saw the last Twilight movie while Nick, Nana, and Poppa went to the movie Lincoln. After that we had to run home to let Sabastian out to use the bathroom and off we all went to see the lights in Spanish Fork. It's something we have done every year since I can remember  After that we grabbed some dinner and headed home. It was fun to be out all day to keep us busy. I haven't really been too sad since we dropped him off because I know that is the best place for him and it's exactly where he worked so hard to be.

It makes me so sad to think that he won't get to meet your sweet self until you are a hear and a half old. That's such a long time dangit! We will be sure to show you lots of pictures of Taylor and show him lots of pictures of you so that you two are at least acquainted by the time he gets back home :) Here are a few pictures of yesterday.

Before I forget ... You have been hanging out with Momma for 15 weeks this week! Well, it was exactly 15 weeks on Tuesday.

Check yourself out little man! You are sure making my belly bigger. I started feeling some stretching in what's called my 'inguinal ligament' when I was walking today and ooh baby that sure didn't feel good! You momma has a not-so-good back. She has what's called a 'slipped disc' and 'sciatic pain'. Big words, I know. Basically I hurt kind of a lot even before you and I started hanging out and it's getting a little bit worse the bigger and stronger you get. But hey, I say it is WELL worth it!

 On Monday when I was at work I was helping a patient transfer from the bed to a wheelchair and she fell pulling me down with her. It bent my back pretty funny and I haven't been able to go to work since. That might sound nice to some people but since your Momma loves her job a whole lot so being out of work is miserable! I've been going to the doctor, doing some physical therapy, and getting massages to help get back to normal. Hopefully it all starts working soon! I don't tell you all of this to complain. I want you and I to remember everything about this time together. The good parts as well as the not so easy ones. 

Gender Surprise!

Once your Dad and I found out you were a boy it was time to decide how we would tell our family and friends about you! We were planning on having Thanksgiving with Nana and Poppa Stika on Thursday and Grandma and Grandpa Chadwick on Friday so I decided I wanted to tell the families when we were all together. I decided to color different foods blue and disguise them so they wouldn't see it until they cut or bit into it. I thought it was a pretty good idea!

Since your Momma loves banana cream pie I told Nana that I would just make and bring that for Thanksgiving. I colored the banana part a very blue and covered it with white cream so that it just looked like a normal banana cream pie. Your Dad had to work until 3 that day so I drove over by myself at 11 that morning. I didn't totally think the pie thing through because hello! Dessert isn't until the end of the night which meant I had to wait all day for my family to find out! This girl isn't very good at being patient for surprises. We had a gender peek planned for the next day so to tease my family a little I decided to ask them if they were excited to find out tomorrow :) Savannah said it was FOR SURE going to be a girl. Nana said she didn't care she just wanted to know already. When I asked Poppa if he thought it was a boy or a girl his reply was "You want to know what gender I think HE is?" Guess that answered his opinion on the subject! We decided to eat dessert an hour after dinner and it was so hard to wait that long! It finally came time and Nana told me that I should cut the banana cream pie since I made it. Trying to think quick I said, "I don't want to mess up my perfect pie! You cut it and I'll cut the pumpkin pie." Phew! She fell for it. She made her first cut and a little bit of blue flipped off of the end of the knife and everyone looked at it all weird. Savannah with a disgusted look on her face said "Why the heck is that blue??" I said that that's weird I wonder why it would be blue! Then Nana looked at me and guessed it right. She shouted it's a boy! Everyone laughed and there were hugs all around. After all the hugs we all ate a piece of our yummy banana cream pie. It might have looked a little less appetizing but it sure tasted good!

After our fun gender reveal with the Stika's it was time to head home and get ready for Thanksgiving dinner with the Chadwick's. Aunt Maddy had to head back to college in Colorado Friday afternoon so we decided to eat at 1. I didn't have a food assigned for me to bring so I decided to bring some rolls. But these weren't just going to be ordinary rolls! I colored a quarter of the dough blue and rolled it into small balls. I took the uncolored dough and wrapped it around the blue, let them rise, and put them in the oven. The next day we headed up to Heber City. While we were sitting around waiting for dinner to be ready you Dad told Grandma to try a roll. She took a big bite, looked at the blue, and asked what he'd done to it :) She thought he'd played a trick on her or something. Someone shouted out it's a boy!? And there was more laughs and hugs. It was so fun to share our excitement for you in such a fun way.

On Friday afternoon we went to the Park City outlets and did a little Black Friday shopping. We went late in the afternoon so it wasn't too crowded and I got a whole bunch of deals on clothes for your cute little self :) 

Also ... Our tree is up! Your Dad and I put it up on Saturday and I absolutely love it! 

Dear Little MAN

Dear Little Man,

That's right, I said it. Little man! Yesterday your Dad was supposed to come visit me at work and we were going to try and do a gender peek on the really nice ultrasound machine they have on the unit. Well mom's patient had to have an emergency c-section right when Dad was supposed to come and by the time I was done taking care of her it was too late in the night for him to come. I asked if it was okay if I looked anyways and your Dad knowing how much I love to peek at you since I can't feel you kicking around in there said yes. My friend from work and I went in and peeked and right away we both looked at each other, laughed, and said 'It's a boy!'. I have to admit this whole time I thought you were a boy but kinda wanted a girl because of all the fun bows, dresses, and frills but the second I knew for sure you were a boy it just made sense :) I started thinking about how great a mother-son relationship with you will be. I thought about how you will get to be the big brother and look after your younger siblings someday. I am just so excited! 

Back to the finding out story though ... Once I knew you were definitely a boy in there I couldn't decide how to tell your Dad! I didn't know if he would be disappointed he wasn't there and I should keep it a secret until Friday (which was when we were supposed to do a real gender peek). I decided there was no way in heck I'd be able to keep it a secret from him and decided to surprise him. With a little help from my friends at work I decided to put an 'It's a boy' set up somewhere in the house for him to wake up to. Here is what I came up with:

When I got home from work I set it all up then laid there. And laid there. And laid there. Usually your Dad wakes up when I get home in the morning from work to grab a drink, go to the bathroom, and gets back in bed for another couple hours. Except this morning was the only morning he decided not to! I was so excited I thought I'd never fall asleep but at around 8:30 I finally did. At 9:30 I felt your Dad get up out of bed and I all the sudden got butterflies! He walked right past the counter with the set up and turned on the shower. After that he must have got a glimpse of something because I could see him lean over to look closer at one of the pictures through the small crack of the door he left open. He opened the door, looked at me, and said 'It's a boy?? I knew it!' You should have seen the smile on his face. It melted my heart. Your dad was so hoping for a little man to be his partner in crime, baseball buddy, and right hand man. Look's like he got his wish! We was also very excited we found out at 15 weeks. He laughed and said his son must be well endowed! (You'll understand what 'well endowed' means when you grow up.) 

Your Dad turned off the shower then he and I snuggled for a while. We talked about who you might be and how excited we are to meet you. We talked about how we would tell our friends and family that you were a boy and all the different things we needed to get ready and buy before you get here. Momma got a little overwhelmed but oh baby I'm excited! I'm 14 weeks pregnant today! You sure are making that belly of mine a little more round and a lot harder. As uncomfortable as that might seem to me it sure makes me happy because that means my rough and tough little guy is growing big and strong!

Dear Little One

Dear little one,

We have had a busy last couple of weeks! Momma has been picking up an extra shift a week to keep up our insurance benefits since I carry them and I'm short a few hours. We are already paying a whole bunch to see your sweet face so I'm hoping I can keep those insurance benefits up! :) Aside from working a whole bunch you and I went to the temple on Thursday with dad, Nana, Poppa, and Uncle Taylor. It was Taylor's first time going through the temple and it was such a neat experience to be there as a family. Miss Savannah couldn't make it cause she isn't old enough yet but I loved to have you there with me. I couldn't help but think about you the whole time I was there and how it felt like I was even closer to you. I can't believe your dad and I are lucky enough to start our little family already. It was almost like I could feel your excited little spirit with me. Maybe you're just as excited to finally meet us as we are to meet you! We are going to make pretty awesome parents so I guess that makes sense :P hehe

Let's see ... what else have we done ... We went to out 12 week doctor appointment and your Dad and I got to hear your little heartbeat. Every time I hear that little pitter-patter I feel such a sense of relief all over again knowing that you're okay and healthy. We asked the doctor when we could find out if your our little man or our little miss. He said that we could go into the hospital the day after Thanksgiving and he would get on the really nice ultrasound machine they have over there at the hospital. It sure can pay to be a Labor and Delivery nurse!

On Saturday we helped throw a baby shower for a friend of mine who adopted a little guy a few weeks ago. Speaking of adoption ... I think this might be a good time to talk to you about someone I'm sure you will know very well by the time you are able to read this. Her name is Malia Jayne. She's 4 and a half years old with the biggest brown eyes I've ever seen. She's also technically your half sister. Let's start from the beginning:

When your mom was in high school she wasn't making the best of choices. One of those choices led her to be expecting a baby at the age of 17. Babies are such an exciting thing to be expecting but because I hadn't met your Dad yet it wasn't a good place for me to be in. I knew that I couldn't raise a baby by myself. I was especially sure I couldn't raise a baby by myself when I found out that baby was a little girl. I have always had a really good relationship with your Poppa Stika and I couldn't imagine bringing a little girl into this world without her own Dad to look up to and love. I knew eventually I'd meet your Dad but I didn't know when that would happen. So, after a lot of thinking, tears, and prayers I decided to place Malia for adoption. I went to a place called LDS Family Services that is ran by our church and they helped me start looking for a family who would love Malia just as much as I already did. After looking at different families I finally found the perfect one. I found the Allman's. Who, of course, you will already know too by the time you are able to read this by yourself. I got very close to the Allman's while I was still pregnant and by the time I was ready to have Malia, her mom was my very best friend. A few days after I had Malia the Allman's and I signed some papers and that meant that Malia was their little girl and not mine anymore. Little one, it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do but it was such a miracle at the same time. It broke my heart to give that little girl to someone else but because I did, Malia was able to be with the family that our Heavenly Father meant for her to be with all along. I tell you this story for a few reasons. The first is because I always want to be honest with you and teach you by example. In high school when I found out I was having a baby I wasn't being the best example I could have been but because of the choice I made and the family I chose I know it is something that I can be proud of. It is something I want you to be proud of too. The second reason I tell you this is because I love you so much. Sometimes I can't believe that once I have you, you are all mine. I get to have you call me mom. I get to be the one you cry for when you fall down. I'm the one that gets to tuck you in at night. For that, little one, I feel so blessed. The third reason I want you to know this story is because I still love Malia very much. I will always have a relationship with her and her family and I am so excited for you to have a relationship with them too. I stopped by their house today after work and Malia's mom gave you a little squeeze in my belly before she even gave me a hug! See! I told you there are so many people who love you already and can't wait to meet you! I can't wait to see how our little intertwined friendships grow once you make your appearance. Actually, lets be honest, I don't know how to explain it but somehow Heavenly Father made the Allman's part of our family too.

Your mother just might be crying a little bit. Not because I'm sad but because I realize every day how blessed I am. I have the sweetest family in the world raising the little one I brought into this world. I married the most incredible man I could have ever asked for. I have such an amazing family and in-laws that I love with all my heart. I am carrying a miracle in my tummy that is already turning me into a better person. I feel so incredibly blessed far beyond what I deserve. I can't wait to hold you in my arms. I hope you will always know the love I have for you and what a little miracle you are to your Dad and I. I love you little one.

Love always,
Your Momma

Happy Halloween ... From BOTH of us!

Dear Nuggett,

Well, the cat is out of the bag. On Halloween I was exactly 11 weeks pregnant. I wasn't planning on telling anyone until at least 12 weeks but when I found this t shirt online I had to buy it and just had to spill the beans a week early :)

It was so much fun to hear all of the reactions everyone had and how excited everyone is for your Dad and I. They all can't wait to meet you! When I tell them you are going to make your grand entrance in May all I can think about already is how far away that is! I'm just so excited to meet you and become a Momma! I guess it is a good thing to have so much time cause I sure have a lot of shopping, planning, sewing and preparing to do! And you just keep on doing your growing thing :)