Week 15- Hold the Meat, Please

Hello there!

So in case you missed it, we announced here that we're having a baby! I mentioned this on my Instagram (@kbhibbs in case we're not insta friends yet!), but we just wanted to say thank you for all the love and kind words everyone expressed via Facebook, Instagram, our blog, phone calls, texts, etc. as we announced our exciting news! I'm pretty sure everyone loves feeling loved, so it meant a lot to us! We are very excited and the weeks are passing by faster now which is always nice.

This past week was pretty fun! Taylor and I both had MLK day off and Taylor had a little date planned for us. However, my dr. called with information about a prescription for me, and I'd been having some concerns with some symptoms I was having so I brought them up while on the phone with them and they decided to have me come in that day to check things out. So we went to lunch and anxiously awaited our appointment. The appointment went well and baby seems to be doing well also! We spent the evening watching the Bachelor (yes, my husband will watch it with me!) and eating some yummy chocolate cake we bought at a specialty chocolate shop after lunch. Yumm!

Taylor played in a softball tournament for his school this past weekend so we got to spend the day outside in a little chilly but sunny weather, and it was so nice to get outside! Living in a big city (at least where we live right in the middle of the big city) means that we don't get to just hang out outside as much as we could in Provo, where we lived literally across the street from a park and we lived so close to our friends we could just walk places.

I've been having fun with quite a few custom orders for my invite shop , which is a fun hobby for me and a nice way to save up little by little to buy some goods for baby! If you are hosting any showers or parties and are interested in help with invites, let me know!

So for the sake of keeping a history, here's the update from week 15! I'm feeling so much more like my normal self again, which is really nice because I didn't even realize how yucky I was feeling the past few months until it has slowly started to go away! I'm not kidding when I tell you that probably all of November and December our house was a huge mess, my poor husband had to fend for himself for all meals for months because I had no energy to cook and the smells made me feel nauseous, and basically I was a walking yucky zombie. Now I'm slowly starting to be able to eat normal foods, and eating doesn't feel like a chore anymore. I had no appetite for a while but my doctor said I had to make sure to just get the calories in somehow so for a while it was a pain to just think of enough food that would give me the calories I needed. I'm also sleeping better than I was for a few weeks so really, things are going very well right now!

We are so curious to know whether we are having a boy or a girl! Of course we will love our baby either way, but it will be so fun to be able to get to know our baby even more. The end of February can't come soon enough! 

And Baby Makes Three

Hi!!! Well, in case you don't understand or can't read the above picture (which is a little ironic if you can't since it's inspired by eye tests since Taylor is in optometry school...but it is a little confusing so I won't judge)...WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

I actually started writing blog post about 7 weeks ago, even though I knew we wouldn't be sharing our news for a little while. I was just so excited I wanted to start documenting. I didn't quite finish it because I'm sure I just got distracted or something, so I thought about just re-writing the whole thing but I just figured I'd keep what I wrote originally to be able to look back and then I'll jump in and continue where I left off:

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November 27, 2014

I feel weird writing this post because I won't be publishing it until we've publicly announced that we are having a baby!! However, given my history of blogging, if I don't write this all now, I probably never will ((side note from today's Kelsey---I'm so glad I wrote this cause it saved me so much writing today!)). And even if I tried, I would probably forget a lot of the details that I have fresh in my mind right now. Also, being a newly-pregnant person (I say person because pregnant lady sounds strange to me (in my mind I will always be, like, 16--I'm sure my kids will love that)...and pregnant girl sounds like I am 16 and pregnant), anyway being a newly-pregant person I love reading people's blogs from when they were as far along as I am.

That being said, today I am 7 weeks and 1 day! I used to make fun of people in my head (#sorryimajerk) who always included telling people those extra days, but when time seems to be going by slowly, those extra days count! And plus they do count!

For those who like the whole story, here it is ((warning: if you don't like any type of TMI or the word "period", skip down to the picture below!)):

First of all, I'll just go ahead and say this wasn't a "surprise baby". I only mention that to give context to the story, and because frankly, sometimes I myself am a curious person and sometimes just wonder if people were planning on starting a family or if it just happens for them unexpectedly. Many people think it's rude of people to ask (and I can understand why), but I'm not offended if you were wondering, so there's your answer :).

Anyway, this year Halloween fell on a Friday. The Monday before Halloween (Oct. 27th) I, being the impatient person that I am, decided to take a pregnancy test because all those commercials say they can give you correct results up to 5 days before your missed period, and mine was due in just two days. It was a digital test. The test was negative with "NOT PREGNANT" showing as the result, and I was pretty bummed, but that was life. I was sure my period was coming because I had my typical period symptoms so I was sad, but it was OK.

Wednesday (the day I was due for my period) came and went, so on Thursday (Oct. 30th) I took a test. I took a Clear Blue test. The first few seconds it looked negative, and then I saw a VERY, VERY, VERY faint line. It was so faint that I was pretty sure I was just seeing things, so I sent the picture to Taylor and he felt the same as I did---not really positive, but not quite negative. WHAT KIND OF RESULT IS THAT?!? How can you be "kind of" pregnant???? It was so faint that had I not wanted to be pregnant I would have been relieved at the result and thrown the dumb thing away.

As mentioned, being OCD I had to figure out what it meant right then. I texted the picture to my sister Nicole (who gets lots of credit for being patient with my craziness that day and every day since because she was the only one besides Taylor who knew for a while). She said it looked positive but to test again with a pink dye test. I ran to the store and grabbed a few. ((the good thing about not living in Provo anymore is you don't have to worry about running into 700 people you know when buying these kinds of items!)) I took a couple, and the lines were a little darker than my original faint line, but were still not satisfactory in my mind.

[what a cliff-hanger.....CONTINUING on Jan. 19th :)]

I knew that Taylor was excited about getting pregnant eventually so I really didn't want to get his hopes up or tell him I was pregnant until I knew for certain that I was pregnant (I know, I sound so dumb that I wouldn't just believe it).

So I continued to harass my sister who so kindly even shared the picture with her nurse friend who said I was definitely pregnant.

I was in complete shock. Good shock. But shock nonetheless. I had work that day and I felt so antsy. As mentioned, all the tests were just the dye tests, so I planned to take my last digital test the next morning to see if the digital test would now say "PREGNANT" since just a few days before it had said otherwise. I had to keep my mouth closed about this all day so that I could have a fun surprise for Taylor the next day should the test turn out! I kind of hinted to him that I knew my period was coming so we shouldn't get our hopes up.

The next morning I woke up early before Taylor was up and took a test. It read "PREGNANT" and I was so excited and surprised (since I was new at this) that the digital test could tell me something completely different than it did just a few days before.

I took Taylor to school and then ran to Target to get stuff to make a cute sign to tell him later that day when he came home.

Now before you all get excited, no our child is not Benjamin Button (see photo below). He or she is definitely due in July of 2015. I was just a little excited and didn't realize until later that I wrote '2014'. Oops :). Also, when we were dating we made Build-a-Bears of each other (I know I know cheesy--but I'm sure lots of you have done it!) and I put little glasses on the bear for Taylor since he wears glasses. I figured instead of laying out a third pair of shoes, I'd put some little glasses since we both wear glasses now :).

 I was so nervous but excited to tell Taylor (cue Zac Efron's SNL skit). He came home and I had my paparazzi self ready and followed him into our room. He was so happy he didn't even notice our Benjamin Button baby's due date :). But really, this was such a fun and happy day for us!

So where are we now? I'm 14 weeks 5 days today! All seems to be going well with our baby so far which we are so grateful for, and we pray every day that things continue that way. My morning sickness never got too out of hand, but I'm so grateful to be able to feel more confident with eating certain things and eating in general nowadays! I also don't feel like a tired, groggy zombie anymore. This is a public service announcement apologizing for our lack of reaching out to people during Christmas with cards, gifts, etc., and for those close family and friend who did get presents wrapped in non-Christmas wrapping paper and masking tape (Dobby the elf must have taken all our Scotch tape), now you know why I wasn't quite pulled together.


Jokes aside, we are so, so, so grateful for the opportunity that we have to become parents, and I am so incredibly excited to become a mother. I know being a mother isn't always a glamorous job, and I'm definitely appreciating sleep now as I know it won't be the norm later, but this is always what I've wanted to do with my life--be a mother, so I'm so so grateful. Given polar opposite histories with fertility on each side of my family, we had no idea how long it would take for us to be able to start a family (as far as my contribution to fertility goes), and we were very surprised that Heavenly Father's plan for us was that it wasn't going to take as long as we thought. As I mentioned in my last post, last year was a really hectic year for us, and pretty emotional and hard with other trials and big changes in other areas of our life. At times I felt like I had no idea what was in store for us or if we'd ever "catch a break" with some of the things life was throwing at us.

 As we prayed to start our family, Heavenly Father knew that we'd be willing to submit to His will with this in all ways, but He also knew the little things in my heart that meant a lot to me and the little things that would make me so happy. One of those things was my desire for Taylor to be able to be home (not in school) with me for a little when we had our baby. This would really only be possible in June, July, and a couple weeks in August because other than that he is in school full time. We are due July 15, 2015 (my birthday!), which gives us just over a month of time that Taylor gets to be at home with me and the baby. I know that Heavenly Father could have blessed us with a child whenever He saw fit, and we would have been grateful no matter when that was. However, our success with conception and our due date was a little reminder to me that Heavenly Father is aware of us each individually and He knows the little things we all think about, worry about, and even want. Throughout my trials in my life, especially when my dad passed unexpectedly when my family was all so young, I have always accepted that He has a greater plan for us than we know, and sometimes it's not always what we have in mind or want. But I know that there are in fact times when sometimes our will does match up with His and that He has so many blessings for each of us in store. We know we have a long and interesting road ahead of us as new parents, but we are so grateful and excited for this new chapter of our lives!

Here is an update of where we are now:

Our 2014

Looking back on 2014, I'm so grateful to have a new year to start fresh! 2014 was the busiest and craziest year we've had together so far. We had many ups and downs, and I know it's cheesy, but I'm glad I had Taylor by my side cause it was nice to go through this year with him by my side and not alone! It was a good year, but I'm looking forward to having a new year with new experiences.

This year had a lot of faith-buidling experiences. There were so many unknowns and so many times that I was scared or nervous because we didn't know what was to come, where we'd be going, what we'd be doing, where I'd be working....you get the point. I'd love to say I'm one of those people who loves change and moving and meeting new people, but as outgoing as I may seem,  I'm a homebody. And I like that! But this year had no room for being just a homebody.

So here's a recap of our year, mostly for me and my memory, but also for any of my fellow blog-stalkers who just want something to read or skim over :)

January-- I finished my time working at the MTC because it was only a student job and I had just graduated (yay!) from BYU! I was on the job hunt for any job I could get because we'd be moving just 6 months later so I needed something to hold us over until then while Taylor was in school and working part time. I ended up finding a job working full time as customer service for doTERRA International and would start training in February.

During this month, Taylor finally got all of his optometry school applications in. And the waiting game began. 

February-- I started training for my new job while Taylor was gone each weekend for interviews for optometry school. We were excited, though a little overwhelmed, that he ended up being invited to interview at all of the schools that he applied to (5 schools). This was great, but we had to pay for all of his flights, hotels, rental cars, taxis, etc. which got really expensive really fast. We ended up deciding to have him interview at just 3 schools: Southern College of Optometry (Memphis, TN), University of Houston College of Optometry (TX), and Pacific University (Forest Grove, OR). We ended up cutting out and turning down Southern California College of Optometry (Anaheim, CA) and Ohio State after a lot of praying and careful consideration. 

During this time, Taylor had applied for a scholarship from the Navy which would pay for all of his schooling and give us a monthly stipend to live off of, and in return we'd give them 4 years of Taylor serving as an optometrist in the Navy after he graduated. This seemed perfect for us and they were very interested in him as an applicant as he had very high scores from the OAT apparently especially compared to many other applicants. Because of some purely bad timing with the application as well as some last minute changes made by the Navy with this scholarship, we found out this scholarship was no longer an option for us. I'll be honest, I was really upset with the way things turned out with this for many reasons. However, we realized that Heavenly Father must have just had a different plan for us. So we started looking into student loans. We were so grateful that this was a first for us as we were very fortunate to get through our undergrads without any student loans. So this was another 'first' (a very scary 'first') for us this year. 

Amidst all this craziness, we celebrated our 3rd Valentine's day being together, even if it was just me picking Taylor up from the airport at 9:30 PM after his interview at Houston. He was sweet and sent me an Edible Arrangement while I was at work, and he ended up being accepted within the hour of his interview, so the day was actually a pretty good one! We also celebrated Taylor's 25th birthday this month! 

March--We finally heard back from Pacific University. Taylor had officially been accepted to all three schools he interviewed at. The decision of where to go was easy but hard. Taylor and I both felt good and at peace about Houston, but we didn't know why as we had kind of thought we'd end up in Oregon since that was originally Taylor's first pick. This month we put in our deposit for Houston and turned down the other schools. 

This month we also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! 

April--Taylor and I both walked at graduation. He walked with my college, and we were so happy to each have family fly in just to come celebrate with us! 

May--Taylor had one more pre-req for optometry school so he was still in school and working at the MTC, and I continued working at doTERRA. 

June--Taylor finally finished school for real. Tay's mom and sister and her family came to visit us from Hawaii for about a week, which was so fun! 

July--Taylor officially finished working at the MTC after 2 years. We celebrated the 4th of July with some of my mom's family and the Nielsen's at our annual 4th of July BBQ and "water-fight" (I played it safe with the kiddos in the kid pool). We also went to the Stadium of Fire that night, which was Taylor's first Stadium of Fire. He joked that it was awkward cause his ex-girlfriend (Carrie Underwood) was there performing. We went on our annual trip to California for the Galan Family Reunion with my mom's family. We went to Disneyland for the first time together, Taylor threw me a little party with my close friends to celebrate my 23rd birthday! On my actual birthday, I slept in, caught up on my shows while Taylor had a dentist appointment (had to get in our last minute appointments in Utah!), then we started the day with some Waffle Love! Taylor took me shopping for a bit and we had a nice day together. 

I finished working at doTERRA the weekend before we moved and we quickly (really quickly) packed up our first little apartment we lived in together. We had so much help from our friends and family and people in our ward. We were so grateful! It all happened so fast I didn't really have time to be too sad about leaving, which was good I suppose. We said our goodbyes and we were off.

August--We got to our new place in Houston on August 1. We had tons of strangers (at the time) from our new ward come to help us move in, and we were so incredibly grateful. That month We spent a few weeks exploring around Houston but mostly just getting settled and enjoying the last little while we had before Taylor started school. Then Taylor started school and I continued the job hunt.

September--I started working as a nanny for a family I met through a girl in our ward who used to nanny for them. It's been crazy since I went from "having" no kids to 4, but it's been so fun!

October--We dressed up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse for Halloween! We had a few different fun parties and events that month. It was such a fun month before finals for Taylor!

November--We visited San Antonio for Thanksgiving and spent the holiday with Nicole's in-laws and Nicole and her family. It was a nice break from school and work for us.

December--Taylor was a trooper as he finished up finals and we got ready to go to Hawaii for Christmas!


If you made it this far, you are a true blog stalker follower! Just kidding. But really, that was a lot. But that's probably how "yalls" (I have completely learned and now appreciate the use of this southern term for group possession but my inner grammar-nerd won't let me use it [disclaimer--don't go through all my posts and find my errors, because I know there are plenty] year was.

I did myself a favor and blogged about last year's goals which helped me a) remember them b) keep myself accountable. I will be posting about how those went (because we all know they didn't all happen), and I'll also be posting this year's! Again, mostly for my sake and history, but also for those who are interested or who need ideas!

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year's celebration! Here's to 2015!