Christmas Time Extravaganza

This Christmas season was definitely more of a season than just a single day to celebrate. It all started with two (horrible) plane rides to Alabama. Jeff was the best man for one of his mission companion's wedding and my grandparents live in Alabama so my Dad tagged along and we made a wonderful trip out of it. 

The wedding was fabulous, we got to go to their very special temple sealing at the Birmingham temple and then after our very first visit to Chick-fil-A which we thoroughly enjoyed, and a much needed nap, we went to their reception. The reception was fun and very festive for the wintertime; most importantly though, the couple was glowing with love and excitement that made everyone enjoy the party.

While with my grandparents in Oxford Alabama we went to the best BBQ shack in the south! We all had ribs that were smokey and so delicious, my dad ate 12 of them! Jeff had his first hush puppies and collard greens too!

It was great to see my grandparents, and especially for them to welcome Jeff into the family. We played phase 10 and Skip-Bo with my grandma, she loves cards so we all got along very well!

On Christmas Eve we flew back to San Mateo to spend the rest of the holiday with my parents and my mom's side of the family.

Christmas morning proved with loads of fun gifts to unwrap that we were all good boys and girls this year. 

My mom and dad really loved the wedding album we made them on Shutterfly

The greatest part was when all the presents were done and opened and jeff went and got one more, the best one! We opened it and up I yanked out the cute little girl outfit that lay inside, telling us we are having a little girl!! It was a very exciting moment for everyone, especially my family because they thought they were going to have to wait another 20 weeks to figure out her gender!! 

Then off to the kitchen to make our yearly tradition of eggs benedict for Christmas breakfast. It's quite an ordeal to make so we only do it once a year but it is definitely always worth it.

A bit later that day I found out that one of my clients was in early labor and that I could probably make it to her birth if I left the bay area soon. Jeff and I made the decision together, broke my parent's hearts that we wouldn't make it to our second round of family dinners and we left to head back to SLO. I made it right on time to the birth and their little baby was born with 20 minutes to spare on Christmas night.

It was a wonderful Christmas season for sure. We are sad we didnt get to see much of the Waldrams but we plan to make up for it!

Last but not least, the latest update of my belly at almost 20 weeks, half way!! 

Ive been feeling littly Riley kick more and more everyday, and Jeff has felt a little too! 

Until next time...

Who Speaks for the Babies?

When anyone finds out I am training to be a midwife, usually one of the first questions I get is "What training do you need to do that?" So, in a nutshell, I'm enrolled in National Midwifery College (in Vermont bc there isnt one in CA) and through that college I am required to do a certain amount of learning and work before I can take the NARM (north american registry of midwives, its the board exam to get my license.) NMI requires that I take a series of 10+ weeks of classes called Heart and Hands with a midwife named Elizabeth Davis. They were great hands on learning experiences that helped deepen and apply all that I was learning at the birth center. Also, I am required to do an apprenticeship. I needed to find a licensed midwife to train me in all the ways of midwifery, and luckily I've found one of the best! I have to do a certain amount of births and visits with her, first assisting, then taking on more of a main role.

Also, which is what inspired me to write this blog, I am required to do 52 modules of midwifery related book work. I am not very far along, I only started in September, but I am learning so much. Before I do, I just wanted to mention that even with all this training that I mentioned, becoming a midwife is a process of taking on responsibility and learning so many skills that sometimes cannot be learned, they have to be already in you. It has been an amazing journey, being involved in birth, and thats why I love it!

Twist my arm.....

So I finally decided to join the blogger club and make a blog for our family! Why not I guess right?
Here is what has been going on:
Jeff and I have been married for 4 months (yesterday) and we love our life together. Getting pregnant early in our marriage was something we both knew we wanted so here we are, 16 weeks and 2 days pregnant! We were so excited when we found out and it has just been a journey since then. My mom was sick through her entire 3 pregnancies so I prayed that I would be fortunate and not inherit those genes. I think luck passed me by this time. I've been pretty sick for several months, and now thank goodness, it is tapering off and giving me relief during the day-as long as I eat every hour or two! Night times are rough, but I have my sweet husband that takes care of me and helps as much as he can. I still hope that in a few more weeks I'll feel good again, we'll see. 
I made a break through and did my first exercising yesterday, just a bit of yoga at home but it was a huge step for me! I plan to go to the gym for yoga tomorrow, wish me luck!
All in all, I love being pregnant and it is very exciting. I felt the baby move (or flutter like a fish really) for the first time on Monday night, which was very exciting. Jeff is very anxious for the day when he'll be able to feel. 
We will have our ultra sound before we leave for our Christmas trip to Alabama, and we keep going back and forth between wanting to find out the gender and wanting to keep it a secret.... so we'll see what our ultimate decision is! Jared and Jeff call the baby a boy, I call it a girl and my whole family think it'll be a girl... we'll see. Maybe we should take bets ;)
For those of you who don't know, we are planning a home-birth and are really looking forward to it. It'll be hard for me to phase out from my favorite thing of going to the birth center and to births but I hear that my attention and interest may transition toward my baby around then ;) I'm sure I'll be very preoccupied once he/she enters the world. 
Well thats enough for now, here's a pic of my growing belly. Definitely starting to look prego, still a small belly but more than I'm used to! 
I dont take lots of pictures so we'll see how this blog turns out...