A change in scenery...

This blog will probably not be used as much due to the fact that the center of my attention has suddenly become one very sweet little girl. To continue following my life, go here: http://jadylynn.blogspot.com/

HMO's, PFO's, UFO's

I seem to blog about things that are driving me crazy. So for this week's rant: Insurance.
I had no idea what a head ache I would be putting myself through when deciding to graduate 1 month before Jadyn is due. We were under the impression that we were covered for 6 months after I graduated...fail...in the real world this does no happen. My insurance is terminated on Monday. It's like D-day, only if I get injured I wouldn't be able to go to the doctor. But I did find a solution--- Extended Coverage! You can continue to get the lovely Deseret Mutual coverage for 9 more months, so long as you are willing to pay 6 times the amount you were paying while in school! (I feel like I may be overdoing it on exclamation points but I am fully exclaiming). Since we are 8 months in with a doctor there's no changing now so we will have to pay for one month of the "pay so much you almost would prefer just giving them your kidney" plan. So we have added a bit to the baby bill. Even still, a baby is a baby and you can't put a price on that, so I am happy nontheless!

Second, we are looking for another option after we have paid the dues, extending at least a couple more months of living with mom and dad---side note: I LOVE living with my parents, but will never feel that I am progressing completely until I am taking care of my own home, so I do want an end it sight. Plus I don't want a toddler still sleeping in the same room with mommy and daddy. Things could get slow-developing---We found an insurance company that is fairly low but will just add more to the pot. I am not planning on driving to Lousiville anymore for work so my hours are going to drop. Jace is working on finding work. And I just don't want to do Medicaid! Maybe I am too prideful. I don't want things handed to me, but I can't help thinking that the more insurance we pay more, the less able we will be to go out on our own eventually. How can we do this? I want to provide for my family, be a good mother, have insurance, buy a house in the future and it's all just so expensive! And the more I think about everything we need to buy and everything we need to have prepared, the longer I want Jadyn to wait. I am going to have another dream about my water breaking FOR SURE tonight.

Last week...ever

I am on my final week of college. Of course, that means this is THE most stressful week of my life, but there are some things that are keeping me going. Number one came this morning. Jace is helping me with my final ad campaign (Apple iMac) and he stumbled upon this ad. Pretty much, Apple rocks. I get a little consumed by campaigns I work on so last night I had a dream that I was stuck in a very compromising position against some sort of scary nemesis. My saving move was drawing the Apple Logo in the sand. Apple rescued me just in the nick of time!
 Other things...
- due to the sudden fear that my water is going to break when I least expect it I am working really really fast!...just in case.
- Though stress is building, I am doing my best to savor this last little bit of knowledge I am gaining. Education will continue, but it will not be so automatic.
- I got through the Childbirth Express class! That's right. I watched two birthing videos and did not squirm once. I was quite fascinated.

Other than that I will see you all on the other side...the graduated side.

Transmission, Temple, T...Volvo

It has been QUITE a while since we have been to the temple...ok like 3 weeks. Our first kid is still cookin so we have no excuse. We set the day and took off in our oh-so noble Subaru. The little guy seemed to be doing just fine. Apparently cars go through a similar process as animals/humans before they die. They start looking really good and acting like they are getting better, but it's a dirty trick!

Flashback: Sacrament meeting a couple weeks prior
Jace and I write notes to each other a lot during sacrament meeting. I always have a lot on my mind and he likes to doodle, so it's a win-win. By the end of the meeting, we had our life planned. Neat! It goes as follows:
Save 1,000 a month until January 2011
With our 10,000 put a healthy down-payment on a shiny new car, get rid of Subaru.
Save Save Save. Have a nice down payment for a house once Jace gets out of school PLUS an impressive credit report thanks to our car payments on the shiny new car.
In order for us to live comfortably in a $200,000 home, Jace would have to get a job with a salary of $60,000/year...not bad eh?

January 2011...that's when Subaru is supposed to die. I forgot to tell him though.

Flashforward: driving to the temple
A sound erupts from Subaru (we could never settle on a name, but let's call him Phil). If sounds could be spelled out, it was something like: eeeeeeee kluck kluck kluck dump ssssssss ptickush ptickush....boom.
Transmission is done...so much for sacrament meeting planning! And so much for going to the temple!

Luckily we are diligent little savers so we bought a Volvo XC. And it is cool! I drove it home completely intimidated by the power it gave me. Cars not only let me merge into their lane, but also slowed and bowed down to the beautiful silver mom wagon. It was on my dream list of my future mom car. This one is used, very used, by very very happy. Volvo and Phil would have never sat at the same table in school. A comparison of the two:
Volvo: Has seat warmers.
Phil: Shivers when it's cold outside.
Volvo: Has Turbo.
Phil: Has reverse...sometimes.
Volvo: Tells me how many miles per gallon I am getting.
Phil: Did about a mile per gallon.
Volvo: Has a pen holder.
Phil: Has a chunk bitten out of the driver seat so you can learn the anatomy of foam.
Volvo: Drives fast.
Phil: Dies Fast.

Some of you may be thinking I am very ungrateful for the transportation abilities Phil offered me. I may be a little infatuated by the new toy, tis true. But Phil will be missed. I did cry when he died, and not just because we didn't make it to the temple. No no, it was tears of true loss. He has been my car for three years. He got me through many Rexburg Blizzards. He was hit by an unknown source, had some very unfortunate hub caps, agreed to long voyages to utah and colorado, and even let me put some stickers on him. He was a good car.

Pictures to follow!

Time...you are my nemesis

It is day three of Standard Time and my body still is saying "ahhhhh!" It wants to sleep another hour; it does not embrace change well. Try as I might, I may just have to give in and be late for everything for another 6 months.
Time has been a bit of a soft spot for me for quite some time now. It is always lurking next to me, but we have not been formally introduced. It's like time is stalking me. It doesn't even have the decency to come up and tell me "hi, I'm Time. I am deceptively short....and long."
I don't have time to read every book about pregnancy. I don't even have time to finish ONE! Which means I do not have time to even think about parenting books (whoops, I just thought  of it.  I'm sure I'll be late for something now because of it). I want to be ready. But how ready can you truly be? Everyone tells you giving birth is hard, parenting is hard, everything changes, but it is so wonderful... so all I can really do is wait for the inevitable. I was terrified about this whole child birth thing until just yesterday. I was driving to pick up Jace. I pictured holding her. I was overcome by joy, and the pain didn't matter anymore.
Time is short: when I think about work, school and all the things I need to do to feel accomplished.
Time is long: when I think about getting a house, buying a new car and becoming middle class.

Time....you suck.

It seems like time and me are in different time zones. And I think it only fair that time comes to me because I am in my third trimester so I can't travel. I don't think time is pregnant. Maybe if we were better friends I would know. If it were what would it have?

I'm Scared.

There I said it.
I'm scared to be a parent.
I'm scared to push out the child that I will be parenting.
I'm scared of doing nothing.
I'm scared of sleep deprivation.
Of growing up too fast.
Of starting to use the phrase "back in my day" and "kids these days".
Of blogging about how I cleaned...and it felt good.

But other things on my mind, are not scaring me, more so just musings....
I can't see my toes if I stand up straight.
If I ever wondered what it would be like to try and tie my shoes while reaching over a beach ball, I do not have to wonder anymore.
Jace's hair looks different every day. Sometimes I think he needs a haircut, but sometimes I don't.
I really like stripes.
It's strange that we like to post our thoughts for everyone to see...and we expect people to comment on them...it's strange...but kind of cool.
Are pregnant bellies good floatation devices?
My bangs are at a good phase again. For a while they would only do one thing. Grease. But now they do lots of tricks. It's nice.
Does my doctor do drugs? She's always oddly calm.


Thoughts that are making me happy. Less musing. Just happy.
I sang all the Mary Poppins songs before I fell asleep and Jace had to keep telling me the words.
Jace is one of the best people I have ever met.
There is a foot sticking out of my stomach. I made that foot.
This post is long. I must think a lot.
Someone is going to laugh at something I said today. They just don't know it yet. Op! just happened.
I am wearing my favorite shirt. It has stripes.

Oh sad thought! The Boy in the Striped Pajamas....

....now where was I?
Blue gatorade.
I did something my boss liked this week. I will be praised.
I am about to go to boulder to film a pointless movie. And I'm getting paid to do it. Don't know if that should be in the musings section.

Thoughts complete.

Hello Third Trimester!

That's right! We haved arrived at 28 weeks. Life is busier than ever. I cannot wait for Jadyn to come. I'll just have one job :) That doesn't sound so bad.

Alright Ladies...

Epidural or Natural? What are the benefits of natural, dangers of an epidural? I can't decide what to do mainly because I have never had a baby before so I have no idea what to expect. Please... enlighten me.

Everyone needs some teen time.

I have been thinking a lot this week about what I can do to make our life a little more fun. I have every day in the week booked with school and work. Jace is at school sometimes for 12 hours a day. Needless to say, we are usually pretty pooped by the time we see each other at night. It has become routine to come home and collapse on the couch and watch "Friends" until we fall asleep. It is nice to relax, but I must admit, I am getting a little tired of Movies and TV! 
Yesterday, I was craving pizza. I emailed Jace while I was at work to tell him about it. He was very supportive of my craving so I told him we would have it for dinner...that's when the wheels started turning. I pick him up around 9:00pm on these days and always have dinner waiting for him in the passenger seat. He knew there would be pizza, but I wanted it to be more than just pizza. I wanted pizza in an exciting place! I goggled Denver Lookout sites with no luck. I was going to choose a really cool monument at Cheesman Park, but then realized we would probably be mugged so late at night. Finally, I thought I had the place.
I ordered Jace's favorite: Pappa John's, and hurried out to fulfill my mission. I threw a blanket in the back of the car and headed for my first stop, King Soopers to get sparkling cider, strawberries and a snack for Jace to munch on while we drove to the destination. I then picked up the pizza and hid everything under the blanket,  not too well. Jace could smell it when he got in the car and I did my best to distract him with the snack. 
I thought somewhere by Cherry Creek High school would be perfect. It's above everything. The park would have been good, but we chickened out at the thought of getting locked in. I searched and searched, then found a turn to the school parking lot  with a nice big sign that said "no tresspassing"...PERFECT! We parked. Ate our pizza. Listened to Jack Johnson. Watched for Rent-a cops. It was just like being 16 again. We still haven't renewed the registration on our car...so trouble was lurking from every corner. 
I was the best mini-date ever. THIS is what we've needed...a little danger. I am totally revamped now!

Jacey's Masterpiece

This is a project he did for his typography class. The assignment was to make a portrait entirely from type. 34 hours later, he made this. For those of you that know us really well, you may recognize the words...they are the lyrics from the first song Jace ever wrote me. Make sure you click on the picture to zoom in so you can appreciate the detail.
p.s. Jace LOVES school!

God Has Heard

I have found many variations of what the name "Jadyn" means, but one that has really stuck with me is "god has heard." Was she an answer to prayer? I didn't seem to have any trouble getting pregnant! But everything seems to be pointing to her. We were told to move...NOW, I got the perfect job for a pregnant lady, and Smashburger is now just around the corner.
Though every child is a blessing, I think she has especially been an answer to prayer even though I didn't know I was praying for her. I have found myself on my knees constantly asking for more hope for the future, more of a reason to push through the days, more of a reassurance that we are doing what is right, more courage, more determination to be better...and every time I feel a little nudge on my tummy... suddenly all my pleadings are granted.

It's December, Finals are over...this calls for a post!

What a wonderful month this has been. I discovered that my husband is very fun to shop for! Things keep coming to mind that I remember he has mentioned throughout the year that he would like to have. So I have been a very preceptive wife and spoiled him to the max. How fun! I would say what I got him, but I am bound and determined to surprise him...and so far he has ruined three of the surprises, so I am holding by a thread!

Ok...let's do some highlights from the month!

1. We got Roxy a christmas sweater. It was 2 dollars and very cute. He has been looking so cold. He willingly let me slip it on even though it makes his hips look quite large. I think he really likes it. The only problem is that it has disappeared...hmmm

2. We went to court for Onyx. My mom cried she was so scared. Poor thing, just can't handle breaking the law. I, on the other hand seem to be a criminal at heart. I felt no fear. I said with complete confidence "I am guilty of having an unlicensed cat who is insane!"

3. We finished finals!

4. I got my first "C". A very, VERY humbling experience. I know this may come as a surprise to all you readers, but I am not perfect.

5. I sewed. Twice! I am learning how to be a house wife.

6. The baby kicked! I swear it wasn't just my tummy growling. I got a nudge. It was amazing.

7. We are very nearly close to moving into the basement. The men have been working night and day to reconstruct the boiler room. I doesn't feel like a creepy closet anymore. In fact, it's quite homey!

These are the highlights thus far, stay tuned for more!

First Halloween Costume!

The idea was hippies. Jace's fluffy hair and my long hair with bangs just made sense. Jace and I practically live like hippies anyways. So we set out for the thrift store for groovy threads. We came out with darth vader leotards. Yes, I think it is safe to say that us as a couple means that nothing will end up the way that we planned...but we decided to be "from the future". We (I) followed around the Wal Mart re-stocker until he would give me a Lindsey sized and Jacey sized box, spray painted them, super glued pie tins and a giant thermometer, and topped it off with funny hats. I think if we were to enter ourselves into the third grade science fair we would win! This was the BEST Halloween yet. Next year, we are going to make costumes that are a little easier to move in.

Our First Snowman

We Had a blizzard the first week of October! It was such a nice surprise. I really wanted to make a snowman and after much convincing and begging I got Jace to agree. Me, Jace and Mommy Lady began making your typical snowman. But then Jace decided that the biggest snowball was much more exciting! From that we decided to make a scary snowman for halloween, which lead to my Dad's childhood nightmare of a three-legged chicken. Alas, our final piece was a three legged chicken with his sidekick dragon.

Our first Macbooks!

...and many more to come. We looooove Mac's now. Not only do you look cooler, but you truly are cooler with a Mac. Last semester Jace and I went to the BYU-Idaho Bookstore Loyalty Party not expecting anything ( but really long names for parties can be decieving). Just as we were about to leave do to disappointment after not finding Abe Lincoln first, getting an ipod, or even a fancy pen my raffle ticket was called!! I was so excited! I don't win things often so this was a big deal. I won 400$. So we were not too disappointed about the pen loss because we could now buy 400. We thought for a moment. First logically...put it in the bank...then as Jacey and Lindsey tend to think when we put our heads together too long so we bought me a MacBook. It was already on sale for 800 so we only had to spend 400 bones. Amazing first!!!

Roxy the boy

We acquired yet another cat. Carly found a friend at her doorstep, and our socially ritarded cat needed a friend. It has turned out to be a really good thing for Onyx. We thought for sure that we had two adorable little girl cats, but then Onyx showed HIS true colors one day. It turns out that the new kitty, Roxy is a boy too! They are so fun. I feel like this is really good parents practice. There's no doubt about it. Despite what I may want to stand by, I am going to spoil my kids rotten. Our two cats are soo pampered. How did that happen?

Yay I got a blog!

Well I decided it was about time I joined the blogger community. Jace and I have been married almost 5 months now! I thought everyone would like to know about our exciting life.
We have made two large investments so far that we are pretty proud of. We got a couch and a cat. The couch will be paid off soon hopefully, the cat was free, but she is has definitely cost more. We do adore our little Onyx but she is such a pest! We both have scratches all over our arms. She makes a mess of the house but she has us wrapped around her little paw. Onyx has cerebral palsey ( of course, of all the cats we could have chosen, we choose the one that is "special"). Everywhere she walks, her little backend betrays her. She tumbles all over the place. It is really cute. Just now she knocked over a bag of bells that Jace and I bought last night. We decided she needed a bell so we didn't step on her. Well, now we're just going to be stepping on a bunch of bells. This is really good practice for when we have actual children.