tribute

Tom's uncle just emailed to let us know that there is a really touching tribute to President Hinckley on the BYU website. You might need a kleenex. I should not have tried to watch this at work, my co-workers are going to think that I've lost it.

27 Weeks

Last Sunday Tom walked out of the bathroom after shaving with one of these:
I was not very pleased, but Tom thought it was hilarious. Luckily, the mustache only lasted two days. He said that it was in honor of his dad's birthday (which was last week, his dad used to have a mustache). I think he just wanted to annoy me ;)

I was lucky enough to have a fantastic experience this week. On Monday I went to a taping of the Ellen show with three girls from my ward. I was VERY excited and I was not disappointed. The taping was a blast and one of my friends even got to participate in a game at the beginning of the show and won a weekend stay in Las Vegas. We were only about three rows back so Ellen actually danced down our row. It was really great to get to know some girls from the ward a little better, we're so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people.

Well, I guess I should post a pregnancy picture. Here is a new one along with the other two that I've posted. They are at 21, 25, and 27 weeks (today). If you hover over the photo, a little caption will show up saying which one is which. Honestly, I feel like I look the same at 27 weeks as I did at 21 weeks which is making me a little nervous (although, pretty much everything makes me a little nervous). I have an appointment this Tuesday so we'll see how things are going.

As I was getting ready to sit down to write this I got a text message from my sister saying that President Hinckley has passed away. Although he lived a very long life, this news was very sad. I was only 11 when President Hinckley became the prophet and although I remember Presidents Benson and Hunter, most of my testimony in the gospel has developed with President Hinckley as the prophet. It's crazy to open msnbc.com and see this news so prominently displayed.

Less than 100 days

So occassionally I look at this website which tells you how far along you are in your pregnancy and how many days you have left. I hadn't looked in a while, and when I looked this morning I realized that there are LESS THAN 100 DAYS UNTIL MY DUE DATE. Oh gosh, I have so much to do.

yum

I just came home to find a box from Hogan (the firm Tom is working at this summer) which contained chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered oreos, and a note wishing us a happy new year. Yum. Why can't I come home to this every day?

25 Weeks

Well, my mom asked for an updated picture so I guess I'll post one. I don't think it really looks any different than the last one I posted at 21 weeks.
Everything is going well with the pregnancy. My only real complaint is that my left thigh goes numb every time I sit down. It's annoying, but life could be a lot worse. My appetite has also increased quite a bit over the last week or so. I have started to get a little nervous and have started to get worried about getting everything ready for the baby. We spent most of an entire day last week at Ikea picking out a dresser/changing table and then putting it together. I was so exhausted after that experience that I couldn't imagine doing all of that when I'm further along. Here's the dresser that we chose out, along with some cute animal photos that Tom chose for the baby's room:
Actually, Tom is calling the room the "maybe room" which stands for the man-baby room. We don't have a crib yet, but when we got one it will go next to the dresser. The other half of the room is occupied by Tom's computer desk and other electronic equipment.

In non-baby news, Tom started back at school this week. He only has class on Tuesday and Thursday so he has taken over helping out with more of the cooking and cleaning which has been fantastic. Work is still the same for me. It has been really slow so the weeks have been passing slowly.

Yesterday Tom's parents came down to visit. We had a nice dinner and then watched Fever Pitch at our apartment. They brought with them a bounty of citrus fruit from their backyard. This is what we have left after we shared with our home teachers. Delicious.

Best of 2007

I think that 2007 has to be my best year yet. Here are a few things that made this year great (I'm sure I missed a few things, but here are the highlights):

January 2007: We found out that Tom got a 4.0 his first semester in law school. The second best thing I found out all year (see August 2007).

January 2007: We celebrated my 23rd birthday. I don't remember what we did, but I'm sure it was wonderful.

March 2007: Tom and I celebrate our first anniversary.
May 2007: We vacationed in San Diego.
May 2007: My mom and stepdad visit from Utah.
Summer 2007: Tom worked for Irell and Manella in Century City. This was a great experience for both of us. Tom gained experience, we both met many new people, we tried all kinds of new restaurants, saw Wicked, and we took trips to Mammoth and Newport Beach. We were both very impressed with the firm.
July 2007: We spent the 4th of July weekend in Crestline with Tom's family. This was the first time I had seen several of them since our wedding and it was great to get to know everyone better.
July 2007: We moved into our new apartment. Which we love.
August 2007: We found out that we're going to have a baby :)
September 2007: We discovered our new favorite ice cream. We don't keep ice cream around very often, but this stuff is good.
Ice Cream Sandwich Ice Cream

November 2007: We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Utah.
December 2007: I started to get fat. This is me at 21 weeks (about 2 weeks ago)
December 2007: We celebrated Tom's 25th birthday with a wonderful dinner at C&O Trattoria. Yum. We sat on the patio and it started raining so it was quite an adventure, but we had a great time.
December 2007: Christmas with Tom's family in Bakersfield. This is two of our nieces, Sydney and Emma, playing with bubble wrap.
Overall, a pretty great year. We are looking forward to 2008 and all of the new things that will happen. We will become parents and Tom will begin his final year of law school, so hopefully next year will be even better than this one.

Merry Christmas

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas this year. We spent the holiday in Bakersfield with Tom's family. This was great for us because I only had a couple of days off work and we didn't have to travel very far, and it was also great because we got to spend time with our nieces and nephews who we don't see very often. Unfortunately we both got sick (along with just about everyone else), but it was nice to visit with everyone and get some rest. Best of all (thanks to our wonderfully generous families), we were able to get a couple of things that we need for the baby which is just what I wanted for Christmas :)

Happy Birthday to . . .

My wonderful husband on his 25th birthday.

What will Baby Jackman look like?

This is something that I have been thinking about lately. Tom and I actually have several similar features: we both have dark brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. We're both about the same height. But who knows what recessive genes could show up. Tom and his brother both have dark hair, but his sisters both have lighter hair. All of my siblings have some variation of red hair and Tom's dad has (well, had) red hair and we both have sisters who have blue eyes. Here are a few pictures (the first two are of me, the second two are of Tom) of what Baby Jackman could potentially look like (click the photo to view a larger image):
























Well, regardless she will be the cutest baby ever so I guess speculation won't do me any good. I will, however, be ok if she is spared my ears and Tom's cankles:
Tom would not let me take a picture of his cankles. Sorry.

20 Weeks :)

Well, I have reached my 20th week of pregnancy. Actually, at this point I'm about 20 and a half weeks and I'm finally starting to look a little pregnant. I love feeling her move around. I first felt her kick about a month ago and subsequently felt a kick or two every day or so until about a week ago and now she's pretty active. I am also enjoying that my appetite seems to be back. For some reason tortillas have completely grossed me out until just a few days ago. Considering that Tom and I rely heavily on burritos and quesadillas for dinner during the week, this has been a problem. Now I can eat pretty normally, the only aversion I still have is this orange flavored gum (we bought a box of it from Costco). I am still sleeping well and I am mostly comfortable, other than a little back pain. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts.

Right now Tom is studying for his last final. After that he gets about three weeks of vacation while I get to go to work every day. Do I sound bitter? Maybe just a little bit. I am desperately trying to save my sick and vacation days so that I can get full pay for as long as possible when I go on maternity leave. I haven't taken a single sick day this entire pregnancy. It has been excruciating.
In the midst of all of Tom's studying we attended the Hogan and Hartson holiday party last weekend (this is the firm where Tom will be working next summer). It was a dinner/casino night, very similar to the Irell and Manella party we attended in Newport Beach over the summer. It was very nice and we had lots of fun chatting and playing craps (with fake money) with some associates from the firm.

In the above photo I am wearing a maternity dress. It doesn't really look like a maternity dress because I definitely don't fill out maternity clothes yet, but my old clothes don't fit anymore and I got some really great deals the other day Old Navy so I have given in. I actually got my first pair of maternity pants a few weeks ago so that I would have them when I needed them, but I liked them so much that I've been wearing them ever since. Plus I have only bought a couple of new items of clothing since Tom started law school, so it has been nice to have something new to wear.

I will conclude with a couple of baby pictures. The first is of Tom's sister Denise's new baby boy AJ. The second is of my cousin Sharifa's new baby girl Summer being held by my cousin Anisa. They were both born on December 6th and they are both very cute :)

Happy Day

Wow, it seems like everyone is having babies lately. On Wednesday two of my friends had their babies, and yesterday Tom's sister and my cousin both had babies. Tom's sister Denise had a little boy who they named AJ (which stands for Arnold John). He was born last night via last minute c-section and weighed 7lb. 5 oz. My cousin Sharifa had a little girl who they named Summer. She was also born last night and weighed 7lb. 2oz. It's so much fun to have our families growing so quickly and it's crazy to think that we will have our own addition in just a few months. Pictures will hopefully follow soon . . .

Oh boy . . .

We just got back from our ultrasound and found out that we're having a girl :) This is what we had both guessed, so we aren't really surprised, but we are very excited. Everything in the ultrasound looked good (which was a great relief since I'm paranoid). The yet-to-be-named baby was measuring about 19.5 weeks which is perfect. Thanks everyone for voting in our little poll; it was fun to see what you thought and it looks like the majority was right.