babymoon

with all the school/work we've had throughout this entire pregnancy we thought a babymoon would be out of the question for sure but magically, the stars aligned and my parents gave us an early Christmas gift and sent us to a hotel for Thanksgiving weekend! 

we had plans of eating way too much food and drinking sparkling cider while wearing hotel robes.

and i couldn't stop thinking how much i would love to float around weightless in the pool for-e-ver! 

unfortunately, Hawaii had other plans in mind. like rain! 

it rained almost the whole time we were at the hotel but we didn't let that spoil anything! 

i still got to float around in the pool for a little while and we still ate some great food! 

i also had Matt paint my toenails since i can't even think about reaching my feet and i was sure to take a picture to thoroughly embarrass him!

plus, we took FULL advantage of the AC unit in our hotel room since we're still sweating buckets in our little apartment. 

yes, even in December. 

we had literally been in the hotel room for two seconds before Matt's shirt was off and the AC was set low.

and then he makes this little video.

and i never stop laughing at his little hip shake dance! 

so Hawaii couldn't get us down! 

this baby on the other hand, he certainly has a mind of his own! 

he didn't want to miss out on all the fun we were having so on Saturday he decided to scare me and be super lazy. usually he's active active active so i didn't like the fact that i couldn't feel him wiggling and squirming. 

then there was some bleeding. i thought maybe it was just normal and nothing to worry about since it wasn't very much blood but i called my doctor just to be sure and he sent us to the birthing center to get checked out. 

everything turned out just fine but for a second there i thought we were going to have a baby that night! 

and of course the only thing i could think about was the fact that we hadn't been smart enough to think to bring a hospital bag or the car seat with us. 

yeah...apparently those are the kinds of things i worry about when i think i'm going to be pushing a baby out of my lady bits. 

BUT...no baby arrived during the babymoon. thank goodness. 

and we still managed to salvage the rest of the weekend after our little hospital trip and we had a really great time for our last hurrah before Baby Mars gets here! 

*note: Matt is seriously hilarious! when we were gonna take that pic of our robe wearing/cider drinking he set the timer on his phone and then jumped on the bed and said "laugh like we're rich!" and now i can't stop laughing at that ridiculous picture! even though robes are probably the most unflattering thing for a pregnant person to wear EVER!

pregnancy achievement

as far as pregnancy achievements go, i haven't had too many.

i definitely missed out on that awkward stranger touching my bump or giving me unsolicited advice about my pregnancy achievement. 

i don't know if i should feel grateful or like i missed out on an important right of passage. 

the only people other than Matt that have felt my bump or felt baby move are friends that i force to do it just so i can watch them get creeped out. 

(yeah...all my friends are young and think i'm carrying a parasite inside of me. in a nice way of course!)

so yeah...no one cares to touch/talk to me but when Matt and i were on our babymoon we were in the elevator at our hotel with a very chatty guy and he looked over at me and then at his watch and said "well, it looks like it's about time for you!" 

i've heard a lot of stories of how prego ladies hate it when people make these kind of comments but i was seriously so excited! i was like "IT IS ALMOST TIME, CRAZY STRANGER! THANK YOU FOR NOTICING!" and then i gave him a mental hug as we left the elevator.

so i may not have unlocked very many pregnancy achievements but at least i have that one! 

prego halloween

i really thought we wouldn't be able to give halloween the attention it deserves this year with all the work, school and baby-making that we have going on but i'm seriously so glad we did!

it's just not halloween unless the masons are making and wearing ridiculous costumes, amiright??

as it got closer and closer to halloween we still hadn't decided on a good costume idea that would allow both of us to be something awesome AND would show off this baby bump with style.

finally, as we sat and enjoyed a super incredibly delicious meal at Wendy's one night, we had the best costume brainstorming session ever!

and the idea was born!

 and the best part? it took very little effort! 

we're usually making our costumes for months but this literally only took a couple nights and a trip to the thrift store.  

perfection!

so without further ado...

Ron Swanson and "All the bacon and eggs you have"

i'm really surprised by the lack of holiday parties that go on in this little college town but we did manage to sneak our way into our friends' ward party the night before halloween!

they ended up having a costume contest and the judge lady had us all cracking up when she saw our costumes.

first, she had no idea who matt was.

then she spent a good amount of time staring at me and then walked away only to do a double take at the last second and yell out "oh my gosh! it's a baby!"

apparently my egg yolk baby bump wasn't as obvious as i thought it was.

but i ended up winning the award for funniest costume! 

the judge told me the baby won it for us so this counts as Marshall's first costume contest award!

is he our kid or what?!

real talk

school is hard. 

i feel like i just kinda coasted through high school and even my associates degree. the classes i took were boring and meaningless and i never really had to put much effort into any of them. then i came here and found that science degrees are no joke. this is seriously the hardest semester i've had EVER. when i'm not in class, i'm in lab. when i'm not in lab, i'm studying in the library. when i'm not studying in the library, i'm writing papers at home. when i'm not writing papers, i'm doing chemistry homework. it's an endless cycle of school and it's piled on top of being pregnant and constantly hungry and sleepy and worried about my due date that seems to be creeping up on me and will be here before i know it and i'm not prepared! 

this week i have an exam in every single one of my classes. it's not mid term week or anything like that, this is just how almost every 2 weeks go. it seems that almost every teacher is on the "2 week exam" schedule this semester and they plan their weeks to be exactly the same! my week this week will consist of all my regular classes plus two 3 hour long labs plus homework plus 2 book reports plus an exam every single day. 

i might die.

i'm starting to have serious doubts about whether i'll be able to handle this school thing. it's a full time job and i'm about to have a newborn around here that's gonna need a lot of love and attention. it doesn't help that i also have every teacher at school telling me "oh you'll drop out as soon as that baby is born." really?? that was super helpful mr. biology teacher. thank you for reinforcing my biggest stress and fear as of late. 

i really don't know what i'm going to do. i don't want to drop out. i'll only have 3 semesters left by the time our little baby boy is here but if they are anything like this semester has been...

someone send help. and cookies. 

reasons my baby is da bomb

from the very beginning of this pregnancy things have been Rough - with a capital R.

all the years that we were hoping and praying to have a baby i had this image of me being pregnant and let me tell you, this pregnancy has been nothing like my image.

i'm not all cute with a perfectly round baby bump.

i'm not leisurely taking naps all the time and laying around reading all the baby books on my reading list.

i'm not eating all the foods i'm craving and sending Matt to the store at all hours of the night for ice cream and cookies and pickles.

instead...

my baby bump moves around all over the place as baby boy uses my insides as his own personal jungle gym.

i don't think i've taken a single nap since becoming pregnant.

reading baby books? HA! i can hardly even keep up with all my school work right now!

and FORGET about eating foods i'm craving. i would kill for a waffle from Joe's Farm Grill right now.

basically, those girls who say they LOOOVE being pregnant tricked me. they are complete and total liarfaces.

but, while my experience being pregnant has been less than ideal, this kid inside my tummy has totally won my heart.

he is such a tough little guy and already has the cutest personality!

honestly, he is the best.

REASONS

1. the week before i found out i was pregnant i went scuba diving. normally you're not supposed to go scuba diving while pregnant but apparently my little one is already a little adventurer and loves the ocean. yeah yeah he was obviously too itty bitty for it to make any kind of a difference but in my head, he's a little scuba diving maniac just like his mommy and daddy.

2. gestational diabetes is the root of all evil. i tried so hard to manage it with just diet and exercise but apparently that just doesn't work for some people. baby suffered with me as we went from diet-exercise to diet-exercise-pills and now diet-exercise-insulin. now we are a master gestational diabetes team that kicks all kinds of butt! plus, he puts up with all the needles much better than i do.

3. one of the issues with the gestational diabetes is that we found out i had it after all of baby's organs had started to develop so there was a seriously scary chance that baby's heart didn't form correctly and he either wouldn't survive or need emergency care upon delivery. we had a fetal echocardiogram done to check all the heart valves and assess the situation and it was completely nerve-racking. we had to wait until i was 23 weeks along so the appointment was hanging over our heads for months but when the doctor came in and checked things out she was super upbeat and almost immediately told us everything looked absolutely perfect! it was the best news we've ever received! and watching our little boy wiggle and squirm and hide from the tech trying to get his measurements was one of the funniest and sweetest things i've ever seen. the pictures melt my heart every time i look at them.

4. it's scary to get in a car accident at any time but when you're pregnant? oh man. last wednesday i was driving home with my friend from coconut island and i stopped for a school bus that had its stop sign out and the car behind me rear ended me. the kid that got out of the car told me straight up that he was taking a sip of his drink and wasn't paying attention. at the time i was so busy with getting insurance information exchanged and making sure everyone else was ok that i hardly even thought about myself but on the way home i couldn't stop worrying about my little baby boy. i could still feel him moving around in there but figured i'd call my OB just to be sure. i explained what happened to the doctor and he told me to go to the hospital to be monitored for 6 hours and have blood work done. i thought that was a little extreme and we talked about it a little more and then he sent me to his wife who comes to the BYU health center on wednesdays so she could check me first and see if going to the hospital was necessary or not. she did an ultrasound and baby was kicking like crazy and the placenta was perfect so she told me to keep an eye on things but as far as she could tell baby was perfectly happy and healthy. i saw my doctor again a couple days later and he said because i had let go of the brake when i was hit there was no hard jerking motion and that probably was the key to keeping baby safe. honestly, i had no idea i even did that so it's either a miracle or our baby is just the bee's knees and tough as nails. probably both!

anyway, is it weird for me to brag about my kid when he's not even born yet?

yeah? a little? well i don't care.

my baby is seriously the champion of ALL THE BABIES and i will gladly deal with all the not-so-pretty parts of pregnancy just so he can join our little family!

(profile)

(hiding from the tech lady and seriously cracking us up!)

(when he finally showed his little face!)

last first day of school before baby

was it seriously the first day of fall semester already?!

i literally just finished summer semester a week ago and i'm already back at it.

today really felt like it flew by.

i had four classes in a row today. that seems like too much and then i remember that on wednesdays i have to be at school from 8:30am-5:30pm.

yeah...this semester isn't going to kill me right? RIGHT??

baby boy was a champ today during all the syllabus reading and introduce yourself-ing.

the only time i was like "ok baby and i are over this" was when i was standing in the ridiculously long line at the bookstore waiting to waste a good chunk of a paycheck on books i'll never use again after the next 3 months.

oh the joys of being a college student.

Matt reminded me yesterday that this is the last first day of school i'm gonna have before the little nugget arrives.

and then he realized that we probably should've done something super fun this summer because now when are we gonna get a chance to take a vacation before the little nugget arrives?

oh well, hopefully we can swing something for our anniversary in november.

all i kept thinking about all day was when exactly the final exams are being held because if this baby comes sooner than he's supposed to (which doctor said is very likely) then how the heck am i going to take those exams??

i refuse to sit in these classes all semester just to miss the finals and fail the classes! 

so baby, are you listening? you need to stay in there until my very last final is turned in. get it? got it? good!

the very best part of my day was wearing my new flannel jacket Matt let me buy! 

pretty sure i'm never taking it off for as long as i live! 

baby update listy list

a list of things that are going on in the world of making baby Mason! 

(this pic cracks me up! how cute is this guy?!)

- while no one has tried touching me yet i find myself getting stared at all the time while i walk around campus. apparently most girls that were going to school and then got knocked up drop out pretty quickly. so there i am, the prego girl still sitting in classes and people are weird around me. it might be all in my head but i feel like everyone avoids eye contact with me and doesn't want to sit or stand near me. i find myself wanting to scream "IT'S JUST A BABY GUYS, NOT AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE!" 

- Matt finally felt baby kick last saturday! baby was especially rowdy that day so i just knew Matt would be able to feel it and he did!! he put his hand on my belly and we hardly even had to wait before baby boy gave him a few hard kicks! Matt was so excited! he's been trying to feel the little guy moving all the time now and i don't know if it's just because he knows what it feels like now or if he and baby are bonding but baby always seems to know when his daddy wants some love and he goes nuts! 

- i'm experiencing one of the many joys of pregnancy right now - a pain in my left butt cheek that sends shooting pains all the way down my leg every time i take a step or lift that leg or turn in bed or twist my body. it's super amounts of fun, as you can imagine. i'm gonna talk to the doc about it at my next appointment because it was seriously so bad on wednesday that when i went to sit on our bed i started crying. it's probably a bad sign when you're in so much pain from sitting on a BED that you cry. from everything i've read this is totally common i'm just hoping there's something i can do to make it GO AWAY! 

- sometimes Matt and i wear matching shirts and have bump contests. cause we're awesome like that!

- my new sleep position is on my side sandwiched between two body pillows. not only does it help with the previously mentioned pain but its cozy, like i'm sleeping in a little nest.

- my very favorite purchase we've made lately is an ice machine! i don't get to indulge in pregnancy cravings like most prego people but one thing baby really likes is freezing cold water throughout the day. i used to bring my water bottle everywhere with me and snag ice from restaurants and stuff but now i don't have to! Matt was worried the ice machine would be a waste of money but now he realizes it so SO wasn't. we make a huge batch of ice almost every day!! it's just so nice to be able to walk around the freakishly hot and humid campus with my water bottle jingling because of the ice inside. i'm obviously very easy to please. 

plus, if you combine ice with diet coke with splenda in my new mason jar i will be the happiest girl on the island! 

- i was put on insulin to control this whole gestational diabetes thing and it seems to be going pretty well. all of my blood sugar numbers are within range and it actually helps me eat a little more carbs than before so i don't get too low. my tummy is starting to get really sore from all the needle pricks though. sad day. haven't doctors come up with a better way to take insulin already?

- baby LOVES music! i was making breakfast the other morning and listening to spotify when Billie Jean came on and baby started movin' and groovin', the natural response when listening to any Michael Jackson song. this baby is so my kid!

(20 weeks)

- i have caught my first glimpse of stretch marks starting to form. i want to be one of those girls that's like "stretch marks are my battle scars and i will wear them proudly!" but right now i'm just sad and hormonal and fat and i'm gonna complain about them for a little while mmkay?

- the past week or so baby has been so incredibly active! i feel him ALL THE TIME! part of me thinks it's so stinkin' cute and the other part of me gets creeped out that there's a living thing rolling around on my insides. i watch too many sci fi movies.

(22 weeks and you can't see my feet!)

shark week top 3

let's talk some shark week shall we?

this year was kinda...meh.

a lot of "omg sharks are gonna eat you up!" and "hey we're telling really stupid jokes that NO ONE is laughing at!"

but let's not talk about the shows that were sucko, let's talk about the shows that were JAWSOME!

like my shirt that Matt bought me.

it got here too late to be worn during shark week but really, i don't need shark week to wear this amazing shirt! 

so the first episode i super liked was Return of Jaws.

if you like science that includes robots you'll love this episode! 

they tag great whites and this robot follows the tag and gives them constant video of the sharky action.

if they can give that little robot a longer battery life it will totally change the way sharks are tagged and observed in the wild!

next we have Spawn of Jaws.

a really awesome episode of trying to find out where great whites mate and pup.

great whites have never been seen mating before. we have no idea where they go for a romantic time or where they go to give birth so figuring all this out will be a huge step to protecting those areas so great whites can repopulate.

also, paul walker. he's a fast and furious shark stud. 

and last but certainly not least, Alien Sharks of the Deep.

this episode was truly amazing! 

most people have never seen sixgill, frill, goblin or megamouth sharks before and that's exactly what needs to be shown during shark week!

as cool as great whites, tigers and bull sharks are - they're not the only cool sharks out there!

this episode took you on a journey into the deep deep ocean and captured images of the sharks that are rarely ever seen.

and they got the first footage of a live megamouth shark! 

discovery channel, show more like this please!

so now my favorite week of the year is over :(

good thing i recorded the episodes above so i can watch them over and over and over again.

and i would like to take this time to say to all the people that think all my shark talk is overkill...

there's a baby in there

so yesterday, after a day of waking up at 5:30 AM to get to class, then doing a bunch of homework followed by another class i then had to immediately run to the doctor for our fetal anatomy scan. 

so i've already had an entirely full day and i'm exhausted and then do you know how long the scan took??

AN HOUR AND A HALF!! 

an hour and a half of me laying there with an ultrasound tech pushing all over me and making me have to pee! 

and it really wouldn't have been that bad if i could've seen the ultrasound screen but i didn't even get to see it! it was facing away from me the entire time! 

the tech said she couldn't tell me anything that the scan showed except for the gender (still a boy, in case you were wondering!) but i did get her to tell me if the baby is measuring big because that's a gestational diabetes worry but nope! baby is the perfect size so far! 

i think the coolest part of the whole scan was in the first half hour or so i started feeling something funny going on in my tummy and i asked if the baby was moving around a lot or something and the tech told me he was wiggling like crazy. 

I FELT THAT! 

the past couple weeks i've been wondering if i was really feeling baby boy move around or if it was just my tummy growling but this time i definitely knew it was him! and now it's like i can't NOT feel him, ya know? 

I even got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom last night and when i tried to fall back asleep he apparently decided that was the time to throw a major party in my belly! i can only imagine what it's going to be like when he gets bigger! he's already a rambunctious little guy! 

it might sound weird to a lot of people but i feel like that day, after i felt him move for realsies for the first time, it all became very real to me. i feel more connected to this little life growing inside of me. i think for so long i was trying to keep my distance emotionally because it took us so long to get pregnant and even after we got pregnant there were complications and it was a high risk pregnancy. but now, there's a tiny human in there. a tiny human that has tiny fingers and toes. a tiny human that wiggles and squirms and already keeps me up at night. a tiny human that i love so much. 

maternity pants heaven

so i woke up yesterday morning and looked down to find that my belly had magically grown giant overnight! 

i don't know how it does it but it seems like every couple weeks BAM there's my belly popping out way more than ever before!

i start school again tomorrow so i figured it was about time to get some maternity pants so i'm not totally hating life while sitting in class all day.

i ended up finding some cheapo pants at Ross and when i went to the dressing room to try them on i was like "oh my heaven sent articles of clothing!"

i started posing and dancing around in the tiny fitting room because i could actually move without buttons or zippers being shoved into my tummy and leaving marks! 

i ran out to find Matt and he seriously couldn't stop laughing as i told him how i wanted to jump around and do high kicks in celebration of maternity pants!

if he was allowed to wear them he would totally understand.

now i just need to get some more plain and striped shirts into my wardrobe. 

for some reason i think they make my growing belly look so much cuter.

oh boy!

Matt thought there was no one better to reveal the gender of our baby than good 'ol Admiral Ackbar.

we are beyond excited!

i always knew it would be a little boy because Matt and i settled on the most perfect girl name but can't agree on a boy name to save our lives.

we are the worst decision makers ever and now we're stuck in the terrible situation of finding that one perfect name.

it's horrible!!

good thing we have a few more months to think about it.

in the meantime, you can find me searching for adorable baby boy clothes that have everything to do with dinosaurs, monsters, sharks, star wars, mustaches, ocean animals, where the wild things are, firefly, harry potter and all things plaid and skinny jean related.

Luke or Leia??

going to the doctor every single week is a serious pain in the butt most of the time.

but finding out what flavor our baby is before most people would definitely makes it worth it! 

guess what our baby is! 

4th of July - Hawaii Style

so i decided i should probably start posting on here again so my friends and fam won't be mad that they're missing out on things anymore.

i should probably start off with a WE'RE PREGNANT! type thing but that would be a really long-winded post and i think i should start off with something a little easier and shorter so i don't just quit blogging again, amiright?

so for now i'll just say...WE'RE PREGNANT!

(12 weeks)

so let's talk about the 4th of July!

usually this day comes and goes without Matt and i even noticing.

apparently we're old and boring already.

but this year i was not going to let that happen!

after about an hour of poking and nudging and tickling Matt I finally got him to wake up, eat breakfast and put his swimsuit on.

then something magical happened, Matt FINALLY jumped off of Laie Point! 

guys, i have been trying to get him to jump off the point for the whole 6 months that we've been here!

of course, he has to do this after i'm prego and can't join in on the fun but still, EXCITING!

he jumped 3 times because he just couldn't get enough after the first jump! now he's addicted!

after all the jumping we headed to our fave beach spot to do some snorkeling.

baby and i really like to float around and look at fishies! 

sadly, the conditions were really really terrible so we couldn't see a dang thing and ended up just plopping down on our beach chairs and enjoying the sun.

well, i plopped down on a beach chair and enjoyed the sun. Matt built a great white sand shark!

this kid LOVES to build things in the sand!

our kids are going to have a blast at the beach with him!

after all the beachy fun fun fun we decided to be true americans and hit up mcdonald's for lunch.

MURICA!

yes yes, i cheated on my diet but baby really wanted some fries and a few sips of dr pepper!

i just can't say no to this little stripey bump!

after coming home, cleaning up and running to the store for some supplies we decided to pretend we weren't completely exhausted and make a mexican feast for dinner!

the only craving i've had during this pregnancy so far is the overwhelming craving for mexican food and Hawaii is seriously letting me down!

there's only a couple places here that have decent mexican food but they're all 45+ minutes away.

but this meal we made...oh. my. amazing.

baby and i will have dreams of the fantabulousness of this meal! 

deliciously marinated fajitas, homemade guacamole, my sis-in-law's famous homemade salsa!

i say again, OH. MY. AMAZING!

and even though i love fireworks, we're usually too lazy to get out of the house and drive to where they are.

but this year we got to watch them RIGHT FROM OUR BACK PORCH as i stuffed my face full of fajitaguacamolesalsachips!

a little far away but still pretty cool to be able to sit at your house and watch a firework show!

so that's how the 4th of July is done - Hawaii style! 

ANNOUNCEMENT!

iphone-ographers

tonight we pretended we knew how to take pictures.

Matt's




Nikki's

Back to School

so the first week of school was...all sorts of things.

rough, exciting, overwhelming, dramatic

let's bullet point this shall we?

- i'm not at MCC anymore. it's also been a loooong time since i've been to school. i feel stupid ALL THE TIME! i know it's only been one week and i'll get back in the game soon enough but man, can't that just automatically happen??

- making new friends is super awkward and weird. 

- it only seems to rain when i'm walking/bike riding to and from school. FYI sitting in class while completely drenched is very unpleasant.

found this little gem on amazon and while i believe it would keep me nice and dry (and incredibly popular) i didn't buy it.

- my feet are so sad here. i have blisters on my heels, sides of my feet, in between my toes.

i can hardly walk, guys. it's a problem. 

- i'm at school all day until about 2 PM and i haven't quite figured out how to eat lunch yet so i'm starvingggg every day! 

i should probably go to the grocery store and buy some more snackies but i'm also afraid of the grocery store and its prices. 

i was explaining to my sister that we tried buying a broom this week and found out it cost $12 for the broom and another $12 for the dustpan. we agreed that any broom that costs $24 should do all the work for you! agreed??

anyway, i'm hungry.

- please don't hate me for saying this but...i haven't become used to hearing the waves during the night. i'm not a very good sleeper and when you add stormy, super loud waves to the situation it just makes things worse.

i'm so sleepy!

- i really miss my puppy

now on to the good things!

bulletpoints!

- the view from across the street is unbelievable!

- we finally set foot on the beach!

- i'm getting way better at riding my bike! 

i named my little bike Lorelai because every time i ride it i feel like Lorelai Gilmore the day her Jeep died and she had to ride her bike everywhere.

the similarities are uncanny.

- we went to Giovanni's Shrimp Truck and had some of the best shrimp i have ever EVER had!

it was totally worth the 3 mile bike ride there and 3 miles back!

i can't wait to go again!

so to sum things up, Hawaii is a huge adjustment for me. 

i went from sitting at home all day every day for the past 3 years to having to do all these crazy new scary things!

but all in all, i'm super happy here! i'm super happy to study something that i love in a place that i love!

and i can't wait to do more crazy new scary things every day!