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?!

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!)

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!

Six Years!

today i celebrate 6 whole years with my hubsy!!

he's the best thing that's ever happened to me and every day i can't believe how lucky i am!

a post from Matt

"I found Nikki asleep at 8:30 wearing her Jayne hat and a glow in the dark bracelet.  

Am I married to a 3 year old?"

heart attack

when's the worst time to lose your purse at the mall?

if your answer was "when you just cashed a check and your purse has $500 in it" you are correct!

yeah...that seriously happened to me today.
luckily i did some mad, crazy person running and made it back to the store i was just in and found it untouched!

seriously the closest i've come to having a heart attack.

and also the closest i've come to shoplifting.

i was in another store holding a shirt when i realized i didn't have my purse and didn't even think when i started to mad, crazy person run out of the store with it.
don't worry, Matt was smart enough to notice and took it back for me.

no wonder I hate going to the mall, only bad things happen there!

so besides that little ordeal, today was a pretty awesome day!

Matt and i went thrifting for our Halloween costumes and hit the jackpot!
usually it takes us forever to find what we need but the thrifting Gods were on our side today and we found almost everything!

it probably helped that our costumes are much more low key this time.
we don't have the time for any huge extravagant costume making because of the shop and moving and all but i still love what we decided on!

here's a little sneak peek!

hawaii?

so...remember how i'm moving to hawaii?

yeah...i'm moving to hawaii.

i really don't get tired of saying that, ever!

in fact, matt and i will just randomly look at each other and say "hawaii?"

HAWAII!

ok but seriously i guess i should tell everyone why we're going.

ya know shark week?

ya know how i looooove it more than any other week out of the year?

well one day you will be able to turn on shark week and see MY face!

or at least that's the dream.

i'd also consider being a shark diver in hawaii any day of the week, working for an aquarium possibly as that weirdo that's diving in the large tank and answering kids' questions or...a lottery winner, obviously.

but seriously, i'm going to school at BYU Hawaii for marine biology which means i will be able to learn about oceany things while seriously living on the beach.

it's going to be unbelievable!

there's obviously a lot of  stressful things going on right now with trying to make preparations to move and start school and everything but i have gotten one very important thing out of the way already, where we're gonna live.

i found this perfectly quirky and great place that offers everything we wanted, will let our little pup live there and has views to make all of our friends and family ridiculously jealous.

like this is my front and back yard...

jealousy to the max amiright??

the absolute hardest part of this moving process so far is getting little puppy Padme ready for the journey.

hawaii is seriously ridiculous about bringing pets into the state.

they've never had rabies there so they make you prove a thousand times over in crazy insane ways that your pet is healthy enough for island living.

and if you don't do every single little thing right they make your pet stay in quarantine for 120 DAYS! 

do you know what my little antisocial dog would do if she had to stay in a quarantine facility for 120 days??

probably commit puppy suicide or something.

and do you know what i would do without her for 120 days??

probably commit people suicide or something.

so we're being extra careful to make sure she can make the trip and move into her new home with zero problems.

it seems like every day i think of something else we have to do before we move and it's ridiculously stressful but luckily i have matt around to remind me of what's really important...

WE'RE MOVING TO HAWAII!
24, you are definitely not letting me down.
i knew you were going to be my year.

our trip to Oceanside via instagram

1.  we stayed up 24 hours straight to finish all the etsy orders before we left for Cali so we're sporting our zombieeee faces

 2.  gas station treasures

3.  first view of ocean

4.  blurry night time walks on the beach

5.  being totally legit with our no smiling faces at the mormon battalion

6.  blue water seafood market and grill always and forever has our hearts...and our tummies

7.  sand crabs EVERYWHERE!  they love my little toesies.

8.  Matt bought me a shark tooth bracelet on the pier!  i guess he thinks i like sharks or something.

9.  sunset!  no filter on this pic fo realzzz

10.  Matt is ridiculously excited for sonny's pizza!

11.  oh hello moon!!  also, no filter.  beachy pics are amazing!

12.  took a trip down memory lane with Matt's family at the San Clemente campground they used to go to

13.  Matt is obsessed with this candid shot

14.  look who woke up early to find beach treasures with me!

15.  the place we stayed was amazing!  not only was it RIGHT on the beach but the grounds looked like you're walking around paradise and they even had a koi pond!  we fed them and i picked out my favorite.  his name was Gizmo and i wanted to steal him.

16.   rest stop sign demanded i enjoy Arizona...so i shall

cozy cozy everywhere!

yet again i was amazed when Matt sent me a message with a link to the slashfilm blog and i scrolled through and saw my Harry Potter Cozy!

i think Matt was extra excited about this one because he's a nerd and reads slashfilm every day and listens to their podcasts.

new ideas for cozies are in the works so stay tuned!!

boost our spirits

thank you so much to all the people who have given us so much love and support after i shared our news.

it's been a little like a roller coaster of emotions up in here but we're making it through and we had a fun and exciting weekend to boost our spirits!

on friday night Matt went to a baseball game with his daddio so i decided i'd take a little trip to visit my favorite flagstaff sister!

i packed up my chubby penguin suitcase and we were on our way!

we had an awesome time shopping where i made Sari try on hideously hilarious shirts.

and we ate junk and watched movies and talked the night away!

i also felt like a total loser because i missed Matt like crazy and we were texting back and forth like we did when we were dating.

cut me some slack, i can literally count how many nights Matt and i have spent apart on one hand!

the next morning, after a breakfast of blueberry pancakes made chock full of love, i drove home and decided something, i kind of like driving long distances by myself.

i find it pretty relaxing.

apparently i would make a good trucker.

and when you're listening to comedians the time goes by really fast.

 and then you see things on the road that remind you of jokes that they tell.

"you had logs? but i was told..."

p.s. if anyone hasn't listened to brian regan, we're not friends anymore.

it was a super short but really fun trip!

and bonus, Matt missed me like crazy so he took me out for a super fun date on saturday night!

we went to Lolo's Chicken and Waffles and now i can die a very happy girl!

i had been craving fried chicken and this seriously was perfection!

and that waffle! AH! 

most people don't know this about me but i love waffles more than any other breakfast food and these were like heaven imprinted with little tiny squares.

it seriously tasted like a churro in waffle form!

and now i want one right now!

then we went to see the movie we had been waiting for, Safety Not Guaranteed

it was suuuch a great movie!

i love love loved it!

watch trailer or else.

and of course, Matt's favorite line in the movie...

and just watching those 2 videos has now made me want to go see it again.

Matt, when you read this you have to take me on the EXACT date we went on on saturday, deal?

also, for all you peeps that are instagramers and noticed my post full of instaphotos you can be friends with me! 

i'm ohnikkiissocool...for obvious reasons.

heartbreaking

There’s some things in life that you just don’t think you’re going to have any problem doing.
It’s kinda like, everyone else does it so there’s no question about it.
Things like riding a bike. And falling asleep. And making toast.
I always thought “getting pregnant” was lumped into that group but apparently I was mistaken.

Here’s the scoop people, I never really get real on my blog because I don’t like to tell people about my problems. For one, I don’t think anyone cares. And two, I don’t want to seem overly whiney or whatever. But seriously this is a huge thing that has happened in our life and a huge freaking bummer and I want to get it off my chest before I explode and die a horrible exploding body parts kind of death.
Also, I'm writing this out on my bloggy blog because I really don't want to have to tell each and every person I know this story in person, mostly because it breaks my heart every time I think about it and I don't like to cry in front of people.
So if bummer style stories turn you off, stop reading. Or stories about prego-ness because in case you didn’t catch the subtle hint up there, that’s what this is.

So Matt and I have been trying to get pregnant for about a year and a half but we kept it on the DL because that’s apparently what people do now until their baby is the size of an egg.  Shortly after the birth control was tossed out the window we noticed my body is a big bag of crazy and can’t seem to get anything right. My “time of the month” was hit or miss which caused many false alarms in the pregnancy department and made us more and more depressed with each passing month. After several months of this nonsense I went to the doc and was checked to see if I had PCOS and was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, which I wrote about last August. Since then I’ve been dealing with trying to get things under control and eating a ketogenic diet which has helped but after another few months my “time of the month” still wasn’t normal and there was still no baby growing in my tummy. I was checked to make sure I was ovulating, which I was, and given a pill to help my cycles regulate.  Again, still no baby.

Finally we decided it was Matt’s turn to get checked out. We bought a home semen analysis kit and pretended we were lab technicians and found that the test said Matt’s sperm count was low. This caused us to make an appointment at a fertility center and have the weirdest experience ever ever ever ever ever.

If you’ve never been to a fertility clinic or urologist for a semen analysis before you can really only picture how it is in the movies, or at least that’s how I was picturing it before we went. Too bad the movies don’t show you how INCREDIBLY AWKWARD the situation is. So the front desk lady walks us back to a teeny tiny room that’s about the size of my closet at home.  In this room there is a small tube style TV, a bookcase with two giant stacks of porn, a VHS tape labeled “stocking babes” and an old 80s style leather chair that Matt was kind of afraid to sit in. First of all, who knew that they actually supplied porn in these rooms? I thought that was some kind of crazy rumor thought up by men who wished that was the case. And more importantly, VHS? Really? The nurse also told us before she left the room that the door on the other side should stay locked because there was an IVF procedure going on in the next room. So not only did we have to do this awkward thing in this closet sized room from the 80s but we could also hear as a doctor entered the room next door and told the patient to disrobe and get into the gown so they could start the procedure.
HOLY WEIRDNESS GOING ON UP IN THERE!

Okay so nurse lady leaves and doctor and patient about to be knocked up are finally quiet and Matt and I…cannot stop laughing. We are seriously sitting in this room cracking up to the point of crying because of the stacks of porn and the “stocking babes” which made us question if that meant the babes were wearing stockings or if they were sexy girls in grocery store outfits stocking shelves or if they were Christmas babes. I guess we’ll never know. Also, did I mention the weird slightly pornographic artsy fartsy drawings on the walls? No? Well there was like four of them and I couldn’t look at them without cracking up. Awful awful awful. Somehow, amazingly enough, the deed was done and we walked out of the closet room feeling like we had just rented a “pay by the hour” hotel room. But the hard part was over (pun intended) and the sample was with the lab so now all we had to do was wait for the results.

So Monday morning we go back to the doctor and are led into this office which is seriously exactly what you see when two people who are trying to get pregnant get brought in to hear bad news. Two chairs facing a desk with a doctor type person behind it using big words and saying lots of sad stuff. I’ll skip all the junk and yadda yaddas that she said and just tell you that a normal sperm count is 15 million, Matt’s sperm count is 0.66 million. That being said, normal baby making techniques, IVF and insemination, while not entirely impossible, are very unlikely to work. We both were able to keep it together when she said this because our home test had already told us something was wrong and we had tried to prepare ourselves. All we wanted to know is what our next step should be and we were told to see this high rated urologist and get a full range of tests done to see what we can do.

So here I am, trying to pretend that I don’t really care that it’s going to take us a lot more time and energy to be parents. I try to tell myself that we can still live our lives and do a lot of cool things while we’re waiting. I try to tell myself that we have time to work on our careers and be able to really have the money to raise a family.  I try to tell myself that up until about 2 years ago I wasn't even sure I wanted kids because I thought I would be a terrible mom. But when all is said and done, I do want a baby now and I will be a freaking ridiculously awesome mom and this whole situation is incredibly heartbreaking. It seems that everywhere I turn people are asking us when we're going to have kids or people are announcing their pregnancies and every time I have to hold it together and try not to think about how it could be years before Matt and I are able to join in the fun.

And to all my family and friends who are currently pregnant, I really am genuinely happy for you. You're all going to be amazing parental units and I promise not to be too jealous and sit at home making voodoo dolls of you and stuff...I think.

 That being said, please don’t hate me if this video is playing on repeat when you come to my house.

Matt and I have watched it several times now 'cause it just makes us feel better mmkay?

and P.S. Matt gave me full permission to share this story.  He read it over before it was posted and made sure I didn't say anything too horribly embarrassing about him or his peeps so it gets his stamp of approval.

you're so old

so on friday my hott hott hubsy had a birthday so it was my turn to plan a whole day of birthday funzies for him!

here's how it went down.

first, present time!!

i got matt this whole big book about joss whedon and his amazingness because matt seriously can't talk about anyone else right now!

he's always going on and on about buffy the vampire slayer and firefly and dollhouse and the avengers and cabin in the woods so it's fair to say he loved his book times infinity and beyond!

(ps. can we just talk about this ridiculously cute little smirk matt does when he's trying not to smile?? so bleepin' adorable!)

joe's farm grill for breakfast.

(yes, same thing we did on my bday but it's seriously THAT GOOD!)

a trip to half price books which matt totally loves to wander around for-e-ver and look at nerdy sci-fi stuff.

usually i'm in the movie section trying not to whine about how bored i am to anyone who will listen but i was on my best behavior that day since it was matt's birthday and all.

next stop was the movies with a purse crammed with goodies to see prometheus.

then to downtown we went to peruse the comic book and antique stores.

matt riding llama rocking horse = great times!

which got us all super hungry for chinese buffet!

and matt got two fortune cookies in one!

it's like they knew it was his birthday!

then home for a candle blowing and cake eating good time.

and one final surprise present!

say whaaaaat?

yeah, i'm the best wife ever and totally the queen of birthdays!

BOOYAH GRANDMA!

it was a super nerdy and fantastic day!

i'm so glad matt was born and i get to see his joss-whedon-loving face every single day!