Our First Christmas Together

Even though we were engaged last Christmas, we weren't able to spend it together because I was in Arizona visiting family, so this Christmas was our first real one together. On Christmas Eve, we went to the big Koch family Christmas party at Trevor's grandparent's house. It was a lot of fun! We had a delicious dinner, had a nice little Christmas program put on by one of Trevor's aunts, and then we all got to open up our presents, which were the shirts for next year's family reunion. The shirts were awesome, especially because we got a little one for Alia (and by little, I mean she'll be able to fit into it for the next two years, but it was the smallest size they came in). After the Koch party, we went over to my dad's house and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" which has been a Christmas Eve tradition in my family since before I was born. My aunt and two cousins were there too, so it was great to see them.

On Christmas morning, Trevor and I got up and opened up our gifts to each other. I got Trevor a digital photo frame so that he could have it at work, and also a computer-controllable Nerf dart launcher so that he can shoot his unsuspecting co-workers. Trevor got me a baby onsie and a matching shirt for me. The onsie says, "I love my Mommy" and the shirt says, "I love my little girl." He also made me an elaborate origami flower in an origami bottle, which was beautiful! After we had finished opening our gifts, we headed over to Trevor's parent's house, where we opened more wonderful presents, and had a delicious Christmas breakfast. After going to church with Trevor's family, we headed over to my dad's house, where we opened even more presents (I was feeling a little spoiled with three Christmases!). We had Christmas dinner with my family, which featured a tasty rib-eye roast that my dad cooked to perfection. We then played a game of Balderdash, and headed home so that we could enjoy was was left of the evening by ourselves. All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas! It's strange to think that next year we'll have a little girl to share it with!

Trevor, all bundled up on Christmas

Me, bundled up in my coat that doesn't really close anymore

The matching onsie and shirt that Trevor gave me

The beautiful origami flower in a bottle that Trevor made me.

28 Weeks (Seven months)

Also, as of this week, I am 28 weeks into my pregnancy, or about seven months. Everything is still going really well, although I've had a cold for the past two weeks, which hasn't been very fun. I just had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and everything is looking great. From now on, I'll be seeing my doctor every two weeks. Alia is still wiggling away inside my tummy, but I can tell that things are starting to get a bit cramped for her, because there are less definite kicks, and more pushing and poking with knees and elbows.

Only 2 months, 20 days, and 21 hours left to go!

24 Weeks

24 Weeks (Six months)

Well, I've made it to 24 weeks! This is a pregnancy milestone, because starting at 24 weeks, the baby is considered viable outside the womb, and doctors are required to do everything they can to save the baby's life. Of course, I would never WANT to have my baby born that premature, but it's comforting to know that I'm past the point where there is no hope of saving the baby if the worst should happen.

Yesterday I had my 24 week appointment with my doctor, which was no big deal, but I also had to do a glucose tolerance test to make sure that I don't have gestational diabetes. The test required me to drink a nasty sugar drink and then have my blood drawn to see how well my body was processing the sugar. Well, for those of you who know me well, you know that I don't do well with blood, needles, and especially any combination of the two. Last time I had to have my blood drawn, I nearly passed out, so this time I made sure that Trevor was there with me. He and the nurses did their best to try and distract me, but I'm a hopeless case. I started getting that weird "tightening" feeling throughout my body, then my face started sweating, and then my vision started getting dark. They kept asking me how I was doing, but it seemed to take a lot of energy to answer them. I guess I looked pretty bad, because the nurses had me go lay down on the floor and put my feet up on a chair, and then they put a wet paper towel on my forehead because they said my skin was really hot. I felt pretty goofy laying on the floor of the waiting area, but it sure helped. Soon I felt much better, and Trevor and I went to Red Lobster with a gift card to celebrate my last blood draw (at least until delivery...and assuming I passed the glucose test).

So glad to have that over with! So...mommy's a wimp, but baby is doing just fine!
3 months, 17 days, and 23 hours left to go!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was great! Trevor and I went down to Arizona to spend time with my extended family, so we left Tuesday morning and stayed until Sunday morning. Everyone spoiled us so much! My Aunt Mandy took us shopping and got us several cute outfits for Alia, including the requisite duck-hooded towel. My friend Courtney gave me a lot of clothes too, including several outfits that her daughter never used, because she was out of newborn clothes as soon as she was born. My grandma also let me take some of the children's books that she had at her house for her grandchildren when we were all young, plus sent us home with some Christmas presents, so we'll have something to put under our tree (when we get one).

Thanksgiving was a blast. The food was delicious and after we ate we all took a walk around the golf course behind my grandparent's house to let our food digest. We also played the game Scategories, and some Wii sports games together, which was fun. But the best thing about Thanksgiving actually happened that night when Trevor and I were watching a movie together. Alia was kicking at me pretty consistently, so I put my hand over her to see if she would stop, and she didn't. Now, normally every time I've put Trevor's hand on my stomach, she's stopped moving, so I didn't hold out a lot of hope this time. But she surprised me by giving one final kick before stopping, and Trevor actually got to feel it! He gasped and smiled at me, and asked, "Was that her?" It was such a cute moment!

On our way back home, we stopped at the Grand Canyon because Trevor had never been there, and that was a lot of fun. We just went for a little hike through the woods until we hit the rim, and then took a few pictures, but by the time we got back to our car, I was exhausted. It might be because I'm in bad shape...but I'm going to blame it on the pregnancy.

Alia is now kicking me up in my ribs, thanks to my short torso, and sometimes it can be a little uncomfortable. In fact, the other day I was actually trying to nudge her back down, because it hurt, but she's a stubborn baby. I also felt her kicking the other day with my hand over my stomach and could actually feel a distinct body part pushing against me, rather than just a random thump, so that was really neat! I have my glucose test at my appointment this week, which involves a blood draw, so I'm really not looking forward to that, but it will be nice to have the test over and no whether I have gestational diabetes or not. The funny thing is, I'm so bad at getting my blood drawn that I actually scheduled the appointment so that Trevor can be there with me, in case I pass out (since I came pretty close last time!).

Well, only 3 months, 20 days, and 23 hours left to go! ;)

Halfway There!

Well, I've finally reached the halfway point in this pregnancy. Trevor and I had an ultrasound last Friday and it was confirmed that our baby is definitely a little girl. All her measurements looked great and she was VERY active during the ultrasound! The tech even remarked, "You might have a soccer player on your hands!" Then, at my 20 week appointment with my doctor, she was listening for the heartbeat and said, "You have a very active baby." So who knows...we may have a little spaz on our hands. Haha!

The pregnancy has been going great. I occasionally get acid reflux, but usually a Tums can solve that problem, and I still feel more tired than normal, but extra sleep takes care of that (the problem is trying to work that extra sleep in!). Trevor and I are pretty set on the name "Alia" and we're thinking about using the name "Yvonne" for her middle name, because it was my mother's middle name (as well as my dad's sister's middle name, and her daughter's middle name). So her name will most likely be: Alia Yvonne Koch. :)

Her profile (The ultrasound tech said that she had a pretty little face, which is what they said at my last ultrasound too!)

Her arms lifted up to her head

Touching her toes together :)

In this picture she has her hand over her nose

This was a nice "action shot" of her kicking at me

For Halloween this year, Trevor and I dressed up as pirates. I wore my costume to the school on Monday because everyone was dressing up, and my kids kept asking me what Alia's costume was. So I told them that she was a "baby pirate". Not very creative, I know. I should have said something random, like, "She's a kangaroo." My students love to touch my stomach and say hello to Alia, and they're always asking me, "How old is your baby now?" even if they just asked me yesterday. They're going to be so excited when I bring Alia in to meet them after she's born, although I'm going to have to tell one of my students that she can no longer scream, "Wake up, Alia!!!"

I guess I should also mention our trip to California a week ago. Trevor's cousin McKay had his homecoming from his mission, his cousin Katie had just had her baby, and his cousins Taylor and Colby had birthdays, and since they all live in California, it was the perfect excuse for a quick trip. We left Friday morning, drove all day, and got there for Taylor's birthday party in the evening. It was good to see everyone again, since we don't see the California clan very often. On Saturday we went and saw Katie's adorable little boy, hit the beach, and then Trevor and I went to Medieval Times for dinner because I had never been there. They came around towards the end and asked if I would need a to-go box, and I just laughed. Sure, it might have been enough food for a king, but I'm a pregnant woman, gosh dang it! So that was a lot of fun. On Sunday we went to McKay's homecoming and then celebrated Colby's birthday before hitting the road again! So it was a short trip but it was fun.

Landon borrowed his wet suit from the Hollands. At first he put it on inside out, and then later we found out it was also on backwards.

It was a cold and windy day, but that phase Trevor and Landon. They were pretty determined to go boogie boarding!

I bought this hat in anticipation of a sunny day at the beach, but instead of protecting me from the sun, it ended up keep a lot of the wind from hitting my face.

Trevor and Landon after catching some waves. They must have been freezing, but they were loving it!

Trevor and I at Medieval Times. It was dark in there and I didn't account for the longer exposure time, hence the horrific blurriness of the picture.

Well, that's all for now, so I'll finish off this post with my 20 week belly shot. It's exciting now that people can look at me and guess "Pregnant?" rather than "Two many french fries?" In fact, one lady the other day pointed at my stomach and said, "Oh, I almost didn't notice that. It's a girl?" So not only are people assuming I'm pregnant, they're now assuming the gender as well! Haha!

17 Weeks

16 Weeks (Four months)

As the title says, I am now 17 weeks pregnant, or just a little over four months. Our baby is the size of an onion! I had an appointment this past week and our little one has a nice strong heartbeat. More exciting, I now get to set up my 20 week (halfway!) appointment, where they will do an in-depth ultrasound to check our baby's anatomy and make sure everything looks right. I'm so excited to see our baby again!

Also, I felt my first movement this weekend! We were driving home from Logan and I felt a funny little feeling from the inside, like our baby was shifting position and her body was rubbing against my tummy. Then, later that night, I felt a series of distinct little pokes, always in sets of two, like one foot, then the other. On Sunday I felt the same pokes in the same part of my tummy, which just confirmed it for me. It's so exciting to have this tangible proof of our little girl!

It's A Girl!!!

Yesterday Trevor and I went to a private ultrasound place to find out the gender of our baby. The ultrasound technician took one look at her face and said, "I bet it's a girl. Look at that cute little nose." Sure enough, when he went to check between her legs, there was a whole lot of nothing! I was ecstatic, grinning a mile wide throughout the whole ultrasound. I had begun to feel convinced that we were going to have a boy, so this was a nice little shock! At the beginning of the ultrasound, I think she was sleeping. She had her arms over her face and looked so cozy. But then the ultrasound tech nudged her so that she would roll over onto her side and she wasn't very pleased with that, because she started kicking at me. (It was cool to see, because it's still too early for me to actually feel her movements.)

After the ultrasound we got to tell our parents and siblings, and everyone was so excited for us. My sister-in-law, Lisa, is also having a little girl, so they'll be little girl cousins. Trevor's dad responded to the news by saying, "Looks like we'll be having princess parties."

I'm so thrilled to be having a girl. I grew up with mostly all boys, so I was really hoping for a daughter. Trevor had been hoping for a boy, but when I saw him smiling during the ultrasound, I knew he would be just fine with a little girl. We're pretty sure that we're going to name her Alia (pronounced AW-lee-uh), and the funny thing is, we'd decided on that name for a girl early on, but we were having a really hard time coming up with a boy name...and now we know why. We didn't need it!

The Magical 12 Week Mark

12 Weeks (three months)

They say that once you reach the 12 week mark, your risk for miscarriage drops to less than 2%, which kind of makes it the magical week, so needless to say, I'm thrilled to be here! I had my 12 week appointment today and got to hear my baby's heart beat. It was such a neat experience! The heart beat was about 160-170 beats per minute, which is nice and strong.

Sadly I didn't get an ultrasound. My OB office doesn't do an ultrasound until 20 weeks, which is still two months away. That's a long time to have to wait to see my baby! (I had an ultrasound at 6 weeks just to make sure everything was okay, but the baby didn't really look anything like a baby at that point, so it's not the same.) So...there's this private ultrasound place near where I live and they'll even tell you the gender starting at 15 weeks, but it'll cost $55. Fortunately, I hung on to most of the money I got for my birthday, so I'll call it a belated birthday present and won't even feel bad for spending some money to see my little one. Plus, that means that I can find out if my baby is a boy or a girl in about two and half weeks! That's not NEARLY as bad as having to wait another two months.

Anyway, here's my three month belly shot (I decided to scrap the "continuous outfit" thing because I now have some maternity clothing and it's much cuter than gray on gray). I'm so excited to actually have a baby bump now! It started sometime last week, but now it's definitely here (I actually had to have my doctor confirm it for me today because I hardly believed it myself). I know a lot of first time moms don't start showing until around five months, but then again, I have a ridiculously short torso so I'm not surprised.

We're Having a Baby!

Yep, that's right. Baby Koch will be due March 19th, and I'm 10 weeks along (or two and half months). I found out I was pregnant while Trevor was on a trip to the Tetons near Yellowstone with the boy scouts, so I had to sit on the secret for three days while I waited for him to come home. It was torture! Since his birthday was a few days after he got home, I decided to give him an early birthday present...

Needless to say, he was more nervous than excited at first, but it's definitely growing on him now. We had our first prenatal visit this past Wednesday and everything is looking good. They tried to listen for the heartbeat, but couldn't find it, so they pulled out a little handheld ultrasound machine (didn't even know they had such things!) and we got to see out little baby with that beautiful flickering heartbeat. I have my twelve week appointment on September 8th, and hopefully they'll do a more thorough ultrasound at that point.

Five weeks (A little over one month)

So, Baby Koch is about the size of a kumquat right now (Trevor thought I was talking gibberish when I said that). His or her arms, legs, feet, and hands are developed as well as all the major organs. Now it's just a matter of getting bigger! As for me, I've been very fortunate. No morning sickness so far, and I'm already almost done with the first trimester! I have been very tired though. In fact, I didn't have work today so I just slept until 11:00am. It was great. I've decided to do a picture each month to document my growing belly. And even though there isn't much of a baby bump yet, I have one for month one and two (the bulge in the picture is mostly my growing uterus (which is now the size of grapefruit!) as well as some bloating, water retention, and all that other fun pregnancy stuff).

*Side note: I am fully aware that gray with gray is just poor fashion sense, but these are the only pants and shirt that I had there were stretchy enough to last all nine months (so that the clothes stays continuous). Also, you see that my hair has grown a little! ;)

Nine weeks (a little over two months)

We will probably get to find out the gender sometime in October, which seems like a looooong time from now. I'm hoping for a little girl, and Trevor's hoping for a little boy, but we'll both be very happy no matter what, as long as he/she is healthy. Trevor's sister, Lisa, is also pregnant right now, and she is two months ahead of me, so she'll be finding out the gender soon. These little cousins are going to be so close! As for other cousins, this baby will have Jaxon (Lisa's 2 year old boy) and Lily (my brother Jake's 5 month old girl).

Well, only 210 days left to go!

Wedding Video Highlights

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, this is the highlight of our wedding video, courtesy of the insanely talented Christopher Koch.


Go check out his company Digital Memorys - He does an incredible job!

I have a job!

Woohoo! After searching for a job all summer, I learned about the job, interviewed, and got hired within two days! The principal said that after I interviewed, he told the other ladies, "Don't let her get away!" :)

So here's the job. I'm a teacher's aide for a fifth grade class and sixth grade class, where I will be working in small groups with kids who need special attention. Now here's the cool part: there's also an opportunity to advance next month and actually become the fifth grade classroom teacher! The job hasn't been posted yet, so I still have to apply and all that jazz, but I'm just ecstatic! After feeling resigned to a job at McDonald's, this is like a dream come true! The school is on a year-round schedule, so I actually begin work next Tuesday!

My Husband...AKA "Mr. Clean"

Hallelujah! My dear husband has been working his tail end off all day to get things organized and put away! So after all that was done, I was able to vacuum, and now our apartment looks AMAZING! Therefore, I must take back what I said in my last post (about us not getting our act together until it was time to move again) because, boy was I wrong! Trevor is unstoppable! The great thing is, now that it's all clean and organized, it doesn't feel nearly as small anymore. We're truly blessed to have such a nice place to live. :)

Callings and Other Things

Well, not much to report from the Koch family. We're just loving life and loving, well, being in love! Trevor and I have both received callings in our new ward. Trevor is the Priest's quorum advisor in the Young Men's, and I'm the second counselor in the Young Women's presidency (aka Beehives teacher). Its great that we both get to work with the youth, and this ward really does have some amazing kids.

Trevor has been riding his bike to work and back everyday for the past two and half weeks, which I still think is amazing (it's 6 miles each way). Because he's riding his bike, I have the car available during the day if I need it. Oh yeah! I finally have my driver's license! I got it about a month ago, and now I can't see why I was so freaked out. I mean, I never underestimate how potentially dangerous a car can be, but I also understand that if you just abide by the laws and use common sense, it's not that difficult. It's been great though, because I've been able to go have lunch with Trevor a few times while he's at work.

We're still working on getting things organized in our home. The problem is, we have more stuff than space, so we just have to get creative. Lately Trevor has been pulling everything out of the second room and trying to put it back in in an organized manner, but right now it looks like a bit of a disaster zone in our living room. But that's just one of the many joys of moving! I'm sure we'll get it all in place just in time to move again. :)

In other news, Trevor's brother, Landon, gets home from his mission in a few weeks, which will be so exciting since I've never met him before. Also, Trevor's sister, Lisa, and her husband and son are going to be coming back to Utah for the summer, so we'll have all the Kochs together! It's going to be great!

Married life!

Well, I guess it's time to update this blog, seeing as Trevor and I are now married! The wedding day was amazing. I'm so grateful for all the hard work that everyone put into making it such a special day, and grateful as well for all of my friends and family that traveled up from Arizona and California to be there for me. I can't imagine a better day...though to be honest, it's a bit of a blur! Mostly I was just floating on a cloud all day with the man of my dreams. (The photographer never had to tell me to smile for the pictures...though she did have to tell us to stop kissing from time to time.)

As great as the wedding day was, however, the honeymoon was probably even better. It was great being able to spend all of that time alone with Trevor, especially since all of the wedding planning stress was gone. For our honeymoon we went on a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico, with another stop in Catalina Island. Neither of us had been on a cruise before, so we were way excited, and now that we've been, we're hooked. Cruises rock! It was great being able to just do whatever we wanted and eat as much and as often as we liked (though we stuffed ourselves a few times). At Catalina we went para-sailing, which was also a first for both of us. We thought it was going to be a rush being that high up in the air, but it was actually really calm. We even managed to lean over and kiss while we were up there, which means we can now say that we've kissed at 600 ft in the air! In Ensenada we went horseback riding through the mountains along the coast, and it was beautiful. Then we got some authentic fish tacos and Trevor encountered a hot sauce that was even hot to him!

But now that we're back from the cruise, things are only getting better. We've been working hard getting our home organized, and doing way more shopping than I've been used to, but it's been fun, too. I love having my own house, and I love making it into a comfortable home for Trevor and I. We also have a great church ward here. The people are really open and friendly, and we've already got plans to have a dinner/game night with two other young couples in our apartment complex. Hopefully we'll all have a good time and we can make it a monthly thing.

Married life is great! We love each other and we love life!

The final stretch...

Well, there are only 10 days and 13 hours left until the wedding. Things are being checked off lists and new things are still getting added, but I'm pretty sure that will be happening right up until the event. However, we now have our flowers taken care of and we've done our bridal pictures. Trevor looks soooo handsome in his tuxedo! Aside from the fact that I'm just deliriously happy to be marrying him next week, I'm also excited to see all of my friends and family from Arizona. The whole thing is going to be a whirlwind party, but it's going to be great!

Trevor and I have our fourth bridal shower this weekend (two of them have been couple's showers and two have been just for me, but seeing as we share the gifts, they're really all for both of us). We've gotten a vacuum, our bedding, lots of kitchen supplies, towels, and at this last shower they're going in together to get us a 40" flat screen TV! People are awesome. Plus, Trevor and I bought a nice bed and couch, so we're all set to start moving into our apartment this week.

My paper chain is very short now! People keep asking me if I'm getting nervous, and I keep saying, "Heck no! I can't wait!" :D

Busy, busy, busy!

With only 37 days left until the wedding, Trevor and I are as busy as ever! Thankfully we already have a Stake center reserved for the reception, a temple time, an apartment on hold, a lady who will be decorating for the reception, a place picked to cater the luncheon, a photographer, a videographer, invitations in the process of being printed, two partially complete gift registries, a cruise booked and paid for for the honeymoon, and thanks to my awesome friend, Courtney, I have a lovely wedding dress. And that's not all! Trevor and I attended a Bridal Showcase in Salt Lake this past Friday and won a free night in the Honeymoon Suite of the historic Peery Hotel!

However, we still have a bit of work left to do. Once we get the invitations printed we have the daunting task of getting them all addressed and sent out. Along with that, we also have to find a tuxedo rental place that we like, finish registering for gifts, and pick a place to get our flowers. But thankfully, after that it's just a lot of little stuff.

But even though we have a lot of work left ahead of us, Trevor and I are both just anxious for February 18th to get here as fast as possible. I made a paper chain leading up to the day of the wedding last month, and while it's cool to see it gradually shrinking, it just doesn't seem to get small quick enough!

In other news, we bought a Wii for Christmas and are enjoying playing Mario together. We also go on a lot of double dates with some of our married/dating friends here in Utah, and I'm really hoping that Angela and Kyle move up here next fall so that we can double with them more often! Overall, things are looking great, but that's probably because I found the best man in the world and he makes every day wonderful. :)