The Best Laid Plans

This next post is pretty random, and I apologize for that.  There are so many thoughts going through my head right now, and I wanted to get them all down.

Our plans for the next few months have changed once again.  I thought we had it all figured out a few months ago, when I last posted about this, but I'm eating my words now.  I don't know about everyone else, but one thing I've learned about life is that my plans always change.  Josh and I had made a basic 5 year plan-including him going back to school full-time starting next semester and watching our baby once he's born-but then he was given a great opportunity and was hired at Discover Card.  It came about very quickly, so we know it was a blessing from Heavenly Father.  Josh was told by his cousin, who works at Discover, that there was a job opening.  He applied the next week and two days later received an email asking him to come to a "job fair" the next day.  He attends this, goes through several interviews, and by the time the day is over, is offered the job. 

We're very grateful for this and work it into our plans so that he will work for the next few months, we'll put money into savings and pay down some bills, and then he will quit once the baby is born.  He'll still sign up for classes and begin in January. Our plan is still on track.  Before Josh got this job, we had made some financial changes in preparation for the baby coming and only living off of one income.  We sold the motorcycle, the truck and two of the guns.  We were blessed with how fast everything sold and were able to pay down a lot of our debt, so we're more comfortable with our financial situation.  It was really hard to see the motorcycle go for both Josh and I, but as he says, they're just things and we can buy another one when we're able to.

So we sat down last week and went through our monthly finances, just to make sure everything would work out, thinking that everything would be fine because we felt good about it.  Well, we found out that it's just not possible for us to live off of one income right now.  Even with all of the debt we've paid down, it's just won't work.  We probably should have looked at this earlier, but figured that with all the changes we made, it would be fine. 

Now to make some big changes to the plan.  Josh will be working at Discover for a lot longer than normally planned. We don't know for how long, but it will be for quite awhile.  He still will take a class or two every semester, and we will work towards him going to school full-time and not working.  He has dyslexia and it's really hard for him to work full-time and go to school full-time.  His goal now is to go into the engineering program at SLCC and then transfer to the University of Utah.  I can see him enjoying this and doing a great job at it, and it has a much better job lookout than being a police officer. 

Another change in our plan is that we will have to find someone to watch Drako during the day when we both work.  We don't want to take him to daycare and would much rather have family care for him, but are not quite sure how to do this.  Most of our family live in South and West Jordan which are in the opposite direction of both of our jobs.  

It's been hard these last few months seeing Josh lose the job that he had waited so long for and then having to search for another job and finally finding one that is not in the area that he trained for or would like to be doing.  I know Heavenly Father helped him every step of the way to become a police officer at Midvale, so there must be a reason in His plan that it was taken away.  We just don't know what that reason is.

Our Defeated Feet

Yesterday was not a good day for Woodland feet.  Josh and I are both sitting on the couch with our feet elevated right now, waiting patiently for our wounds to heal.

Yesterday afternoon Josh and I went to my grandparents' farm to take pictures.  We haven't had any professional pictures taken since our wedding and wanted to have some new ones done.  My grandparents have a small farm in Riverton which we thought would be a great backdrop, so we met the photographer there and started having a lot of fun with different shots.  After about half an hour, I was walking to stand by an old barn, when I felt this sharp pain in the ball of my left foot.  I quickly took a few steps forward and saw that I had stepped on a rusty nail that was sticking out of an old piece of wood.  It didn't hurt too bad at that point and I thought the wound must not be too bad, so we continued shooting for a few more minutes.  Once we were done with that particular backdrop, our photographer, Brittany, suggested I sit down and see what happened.  As soon as I pulled off my shoe, I knew it was a lot worse than I thought.  My sock and the bottom of my shoe were soaked in blood.  Josh put a quick stop to the photo session at that point and I went inside the house to assess the damage.  The bleeding had stopped at that time and my grandma helped me to disinfect the wound and bandage my foot.

Josh was wonderful throughout the whole thing, making sure I got what I needed and then taking me home soon afterward so I could get off my feet and take some pain reliever.  I felt so bad for him, though, because he turned white as soon as he saw the blood.  I haven't really been hurt since we've known each other, and I think this scared him a little.  He hates seeing anything bad happen to me and has kept a close eye on me since then, making sure I don't do too much and that I keep my feet up.  He is the most wonderful husband!

Here are some pics of my foot today, and the bloody shoe.  You can see where the nail went through the sole.

Now to the second part of our story. Last night, just as we were getting ready for bed, a loud noise startled our cat, Moroni, who jumped up and quickly ran away from us.  The only problem was that she used Josh's right foot as a jumping off point and gave him a long gash with her claw.  Josh wouldn't let me clean or disinfect it, saying it was nothing.  Silly man!  As you can see from the pictures below, it's not "nothing" but I'm glad it's healing well.

                                    

Preparing for Baby and More Changes

We've been working on getting things ready for the baby.  After we found out that we were having a boy, we decided to get a few things every so often so we wouldn't have to buy it all at the same time.  We've been buying little things like onesies and bibs and my mom has been making some really cute burp cloths.  She's such a cute grandma and gets me more excited with each new one she gives me!  The above picture is of the dresser drawer with the baby's things.  We don't have very much and need so much more, but I had fun organizing what we do have.

We also found a crib online for a great deal.  It's in really good shape and Josh bought a new mattress and sheets for it.  Right now it's holding all of the great baby gear Becky gave us.  Here are some pictures of the baby's room.  It's not much of a nursery now, but I thought I'd take some "before" pictures and will definitely include the "after" pictures once it's put all together.   

I am now 23 weeks along and have only four more to go until I get to the third trimester.  I'm starting to feel the baby, which is a really neat experience.  Right now it's not consistent or every day, but I enjoy the times I do get to feel him.  Last Sunday morning, I had turned onto my right side and soon afterwards started feeling all these "pokes" on the right side of my abdomen.  I think he was telling me to turn back over because he was getting squashed on that one side.  There was also a time after I had eaten ice cream where I felt all this fluttering and when I put my hand on the area, could feel the movement.  Josh thinks I gave him a sugar rush and my mom thinks he got brain freeze. Poor little guy! lol.

Now to the second part of this post.  It's been pretty frustrating for Josh the last few months.  He's been searching so hard to find a job and the reason to why he was fired, but to no avail.  He's been so wonderful through it all-cleaning and cooking and doing everything so I wouldn't have to.  It's been hard for him to be cooped up in the apartment every day, and we've been doing some thinking and praying, trying to decide what to do.  For the last couple of weeks we've both been feeling like he needs to go back to school.  He took a test online to see what his interests are and what career he should go into and he meets with a counselor at SLCC next week.  He's still been looking for a job and if a wonderful one comes along, he won't go back to school, but it looks like he'll be going back full-time next semester.  He'll try to take all night classes, or work his schedule in such a way that we'll only have to find a babysitter for Drako part of the time.  We'll still pray and fast and make sure this is the right road to go down, but we've both had a peaceful feeling whenever we talk about it.

Enjoying Fall

The last weekend of September, Josh and I went on a motorcycle ride up Millcreek Canyon.  I am excited to say that this year we made it all the way to the top. lol.  The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day to be outside.  The leaves were starting to change and it was incredible to see the beauty Heavenly Father has created for his children!

Josh was our photographer and he has such an eye for beauty.  We saw a lot of these berries which gave a neat contrast to the colors of fall which surrounded them.

We stopped at the top of the canyon to take pictures.  We had the tripod and were able to get a few different poses, but this was the cutest.

Special Surprise

On September 3rd, Josh came and picked me up from work holding a single, pink and white carnation. I love that he still gives me flowers, even though we've been married for almost 2 years! A few minutes after he started driving, I knew Josh wasn't planning on going home. I tried to find out where we were going, but he never answered my questions, and soon he had me put on a blindfold. Once the car had stopped, Josh took my hand, helped me out of the car, and then had me follow him through a maze which turned out to be a parking garage. He took me inside a building and up an elevator. I then followed him into a room where he left me for a few minutes and then called out, inviting me to join him. Once I took off the blindfold I found that I was in a bathroom. I followed the sound of my sweet husband's voice, and found myself in a beautiful hotel room.

Josh had booked a room at The Little America. We were on the 12th floor and our room had a balcony with a beautiful view.

Josh is so good to me and decorated the room with rose petals and a bottle of sparkling apple cider. He had also packed everything we needed and brought the suitcase up while he was leading me through the parking garage.

We had a great time eating dinner at the steakhouse, relaxing, and then enjoying breakfast in our room the next morning. It was such a wonderful night! 

I could never thank my sweetheart enough for this sweet surprise! We needed some time alone and it was so nice to forget the rest of the world for a few hours! I am continually amazed that this extraordinary man fell in love with me and became my husband! He makes me happy every day! Thank you to my forever love!

Oh Boy!

Our baby is a BOY! Our ultrasound was last Friday and Josh and I had been counting down for several weeks. We were really excited when we woke up that morning. Josh gave me a beautiful, red rose that had "I Love You" written on the front petal when he picked me up from work that afternoon. The appointment was at 3:00 but we ended up waiting an hour and 15 minutes until we were taken back to the room. We later found out that the clinic we go to is also a high-risk maternity clinic and a patient before us had trouble with her pregnancy so that's why they were so far behind. Once we were back, we were treated with the same kind of care, as the tech and doctor spent 45 minutes with us. The ultrasound was very thorough and everything was explained to us so we knew exactly was being looked for. It was so incredible to see our baby boy and to see that he is healthy and everything is progressing as it should be! That brought a lot of peace and happiness to my heart. It's been kind of hard for me being pregnant for the first time with so many new feelings and sensations. Sometimes it's hard to know that everything is normal and this helped to show me that it is.

Our baby is measuring about 1 week ahead of where we thought he'd be. The doctor didn't change my due date, but Josh and I are planning for a late January birth. In fact, Josh thinks it will be January 25th.  

We're so excited and I still feel like I'm on cloud nine with all of the happy news! Now that we know for sure, we'll have fun buying clothes and blankets and everything else we'll need for this wonderful addition to our family. My mom started us on our way by giving us a cute burp cloth that she had made. We've decided to name him Drako John Woodland and we'll call him Drake for short. Here are a couple pictures from the ultrasound. The top is when he turned completely over and was laying on his stomach. You can see his head and his spine. The bottom is of his cute little foot.

First Date Repeat

At a Family Home Evening early in August 2008 Josh asked for my phone number. He started texting me a couple of days later and soon we were texting each other everyday. He finally called and asked me out the last Wednesday of the month and our first date was on August 30, 2008. I was so excited because I had been wondering if he only liked me as a friend or if there was something more.

That morning he showed up at my house on his motorcycle and holding a single, pink carnation. I think he had my heart the second he walked in the door! He took me to the zoo and then out to lunch. It was my first time riding a motorcycle and I absolutely loved it. A funny story Josh likes to tell is how he schemed to make me hold onto him. When I first climbed on the bike he told me I could either hold onto the strap across the seat or him. Of course, being me, I chose the strap. As soon as he started the bike, Josh revved it so I had to quickly grab onto him instead. We had a great time that day and I'm so grateful that Josh continued to ask me out!

Last Saturday we decided to relive that first date. It was almost exactly 2 years to the day and I had been wanting to see Zuri so we headed up to the zoo. We had another great day and enjoyed reminiscing about our first time there. The first thing we did was go to the bird show. We had done that 2 years ago and it was neat to see the same man running the show.

It was amazing to see all of the different birds and all the things they could do. I really liked the white barn owl and the eagle.

After the bird show we walked around the rest of the zoo, seeing the other animals. Zuri was really cute and we had fun watching as she and her mom played with the things the zookeepers had put out for them.

The giraffes were fun to watch and Josh got a great picture of one licking the pole of the umbrella that's in their enclosure. It reminded us of "A Christmas Story".

Tigers are Josh's favorite animal and he was able to get some great pictures because they were really close to the fence.

We had a great time on our "first date repeat" and even ordered delivery from the same Chinese restaurant where we ate lunch that day.