December: Ben graduated from college! The day Ben finished finals we had movers packing up our belongings and our cars were being picked up for transportation to Iowa. For Christmas we went to CA to spend it with my side of the family. It was magical. As many of you know, CA has had a lack of rain. While this is unfortunate for permanent residents, I was thrilled. We spent our vacation riding bikes, playing at the park, and enjoying blue skies. A few days after Christmas we flew out to Iowa to spend a couple days with Ben's family before he started his new job at John Deere.
January: Ben started at Deere and has been enjoying the journey of his new job ever since! I applied for a few jobs, had an interview, and then we found out I was pregnant! I have never been so grateful to be unemployed and not get a job that I interviewed for. And let me clarify, being pregnant does not mean that you can't or shouldn't work, unless you're me. I'll write about the pregnancy in a separate section for those of you who only care to read about that.
February: I missed all of February. The only noteworthy thing that happened was the ultrasound we had on Valentine's Day! Because I was so sick, the doctor asked that we have an early ultrasound to check for multiple babies or complications. To our relief there were no complications and the ultrasound showed one little babe.
March: This month has been wonderful. I haven't thrown up for a week, I attended church for the first time in over a month, and it was 60 degrees out yesterday. We are expecting snow tonight, but yesterday was a great taste of spring!
Pregnancy: We found out we were pregnant shortly after moving to Iowa. I was feeling great until about 5.5 weeks and then I got really sick. Calling it morning sickness would not do it justice. It was 24/7, met my 15 lb. weight loss goal, 5 weeks of despair sickness. We wanted to avoid taking prescription medication but after talking with the doctor and taking into account all my symptoms we decided it was our only option. And the rest is history! Being on medication has been a great blessing for our family. I'm due September 24 and I'll be 12 weeks tomorrow. We are so excited to be starting the 2nd trimester soon. Ben is hoping for a boy, I'm hoping for a puppy, but ultimately we will love whatever we are given.
In other news, Rachel (one of my younger sisters) will be coming home from her mission in July! I'm so excited that all 4 sisters will have a chance to be together again before the baby comes. And I'm excited for a reason to visit CA. If you haven't kept up with her mission, click here to read her blog!
I hope I can update my blog more often than I have been, but I make no promises. Until next time!
Kristen
