San Antonio!

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel.  ~Author Unknown

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It's been so long since I updated, so this is going to be a long post (as it doubles as my journal most of the time :-P).
I can't believe it's already the end of June... I guess time flies when you're wrapping things up at work, getting ready to move, moving across the country, starting a new job, and getting ready for a new baby to come.  But this long blog will have many pictures as well :)


Let's start with May:
Stephen left at the beginning of May to go down to San Antonio and start his new job, while I stayed in Rexburg to finish up the school year.  After much thought and prayer, I decided to take a week and a half of maternity leave so that I would be able to fly down and meet up with Stephen on May 23rd.  Work kept me very busy, and I worked late most nights so that I wouldn't have much time at home in the evenings.  It really was good, although I was worried that I would never get anything done!  Stephen and I were apart for 2.5 weeks, definitely the longest we've been apart since we were married, and being 7 months pregnant that was a little rough.  So many times I wished Stephen was there to take care of me (because he's good at doing that), but I was not without much help!  
First, Stephen packed up almost EVERYTHING before he left, and John, Mike, Gordon, Heidi, and Zak came an helped on multiple occasions to pack and clean before he left and after he left.  We were also blessed to be able to sell a lot of our furniture so that we wouldn't have to worry about packing that.

Boxes and boxes that Stephen Packed

While he was gone, Natalie fed me and made sure to check up on me, and Zak took me out to dinner on several occasions.  Joe and Jason came, and many members of the ward helped to load all of our stuff into the Uhaul and truck (and managed to fit it all!), and Joe and Jason drove it all they down to San Antonio after Stephen had found us an apartment.  They were real lifesavers, and helped me to remain somewhat rational when pregnancy hormones rendered me incapable of dealing with roadbumps (discovering that we had forgotten to have Joe and Jason take some of our things to San Antonio, having no where to send the fish, getting an ear infection a week before I was supposed to fly to San Antonio, cleaning the apartment when I was too tired to want to do anything).  I facetimed with Stephen whenever I could.  I am so grateful for technology that helped me stay a little bit rational as well and for Stephen for calling in help for me on many occasions. I am so blessed, and grateful for all the help that made this move possible.

The Beautiful flowers Stephen sent me for Mother's day.

Also, I can't forget to thank my wonderful coworkers for helping me so much to wrap up things at work.  Kayla especially helped so much to pick up whatever I couldn't finish, and never once made me feel guilty for leaving a week and a half early.  She even organized a little lunch/shower for me before I left, and my sweet coworkers gave me so many cute little baby things.  I'm really going to miss them and how they so patiently helped me through my first year of teaching.  It was an amazing growing experience.

Finally on May 22nd I took a shuttle down to Utah.  Grandma was there to pick me up, and I had so much fun spending an evening with her before she took me to the airport at 4:30 in the morning the next day.  I don't know what I would do without my sweet Grandma who takes such good care of me anytime that I need help and am in Utah.  The flights went well, there were no delays, and before I knew it I was in San Antonio.

In baby news, Etienne was growing and I could feel him a lot more.  I started getting tired again, and my back always hurt after long days of sitting in desk chairs, but it was so much fun the feel and see him wiggling, and especially fun the feel him get the hiccups.

Now on to San Antonio and more recent developments:
I arrived in San Antonio early that afternoon.  It was almost surreal to see my cute Husband there, because I felt like I hadn't seen him in FOREVER! :)  It was so exciting to see him.  He gave me a little tour and showed me our new apartment.  I love it so much, and he had already unpacked a lot of the big stuff.  We immediately went on a furniture buying rampage and thanks to Target, Walmart, and Craigslist, now have a fully furnished, super cute apartment.  It's so nice, and has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.  As of last week (June 13th-ish) we have officially unpacked everything, and this week I finally finished getting everything somewhat organized.  It feels like home now :).  

The view from our front door

Our living/dining area

View into the kitchen area

View out onto our back patio. My favorite part!  It's like our own little backyard 

Our bedroom.  We have a nice new bed, but we haven't chosen any bedding for it yet :) It's fine with me though, because I sleep with just the sheet anyway :-P 

Etienne's bassinet and my little vanity table.

Since I've arrived here we have been sampling what San Antonio has to offer in the way of barbeque.  I have to say that Smokey Mo's is my favorite, but Stephen prefers Two Bros. BBQ.  They both are delicious.  We even found a decent fish and chips place called Mr. Cod, which I love :).
Stephen has taken very good care of me since I got here, especially since I managed to contract a double ear infection almost immediately.  He's made many phone calls to sort out banking, phone, and insurance quickly and to get us going.  I've started seeing the midwives at Lonestar OB/GYN and have been very pleased thus far.
I've been pretty excited to be done unpacking so that I can work on Eti's nursery a little bit more.  I have a few more things I want to do, but it's coming together nicely.

Stephen putting together the crib that my parents got us.

The finished product

All ready :) 

book shelf

The other side of the room 

Cute Decorations

Stephen took a few maternity shots of me.  This one was a favorite, if you click on the caption, it will link to an album of a few more that Stephen took of me when I was 34 weeks pregnant

www.beckmanphotography.com

Etienne is running out of space in there and every movement results in much movement on the outside as well.  Sometimes even his hiccups will cause my stomach to spasm.  He doesn't like for anyone to encroach on his already limited space and pushes back when pushed on.  One day he even pushed his side out and I could see him "breathing."  The more I see him move the more excited I am to meet the little guy.

Speaking of "seeing" little Eti, the midwives thought that Etienne was measuring a little big, so yesterday (June 19th) they had me get an ultrasound to see just how big.  

My belly on the day of the Ultrasound (almost 38 weeks).

Etienne is very head down, and they had a hard time finding his head to get the measurements, but they finally got it, and they were able to take a sweet 3D picture.

A picture of baby Eti's first 3D picture :)

I love love love it.  My mom pointed out that he has Stephen's lips, and I totally agree.  I can't wait to kiss those little lips and squish those cheeks.  I was doing pretty good at being patient, but after seeing this picture, I definitely cannot wait to hold my little guy.

The measurements show that Etienne is measuring in around the 70th %ile.  They guessed that he is probably around 7lbs 9oz right now, and that, depending on when he comes he'll probably be around 8.5 to 9 lbs.  However, everything is looking great

Oh, back up, One last thing to share in this post (although there are probably a bazillion things to update, I will leave those other things for other posts).  Father's day was on Sunday and it was Stephen's first one :).  On Saturday we got a new car (which I think is definitely Stephen's favorite).  It's a denim blue 2011 Kia Soul, and it's super nice.  We're pretty excited about it, and especially excited to have a car without so many quirks.  We've been wanting another car so that I can get places when the baby's here, and this one was a great deal.  It's super nice to have two cars.

Stephen's New Car

Then on Sunday I gave Stephen his Father's Day Presents.  I got a matching shirt and onsie at this etsy shop, and then another onsie at this etsy shop, because I though Stephen would get a kick out of them.  He seemed to like them.

The importance of supporting your spouse

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. ~Simone Signoret

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Recently I read two short stories that illustrated how important it is to support your spouse and how strong of an influence you can have. I will paraphrase the stories.


The first story is about a wife's influence on her husband:
A president and his wife were out walking one day. The president saw one of his wife's old boyfriends in a less than prestigious occupation. He turned to his wife and said, "If you hadn't married me you could have ended up with him." To which his wife responded, " If I had married him, he would be president."


The second story is about a husband's influence on his wife:
A man was young, strong and highly sought after in his tribe. In his tribe it was customary to give a dowry of 2-3 cows depending on the desirability of the wife. This young man chose a woman who was homely, and shy and offered her father 8 cows as a dowry. This was unheard of, and later in life no one would have known this woman was once homely and shy, because all her met her were struck by her confidence and the spark in her eye. When asked why he gave 8 cows for a wife, the man responded by saying that he wanted an 8 cow wife.


I don't want to say much, but I wanted to share because these stories illustrate to me how much we can influence others by how we treat them.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

There is a good reason they call these ceremonies "commencement exercises."  Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning.  ~Orrin Hatch

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Life keeps on moving on, and more and more changes keep coming; exciting changes.

Stephen received and accepted a job offer for USAA in San Antonio, Texas.  He will start work there May 14.  We have been so blessed, and are so grateful for the many prayers said in our behalf. It's exciting, and makes me nervous.  I kinda just wanna go now so that I can stop thinking about it, but it will come soon enough. :)

And since then life has become increasingly busy.  My mom came to visit and threw me a baby shower at my grandmama's house.  So many people came, and I felt so loved.  Baby Etienne got very spoiled. It's so much fun to look at how little all the stuff is.  The only thing that is depressing, is that he will grow up too fast :-P (We just watched Toy Story 3 today.  One of many things that makes me worry about how fast my little baby is going to grow up.)  

And yes, we are planning on naming this little boy Etienne (pronounced Eht-ee-ehn or Eht-ee-yen).  It is French for Stephen, which I love.  We'll call him Eti (pronounced Eddy) for short.  I always thought I would name my first born son Stephen, but when I married a Stephen, it seemed like having a Steven, Stephen, and Stepheni in one family as enough.  That's when Zak mentioned Etienne.  Stephen immediately loved it as well.

Anyways, I digress.  So after the shower my mama came to stay with us for a week.  It was so much fun to have her around.  We ate, and shopped, and planned Stephen's graduation/birthday festivities.  It was my Spring break, and I loved being busy with my mama around.  :)  I'm lucky to have the family I have.

Then Stephen's family came for his graduation, and we had lots of fun; mostly eating.  Stephen graduated, and we celebrated his graduation, birthday, and Easter all in one.  My mama helped me organize the meal, and everyone helped to make it tons of fun. It's always awesome to have some time with family.  Julie even came from Missouri.  It meant so much to Stephen to have so much of his family there.

Since then we have been soooo BUSY!  Moving across the country takes a fair amount of planning, but we are checking things off the list.  Stephen has been a lifesaver by organizing so many things for the move.  Come next month we will officially say goodbye to Idaho.  It'soverwhelming, especially with a new baby on the way, but it's also very exciting.  We're starting a new and very eventful chapter in our lives.

In baby news, Etienne is moving so much now!  I can feel his kicks, and sometimes even just feel him moving around.  Stephen can feel him moving a lot more as well.  Etienne kicks at him if he encroaches on his space too much.  I can see my stomach move when he does as well.  My wardrobe is shrinking as I am growing, and it's hard to imagine how I much bigger I could get in the next 10 or so weeks.

Basically, life is awesome, and busy, but exciting!  I am so blessed to have the family and friends that I have, and I am especially grateful for all hardwork Stephen has put in to help us withthis amazing opportunity.  I'm excited to blog from Texas soon!

*Official* Half way Photo Shoot

A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside... when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time, and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone. ~Author Unknown

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I've been wanting some nice pictures to commemorate making it half way through my pregnancy :).  But before I share those, I want to look back at these ones.

18 weeks.  My first belly picture.

20 weeks.  At the grocery store.

So, these are the *official* half-way pictures that I had Stephen do today at 22 weeks. :)

Let The Weirdness Begin

“Feeling fat lasts nine months but the joy of becoming a mom lasts forever“  ~Nikki Dalton

"Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be“ ~Carrie Fisher

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Oh my days, what is happening to my body? :-P

Baby Beckman is kicking harder.  I feel him a couple times a day now, and last night he kicked hard enough that I felt him kick on the outside to, but he only did it twice, and by the time I had Stephen put his hand on my belly he decided to stop.  He's a little stinker already :-P

I've been noticing some weird lumps and bumps on my tummy too, and the weirdest thing yet is that if I arch my back, my belly button pops out.  Haha, maybe I should have given a TMI warning with this post. ;)

Speaking of changing bodies, this animation is really cool.

In other less weird news, I am so proud of my Stephen.  He's had interviews at Epic in Wisconsin, and USAA in Texas, and is going to have a phone interview with Microsoft soon (In Boise). It's an exciting time, and he's doing awesome at the job search, so we'll see what pans out.

The Big Reveal

Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it. ~Not Your Average Dictionary

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Excited, excited, excited!
I had no idea how completely terrified I would be to cut the cake.  In fact, I made Stephen do it.  It was so amazingly exciting.  In case you haven't figured it out.  It's a boy!

The ultrasound was so much fun.  Baby is upside down, so legs and arms were waving and the only thing we struggled to get a good picture of was the head :)  He is almost a pound now so measuring a tiny bit above average, but still in the average range. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

The profile shot (He really made us work for this one.)

Awww!

Look at that little hand!

Not shy. (He didn't make us work for this one :-P)

So many people came.  I really appreciate all the support from friends and family.  I'll have to post a video of the cake cutting at some point.
I am so excited to call the baby 'he' instead of 'it.'  It's making it more real!  I'm going to be a mom.  :)

Getting Excited

Babies are such a nice way to start people.  ~Don Herrold

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2 weeks.....actually less than 2 weeks until we find out if this little munchkin is a boy or a girl.  I'm pretty excited.  I think I'm most excited to get a chance to see the baby again.  He or she has probably changed a lot since his last blurry picture at 11 weeks.

  

I'm also getting excited for how we're going to find out.  We've decided not to find out at the ultrasound, but we are having them write down if it is a boy or a girl on a piece of paper and putting in a sealed envelope.  Then we are giving that sealed envelope to a friend who is going to especially prepare a cake that has a layer of either pink or blue frosting on the inside (and chocolate on the outside).   That way we get to find out if it is a boy or a girl when we cut the cake. 

So, this means that the baby needs to cooperate.  *Do you hear that in there?  No crossed legs or excessive wiggling.* :-P

In other news, life is going great.  Stephen has some very promising leads on the job search.  So far it's looking like we'll end up in either Wisconsin, Utah, Washington, or Florida.  Haha, so pretty much anywhere.  My work is going well.  My tummy is getting rounder by the day.

So many changes are coming, but so far they're all good.  Thank you all for all your prayers and support!