22 weeks

I guess I haven't posted any updates for a little bit because two weeks ago on Friday the 19th, we found out that we are having a baby BOY! We're so excited! I love that he's started kicking me a lot and Nick can put his hand on my belly and feel the kicks. I'm so glad we have a healthy baby (so far...fingers crossed)! I, on the other hand, had to go to the emergency room on the morning of the 18th for intense pain in my stomach. I was so nervous that something was wrong with the baby, but it just turned out that I have gall stones and will have to have my gall bladder out as soon as the baby is born. They're painful, but as long as I eat a low fat diet I shouldn't keep having attacks (I've had 3 since the 18th, but now I have pain meds. at home and don't need to go to the hospital for anything since we know what it is). All is good. We're excited for finals to be over in 2 weeks (YAY!) and Nick is graduating!!!! (YAY YAY YAY!!!) I'm so happy about that, because it means that we'll both have a break from school to focus on the baby and for Nick to get some job experience in Bio Physics until he applies for grad school. He's decided to go for his PhD instead of just his masters so it's going to be an adventure! We don't know where we'll end up living, but until he knows where he wants to go to grad school we're completely loving living in Denver in our lovely rented house with a big backyard for the dogs. I'm so excited to see what the next year will be like, since we've had such an amazing past year!

Here are some ultrasound pictures
He has Nick's nose!






He's already sucking his thumb

Baby update!

Last Friday (September 17th) we got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time!!! I was so nervous for our appointment because we hadn't had one for 6 weeks (a lot can happen in 6 weeks!). But we had just a short little Doppler Sonogram so we could hear that everything was going fine in there. And I was so relieved! Our baby sounds like a little helicopter, his/her heart was beating so fast! I've never been so excited in my life. I can't wait to find out if we're having a boy or girl (7 more weeks!) and I can't wait to have a little baby of our own.

I just love life right now!

Lady + Leon= two doggy messes

I realized that I have pictures of Leon on here but absolutely none of Lady our newest puppy addition to the family. We got her on June 9th and she is a super-fun-wild-crazy-cuddly-sweet-playful little pooch. She is absolutely adorable. She has a tendency to bite your nose, which is slightly less adorable, but funny (when it's not your nose she's biting)! But here she is in all her cuteness:

In all honesty, she's a joy to have in our life and I'm so glad we got her so she and Leon can entertain each other for hours upon hours every day. They have a blast!

1+1= 3

That's right...We're having a BABY!!! I couldn't be more excited! And now that we've told both sets of parents we're free to shout it from the rooftops. I'm so so so happy right now and let me tell you, it has been really hard to stay quiet about it until our parents knew. I just wanted to tell anyone and everyone who would listen. I am only 5 weeks pregnant so currently my baby is the size of an "o" off of this page...teeny tiny. But that will all change in a few weeks and I cannot wait! I can't wait for the baby bump or the sonograms. I also can't wait to find out if "it" is a girl or a boy so I can immediately start planning his or her cute little baby room! I am just about to burst, I can't tell you how excited I/we are! My due date is April 3, 2011 :)

I should probably stop writing because I think I've used up how many times you can use exclamation points and the word "excited" in one blog post. But I'll update those of you who follow this as soon as I have more information. <3>

One whole year!

It has officially been one year since marrying my best friend and eternal companion. I love him so much! May 30th, 2009 was the best day of our lives and we are both so happy to have found our soul-mates! On the 29th we celebrated the 2nd birthday of Abraham Rafael Stewart (our nephew- Tirsa's son)! He's such a cute little boy and he can already hit a pitched baseball!!! He has the perfect stance for hitting and holding the bat. He's an amazing boy and Nick and I are so excited to see him grow up!

Also on the 29th Nick sent me on a scavenger hunt at Park Meadows Mall for my anniversary present. He sent me a text telling me to go to Orange Julius and buy myself a "glass of sunshine" to take with me. He then said "go see the puppies", something I love to do every time we go to the mall. Next he sent me to the Apple store where I played around on the new iPad for a little while as I awaited further instructions. He then sent me up the escalators saying "find a picture of a memorable place we've been". There was a booth with a bunch of canvasses with pictures, one of which was of Kauai where we went on our honeymoon! After that he told me to go into Victoria's Secret and "find a smell you like a lot, spray some on and then ask for Kara. She has something for you". I was pretty nervous to ask around at VS for a lady named Kara so I told him I didn't want to...but finally he coaxed me into it. Don't worry, she just had a bag with a very good smelling lip gloss to give me! Then he told me "head to where we bought our rings"...so I headed downstairs to Helzberg Diamonds where he then sent me a text saying "find a bowl and research the definition of 'Kto's mnie kocha'". I found out that it means "I am loved" in Polish...and he told me to give the Polish pin to Sherri...which I did. Then she pulled out a bag...which I opened somewhat perplexed. And inside...was... A BEAUTIFUL WATCH! It is so pretty! It never needs new batteries because it charges itself through the face of the watch which takes in light! It's the coolest ever! I love my husband so much! He then showed up and requested a kiss, which I was oh so happy to give him!

Later in the afternoon was Abraham's birthday party and then that night we took both of our parents to The Melting Pot to celebrate with some delicious fondue! It was such a fun experience and it was really nice to share it with our parents who had never been there before.

We are so truly blessed to have one another and to be surrounded by wonderful family all of the time. We simply love LIFE!

Time for a letter

Dear homeless guy,

I know you say you are hungry, but the alcohol on your breath gives me pause. The bottle in your brown paper bag maybe should have been bought AFTER eating something because then you wouldn't be following me to my car as I ready my keys to be used defensively. I can see that you've had some hard times, and I normally would feel pity and reach for my wallet and my spare change, however, cornering me near my car hardly elicits feelings of pity. More like a defensive wall, anxiousness and I admit it, probably a little aggression. But how am I supposed to react to a disheveled, toothless man walking briskly behind me as I practically run to my car? Even if you didn't look like a homeless man, or smell like a bar, I would still be scared of an unknown man tailing me to my car. So please, if you would like some spare change, I am perfectly content with you holding your cardboard sign on the corner and I will probably buy some food and bring it back to you, or give you some spare change, or a water or whatever else I might have food-wise in my car. However, I am not content with the fact that 3 men this week have cornered me at my car, as I exited a store or WALKED INTO MY BACKYARD!!!!
I am feeling slightly less generous than usual, which is probably because of the lack of personal space afforded to me by the male population of homeless men in Denver. All I ask is that you don't accost me at my home, at the store or in a parking lot.

Sincerely,
Marissa Sanchez

This is our sweet little Border Collie- Australian Shepherd puppy, Leon. He was a Christmas present from Nick!-- The best Christmas present ever! He was such a cute puppy, when we first saw him it only took about .25 seconds to tell the breeder "We'll take him!" I think you can see why :)

















Fast forward 2 months...Our poor little guy had to be in a cast! At 10:45 pm I was sitting on the couch finishing up studying for my Anthropology midterm while Nick played with Leon. He really loves this little fox toy we got him, and got SO excited that Nick was playing with him that he jumped in the air and was just spinning around like a crazy dog. When he landed he immediately started crying and whimpering. It was the saddest thing ever! We thought his hip was dislocated but after doing some prodding discovered it was actually the lower part of his leg that was hurting. So, we drove over to the Emergency Vet office and spent 2 hours waiting and hoping nothing was broken. However, after looking at the X-rays it was easy to see that his leg was broken in two places. Surgery was the only option I would consider (the Vet told us she could just cast it, but he probably would never walk normally again) for our 4 month old puppy. So, 2 days and a LOT of money later we had our super drugged puppy home. He got so sick when he got home, I felt so bad for him! He was in the cast for 6 weeks and despite our best efforts was still as active as ever. He was never supposed to run, but there is no stopping this dog! He's now out of the cast and still always going, going, going but we LOVE HIM! Now, I just have to find the camera charger so I can post new pictures! He's SO BIG now!

Appreciation

Today my new cousin-in-law posted a video from Mormon Messages on Youtube and it really hit me. Go here to watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/mormonmessages?v=KHDvxPjsm8E
This woman was burned in a plane crash and feels pain every day, but she is still so full of grace and love for her life and the savior. I know that a lot of the time I feel inadequate and struggle to love school or work or whatever it may be. One of the things that really touched me about this video is that you can see that Stephanie Nelson and her husband love each other and that no deformity can come between that love. A lot of the time I look at Nick and just wonder "how could someone as gracious, kind and perfect as him possibly love all of my flaws?" He always reassures me that he loves me now and he will love me forever. So why do I have such a hard time accepting that? I know that everyday reading the news I am bombarded by stories of unfaithfulness and marital hardship, but why do I insist on trying to pick apart our marriage to try to find the flaws? They simply aren't there. I'm not saying we're perfect or that we never have our disagreements...but the disagreements wouldn't be there if I didn't continually feel the need to ask Nick if he still loves me.
This video has made me feel so ungrateful. I know that I have a wonderful husband who loves me. I know that heavenly father loves us and that he looks out for our well being.
I think I need to take a break from reading the news for a while :).
But the fact of the matter is, my life...our life, is good. We are doing all of the things we are supposed to be doing and we love each other. Love is all that matters.

Listen to Missy and Nick

Faking it

So today as Nick and I were reading Postsecret, our (my) Sunday ritual, we came across this secret which then led me to the actual blog of this woman who is "faking it" in the LDS Church. At first I was intrigued, "what would make someone write this kind of blog?" Then after reading some of the comments left on the page, I began to feel really sad. One woman wrote: "Why are all the Mormon mommies blogging and posting their recipes and taking perfect photos of the kids, homes, dinners, gardens, skinny selves with their Canon XSi cameras? Is the church telling them to do this as a passive-agressive recruiting mission, as their lives seem so perfect, married to doctors, successful business men, accountants, lawyers, etc., with the big beautiful homes? They have no jobs themselves, relish their SAH mom status and seem to have life so good?" I admit that Nick and I started a blog after I found some of my old church friends' blogs and decided it would be a fun idea to try. It would be a place where friends could catch up and see into our day-to-day life (which is something that is hard considering that a lot of our friends/family live in Utah). But I had no idea that the fact that there were a bunch of Mormon women blogging about our lives would entice such harsh criticism. While many look perfect on the outside (and I agree, a lot of LDS families look like the Cleavers from "Leave it to Beaver") no family is perfect. So...to just end this rant, I find it unfair that LDS people are judged by our outward appearances simply because we are LDS.

One of the blog writer's posts that hit home with me talks about disliking Relief Society and not wanting to go every week. And I admit, this is something I am guilty of. Since moving into our new ward, Nick and I were called to be Nursery workers so I only get to go to RS twice a month. I hate to admit, but I dread these weeks. I am a very shy person when first getting to know people and so RS has been a challenge for me from the beginning. I don't talk to people, I sit by myself and I leave the second RS is over. And to be honest, I know that because I do these things I am making it hard to fit in. But, I just can't seem to get over the shyness and talk to people (not to mention, I'm AWFUL with names). It's a vicious cycle. But I guess my point in revealing this is that I am a member, I love the church and I completely know that it is true, but yet I still struggle with going to Relief Society. No one is perfect. No one is expected to be. But this secret on Postsecret really made me feel badly about not talking to people in RS. Maybe one of the sisters there is having a hard time adjusting or making friends or is "faking it" as the blog says...but either way, maybe if I wasn't so shy I could make RS bearable for someone else, and in turn make it bearable for myself. I'm going to try really hard this next week to be better about talking to the women in RS because I'm tired of not having friends at church or feeling accepted and dreading RS...and it's up to me to change that.