Yes, I'm STILL Pregnant

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with my blog, but Robert and I saw Stranger Than Fiction last night and I must say, we loved it. It's a very quirky, weird film (which both of us love) . . . and we're both English geeks, so we appreciated the literary references. Watching this film is like reading a Jorge Luis Borges short story; modern, sometimes nonsensical, but cool. Really cool. (Okay, so the movie's not as weird as Borges, or as brilliant. But you get the idea. You're expected to accept the absurd in order to get to the thematic realities.)

*Sigh.* Not much has happened lately (as you can tell from reading the title). I'm still pregnant. Still uncomfortable. Still unable to reach my toes without serious effort (usually not worth it). People keep telling me to appreciate this time and to sleep a lot, since I won't be able to sleep much once the baby's born. I'm trying to take this advice . . . but at this state of my pregnancy, I can't seem to sleep much anyway and everything-- EVERYTHING-- is uncomfortable. (Or at least harder than normal. Who knew that picking something up off the floor counted as an accomplishment?)

Sorry for the whining. I've been blessed to have a good pregnancy. I was sick . . . but not as terribly as other Moms I know . . . and the baby is healthy by all accounts. Plus I have MADE IT to full term (for two weeks now), which is such a relief and a blessing. Now if I could just convince the baby to come . . .

In other news, I'm excited to report that my sister Katie finally updated her blog! It had been seriously almost a year . . . so I had given up hope. I happened to check it today, though, mainly because nobody else had updated theirs yet, and I was very surprised to find that she had posted some cute pics of her family. Hooray! Welcome back, Katie!

Robert's grown somewhat impatient about hearing from the rest of the law schools. All the schools told us not to expect to hear back until March, at the earliest, so we've been spoiled to hear from five of his eleven schools already . . . but I admit, it is hard to wait for the schools we REALLY REALLY want. We like the other schools we've heard from, but Stanford, U of Chicago, Northwestern, and UCLA are his top choices at this point, and all of them are hard to get into. He's in the score ranges of them all, so he is able to get into them, but because they are all top top schools, it is more likely that he won't get into them . . . so we're dying to know. And if he gets a scholarship offer from any of these schools, well . . . it will be hard to turn down. Still no guarantees, though. We are keeping our options open.

Okay, this blog is taking on a life of its own. And it's boring. I'm sorry if I'm disappointing any blog stalkers out there. I'll do my utmost to do something interesting so I can post about something interesting.

Have a great day either way! (-Jocelyn)

Twig by Twig

*Sigh.* Isn't my husband the sweetest? I kind of held off blogging (for TWO WHOLE DAYS!!!) because I felt flattered by his kind blog. Thanks, Honey!

Enough about me, though. Robert has heard from two more law schools in the past few days. He has been accepted to both BYU and to University of Iowa. BYU is offering him a scholarship (hooray!), but we're not sure how much yet. University of Iowa didn't mention a scholarship in the e-mail, but the official letter is on its way, so we'll see. It's kind of funny. All of our Utah friends and family are praying for us to go to BYU . . . and all of our California friends and family (mainly family; my side) are praying for us to go to UCLA (which we haven't heard back from yet). We're not making ANY guarantees. As far as we're concerned, any of the eleven schools is a possible end choice. We'll just have to see . . .

BACK to me. :) I have turned into a cleaning machine. It's all about the "nesting" phase of pregnancy. In the past week, I have become obsessive compulsive about being clean. Any spare moment I have, I start scrubbing things. It's kind of cool. Kind of creepy. But hopefully it will get our house completely organized and spotless before the little one arrives and the nesting hormones go away.

Two weeks from today is our due date! We can't WAIT!!! (-Jocelyn)

"The Woman"

In high school, I directed a one-act Sherlock Holmes play called "A Scandal in Bohemia" and nicknamed it "The Woman," since the plot revolved around how Sherlock Holmes was finally outwitted by a beautiful woman.

I chose that nickname for today's post because I want to honor the woman who has helped me become who I am today: namely, my wife Jocelyn.

Although she has supported me vocally and bragged to her friends and family about me often when I have achieved something great, I don't think that Jocelyn has received the praise and thanks that she deserves. I wanted to let everyone know, for that reason, what a wonderful and powerful influence she has been in my life and of all the great things she has done and is doing.

First of all, Jocelyn is very sensitive to the spirit. She recognizes truth easily and has a strong desire to do what the Lord wants her to. When I was dating her, I remember thinking and feeling that she was a person I could trust to help me be my best and stay on the right path. I have not been disappointed.

Jocelyn encourages me (and us, as a family) to say prayers often--not just for morning and night prayers, but for anything that goes wrong. At first, I found praying for every little thing (like finding lost keys) tiresome . . . until I realized that every time we prayed for something, it worked out. Jocelyn helped me understand the true power of prayer.

Secondly, Jocelyn is a genius. When I ask for her help with an essay, she is able to pick out the main points and make them shine, even when I'm not really sure what I'm trying to do. She easily grasps complex ideas and makes them understandable. And she can see themes and meaning in works of art that are incredibly insightful. The other day, for example, she pointed out that in "Starry, Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh, the only building to touch the sky was the church, symbolizing a spiritual connection between heaven and earth. Also, her memory and knowledge of facts is remarkable. She can remember tiny details about our early relationship that have long escaped me. And she has an understanding of most current ideas and debates in politics, philosophy, science, art, and much more.

Thirdly, Jocelyn is a humble and dedicated worker. She's been working as an editor for a year and half to support our family. She doesn't care about being in the spotlight or receiving praise; she just does what is necessary to maintain a good home and to help our family financially. I know, too, that she's going to be an equally great mother, because I can already sense the love that she has for our little unborn child. I know she wouldn't ask to be publicly recognized for all that she has done and all that she means to me, but I feel she deserves it all the same.

Finally, Jocelyn has helped me to achieve my potential. I wouldn' be going to law school if it wasn't for her. She has helped me discover my abilities and has convinced me that I can do anything. I owe a lot to her, and I will be forever grateful.

(-Robert)

Holy Cow!

We just received Robert's official acceptance letter from George Washington University Law School and we are floored! We totally didn't expect this, but they have offered Robert a merit scholarship of $20,000 a year (lasting through all three years of law school). This is so amazing and we feel so blessed. I know Robert's a smarty-pants and will be an amazing law student and lawyer . . . but I also know that these offers are blessings from Heavenly Father and we are grateful for them! We hoped he would get into such a good school, but we never dreamed that he'd actually get a scholarship from such a school!

We are still waiting to hear from the other eight schools, and we'll keep you posted when we do. George Washington is ranked number 19 . . . so needless to say, we feel very relieved that he has received this amazing offer.

Hooray! Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I know they help. :)

-

The baby is still inside of me, and I am NOT dilated at all yet. :( (I had my doctor's appointment today.) Oh well! I can wait three weeks . . . I think . . . (-Jocelyn)

Big Trouble in Little China, Big Baby in Little Belly

I went to Blockbuster video the other day to rent Big Trouble in Little China (which my wife admitted she liked more than she thought she would--she'd been afraid to see it for quite a while), a Kurt Russell classic from the 80s. The lady at the checkout convinced me to sign up for a free two-week trial of their Blockbuster Online deal. In return, we got Big Trouble in Little China for free and received three additional movies in the mail that we can return whenever we want. In the past few days, we've also seen Ice Age 2 and Invincible through this deal. Then, each time we return one, we get another free in-store rental and the immediately ship a new one in the mail. It's a good deal when it's all free. We just have to remember to cancel before the deadline. What's interesting about this program is that because they give you so many free movies, there's no way you could ever watch all of the movies they try to give you each week unless you do nothing else. It's movie oversaturation.

Meanwhile, the baby is trying as hard as he can to kick and punch his way through Jocelyn's stomach. A lot of the time she's in more pain than she's supposed to be, and we've been close to making a couple of trips to the hospital because of serious abdominal pain.

It's weird that the baby is so close to arriving. We've been improving the house bit by bit, clearing up space, getting rid of things we don't use, and making the baby room look like a real nursery. We're both excited and nervous at the same time, and Jocelyn gets that motherly glow about her more and more every day.

(-Robert)

It's a Joke

Jocelyn says I haven't posted in a while, so I decided I'd better write something.

Only trouble is, I can't think of anything to write, so I guess I'll tell you about how I've been revising my quantum physics chaos theory lately.

It started with my bowling class. I realized suddenly that the angle of my bowling ball path with respect to the pins was directly proportionate to the angle of the incline on a standard entropy graph.

Weird, huh?

This has led me to the conclusion that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

(-Robert)

Cuteness

I don't have anything new to report . . . I just had to share these pictures of my niece Isabel. Isn't she so cute?

*Sigh.* Here's hoping our baby follows the familial trend (and is adorable). We'll see soon! (-Jocelyn)

Happy Birth Day Joseph Alek!

This little blonde cutie, Joseph Alek, was born to my sister Liz and her hubby Alex at 5:18 a.m. today. He was 7 pounds, 12 ounces and 19.5 inches long. Look at that hair!!!

So that's four babies from the Stayner side (Jackson [June 06], Hannah [Nov 06], Isabel [Jan 07], and Joseph). I am now officially the NEXT ONE up! Hooray? I think? :)

Robert is taking a BYU snowboarding class. Today was his first day on the slopes and he is sore already. Poor guy . . . just wait until tomorrow when more muscles wake up to the pain! He had a lot of fun, though, and, as usual, is thoroughly happy that I convinced him to take that class. (Yes, I'm always right. Okay, often.)

Well, that's all for now. At this point I'm pretty much just on baby watch, waiting for our little guy. I'll let you know when it happens (or at least Robert will). Have a great day! (-Jocelyn)

Welcome Isabel!

This post is a shout-out to my sister Rachel and her hubby Ryan who just had their second little girl, Isabel Ann. She was born on Monday, January 8 at 1:16 p.m., weighing in at 9 pounds (even though she was two weeks early!!!) and measuring 20.5 inches. From all accounts, she is adorable and is a good baby (eating well, sleeping well, looking cute . . . what else can you ask from a four-day-old?).

Welcome, Isabel! I can't wait to meet you!

My little baby is getting ready to come out, and we're almost ready to receive him. We FINALLY got the nursery done . . . so that stressor is out of the way. Now I'm trying to deep clean the entire house before he comes. We'll see if I get it all done. At this point, I would gladly go into labor. He's pretty much fully baked (I'm 36 weeks along; 37 weeks is considered "full term") and he is growing more and more everyday, making my life quite uncomfortable. The other night, we did have a fun five or six hour false labor marathon. I was having severe back pain/contractions and some front contractions. It went away eventually. I'm hoping it wasn't all for naught and that all that pain at least made me dilated or something. We'll find out at the doctor's!

In law school news, Robert has heard back from two law schools and he has been accepted to both. He got into Baylor Law School (Waco, Texas) and they offered him a full-tuition, three-year (so for the entire duration of law school) scholarship; George Washington (Washington, DC) also just contacted him and let him know he was accepted. No news on if he'll be offered any money from them, but it's more unlikely, as Baylor is ranked 51st and George Washington is ranked 19th, meaning that Baylor offered a scholarship to entice Robert to leave behind better-ranked schools . . . like George Washington.

We're very thrilled that he has two solid offers from good schools. It takes a lot of stress off our shoulders! Now we just have to wait to hear from the other nine schools (Stanford, U of Chicago, Northwestern, UCLA, U of Iowa, U of Illinois, BYU, Temple U, and Creighton) and then make the hard decision. We feel so blessed and know that our good fortune comes from the Lord and that He will help guide us in the ultimate decision, which is a comfort, since this is one of those life-altering choices. We also know we are blessed to have such supportive family and friends. You know who you are. :) (-Jocelyn)

The Holidays

Christmas Day belly shot. Merry Christmas, Peter (that big lump in my tummy)!

This is not my favorite pic of myself, but it's the best one of Robert and me on Christmas Day! John took this shot of us in front of the Bunch Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all! Both were joyous occassions, sweetened by the company of family and friends. We spent Christmas Eve with the Gibbons; Christmas morning at our house, then back at the Gibbons; and Christmas dinner and evening (we even spent the night!) at my sister Megan's house with all of the Utah Stayners. It was a very full, but very happy Christmas.

-

New Year's Eve was spent picking up Brittany at the airport and then playing games (of course). I really think if you made the calculations, about 50% of our marriage has been spent playing games. It's all part of marrying into the Gibbons family, I suppose, and I'm good with it, because I always wanted to play games growing up and it was hard to convince any of my older siblings (or my parents) to play them with me! So now, I get to play games all the time. I'm pretty competitive, but so is Robert and the rest of his family, so it makes for good times (actual heated battles arise only about 1% of the time and they are always resolved quickly, thank goodness).

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I am now almost 35 weeks pregnant, which means there are 5 weeks to go, give or take a couple of weeks depending on when the kid decides to actually come. We are SO excited! I feel ready for the baby part and for being a mom and all that and I am definitely ready for the baby to be OUTSIDE my body as he is still in love with my ribcage. Fun? Not really! But we still need to get our home in complete order before he arrives, so New Year's Day was spent creating a bit of organizational chaos in our home. We are ALMOST done. WOOHOO!
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Welp, this blog has gotten pretty long and somewhat boring. So I am going to stop it there! But I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday season and that 2007 will be the best year yet! (-Jocelyn)