Finding the True Spirit of Motherhood

Seeing as both Bryce and I are simple poor college students, understandably we were worried about being financially stable enough to provide for a baby. Months passed and we accumulated almost nothing for our precious bundle of joy that is quickly approaching. My sweet mother was gathering supplies for us, though. The other day we received two tupperware containers full of baby clothes and a few other items. Everything we had, we owed to my mom and her sweetness. I am now 7 and a half months along and sure, I began to worry about being able to afford some of the big ticket items like a crib, carseat, and stroller (as such items aren't normally in our monthly budget). As I began thinking of ways that we might be able to make some extra money, my mind turned to the wedding dress sitting in the closet of the room that was to become the nursery. My heart was a little bit torn. Sure I would probably never wear it again, but it's a reminder of the best day of my life. I thought about it for a little while and soon enough I had my mind made up.

As I began to see selling my wedding dress as a sacrifice for my baby girl, it no longer seemed like a sacrifice at all. Selling my dress in order to afford a crib and/or travel system for my baby girl was certainly a worthy "sacrifice." So I took some pictures of the dress and posted an ad on ksl.com. Of course, before I ever posted the ad I did some research. I looked at other wedding dress advertisements on ksl as a reference point. I looked at all the prices and how long the ads had stayed online. I decided that I should go for a medium price, so I posted the dress for about half the price I bought it at. I thought it would be ages before I received any bites from this online ad. The Lord is good to us though, and I heard from a lady who wanted to purchase the dress the very next day. The exchange is currently in the works. I do have to say though, that I believe that God is a living and ever present being in our lives. He knows us and loves us. Bryce and I were doing some research as we looked for cribs and travel systems. We saw that Walmart is currently having a baby savings event and "what's on sale?" you might ask..? CRIBS AND TRAVEL SYSTEMS! Not only that, but I was almost certain that Bryce and I weren't going to be able to have a baby shower because we had just moved to a new place and hadn't really had a chance to make new friends yet. But, we just received news from my sweet mother-in-law that she would throw us a shower. We are blessed. I am grateful for this series of events, which I know would never had happened on its own, or because of pure coincidence.

The spirit of motherhood is a spirit of sacrifice. As mothers we sacrifice our own bodies and well being to carry our children for the better part of a year, and that's just the beginning. We sacrifice sleep and our well being in the early months, and so much more in the years following. I know this was a small and certainly insignificant sacrifice, but I feel like it's put me on the road to becoming a better mother.

A 3D sonogram image of our precious little girl.

Hobo In The Dumpster

You know, a couple of months ago Bryce and I were convinced that there was a homeless person who took refuge in the dumpster behind our apartment at night. There were many reasons we believed there was a hobo in the dumpster. The first being that we heard strange sounds coming from behind our apartment at night. Now, Bryce's work schedule is a little different. During school he's working part time as a package handler at UPS. For this job Bryce goes into work anywhere between 3 and 4 in the morning and he returns after 8 am. So, Bryce leaves for work pretty much in the middle of the night and he noticed that whenever he left for work the dumpster lid would be closed (probably for protection from the cold; although I don't know anyone who would be able to survive the smell) and when he returned from work the lid would once again be open. Bryce also reported that he heard strange sounds coming from the dumpster on these early morning commutes.

Bryce wasn't the only one hearing strange noises, though. One morning after Bryce had left for work and I had gone back to sleep, I was awoken by what sounded like someone whisking something in our kitchen. I was frightened by the sound, but I was also half asleep. Soon the sound passed and there was no homeless man standing at the foot of my bed with pancakes (or any other delicious breakfast food that would require a whisk) so I thought I was ok and I went back to sleep. When Bryce came home I told him about the noise I had heard, and how it had sounded like someone was in our home, or at least right outside our bedroom window. When I had gotten out of bed that morning though, I checked all the doors and everything was locked and safe. We were both a little freaked out by what had happened. We decided to wait it out and see if we heard anything like it again.

A few days later we realized that the sound was actually those garbage cans on wheels rolling in the gravel that is our "backyard." It seems as though our neighbor woke up nice and early to take the trash out on that one creepy night.

So now whenever we hear one of our neighbors rolling their garbage can out to the front we joke about the hobo whisking past our window. Now that the weather has heated up, though, I am proud to report that we no longer hear strange sounds coming from the dumpster and I am pretty sure that the homeless man found himself a nicer place to stay. Thankfully.

Getting To Know Little Olivia

One of my favorite things about being pregnant (besides how fast my hair grows and how for once in my life my nails actually look nice as they grow out) is getting to know my baby girl while she still resides in my ever expanding tummy. During the last few months I have been slowly but surely finding out a little more about my Olivia. I have tentatively come to find three things that she loves, and one she absolutely despises (and she's just like her mommy with these things!)

Olivia's likes:

1. Music ♫
There are many times when I find Olivia kicking along joyfully to music. For instance, last week Bryce and I went to his friend's concert. Jay and his band "Hydramat" were playing along with two other groups. Never in her life had Olivia been so lively as when those bands were playing. Not to mention it was probably the loudest thing she had ever heard. Olivia is also always kicking when Bryce and I are singing along to the radio in the car. And one thing that never fails (which I find hilarious), Bryce and I have this app on our ipad we sometimes play called "My Singing Monsters." In the game you slowly hatch more monsters that, well, sing. As you add more monsters the sound gets louder and more parts are added to the song. Whenever we play this game, even if our little olive had been sleeping for hours, Olivia starts stirring and kicking along happily to the beat. So pretty much, we already have a lullaby that we know she loves, haha.

2. The calming and touching feelings of the Holy Ghost
Lately I have been noticing that whenever I am feeling the spirit strongly, so is little Olivia. Whether it be during one of our temple trips, during my brother-in-law Spencer's patriarchal blessing, General Conference, or a touching Sacrament Meeting, when I feel the spirit stirring inside me, I also feel the precious stirrings of my baby girl. I believe she is very akin to the promptings of the spirit and I hope that stays with her throughout her life.

3. The voice of her daddy
I will never forget an experience I shared with my husband a couple of weeks ago. After I read Olivia a bedtime story, I mentioned to Bryce how Olivia was kicking up a storm. One of my favorite things ever is when Bryce talks to our little olive through my tummy. Well, at this time that is exactly what Bryce decided to do. He put his face so close that as he spoke his lips graced my belly. Bryce said something along the lines of, "Be nice to mommy. I love you Olivia." and just as he finished he received a loving, yet quite strong kick in the mouth, haha. Bryce jokes that Olivia "punched him in the face." What a tender moment. Our little girl recognizes the voice of her father and find comforts in it so much that she just wants to be nearer to the voice of that great man.

Already Olivia is so much like her mama. She loves music, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Bryce! But the next similarity is uncanny!

Olivia's dislikes:

1. The cold.
Usually at our doctors appointments the gel they put on my belly before an ultrasound or to check on our baby's heartbeat is nice and warm, but this last appointment it wasn't. After a little bit of poking and prodding from the doctor to feel her size and position, he squeezed out a glob of cold gel onto my stomach in order to find the heartbeat. Almost immediately Olivia kicked, hard, right at the exact spot where the cold gel landed. As we heard the heartbeat of our precious little one, we also heard her kicks (as well as me feeling them). They were ferocious! Haha. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Olivia really likes to be cozy and warm. Oftentimes I am cuddling under a blanket and I can feel her soft and reassuring movements. Lately as she moves and kicks I am able to visibly see my stomach move. Bryce hasn't witnessed this quite yet, so whenever I feel her kicking I remove the blanket and tell Bryce to look. Always, every time, without fail, she stops kicking as soon as the blanket is removed and starts up again when it is replaced!

It is so neat to see how our little one already has a personality of her own. I love her so very much and I absolutely cannot wait to get to know her better as we introduce her into this world and she grows bigger (in a home that's not my stomach).

Our New Apartment

As some of you may know, Bryce and I just recently moved. On and off, for the duration of our marriage we lived in BYU married student housing, also known as Wymount Terrace. We absolutely LOVED our stay there. The ward was amazing, the neighbors were nice, the playground was right in front of our apartment, and visiting/home teaching took almost no effort at all since everyone lived within a hundred feet of each other, haha. There were a couple of downsides, though. The following are things we will not miss about Wymount:

• Cinder-block walls
• No dishwasher
• The teeny tiniest little bathroom ever (without counter tops)
• The "carpet"

All in all, though, our stay at Wymount was a blessing for the both of us. We made some great friends, found out a super fun dish washing routine, and got plenty of exercise taking groceries and laundry up three flights of stairs every day. 

The reason we moved from Wymount was because you have to be a "day continuing" student to live there. I am the one who attends BYU (Bryce is currently studying at UVU), and since our precious little Olivia will be making her appearance soon, I will probably not be a full time student again for quite some time. We moved early in the pregnancy so that I could actually help a little bit with the moving and so it wouldn't be so unbearable later on. 

For weeks Bryce and I looked for apartments that were pleasant and in our budget. We visited the ksl webpage often. We probably made appointments to visit 25 different apartments, some of which would fall through the day of as someone else had "just purchased it." After all the research, visits, and paperwork though, there were about three apartments that Bryce and I were considering. One of which we definitely wanted, but the landlords simply would not get back to us with a certain yes or no, another which we decided would be ok (if the first place didn't go through), and another which was our fallback plan. We really wanted a two-bedroom apartment so the baby (and my mom when she came to visit and help with the baby) could have their own space. The last apartment was a one bedroom, but it had a spacey living room. 

Anyways, it was super last minute, but just as we were making our decision the landlord from the first (our favorite) apartment called me and set us up with an appointment to come fill out the final paperwork! HOORAY!! And so the next day we got our new apartment and started moving in!

And here are some pictures for you!

Walking through the front door

Our living room/entertainment area

Our living room / computer corner
(We sorely need a desk, haha)

The Kitchen

Our little dining area

Our utility corner

The Hallway

Hallway closet

The bathroom (with counter tops!!)

Master Bedroom - the left side

Master bedroom - the right side

The baby's room
AKA
The unpacking room 

Well, we absolutely love our new little apartment. The walls are still bare and we have hardly any furniture, but with some time this place will look  more and more like home. I'll leave you guys today with a little virtual tour for your viewing pleasure.

It's a Girl!

Bryce and I were able to find out the gender of our precious little baby at 16 1/2 weeks, two and a half weeks earlier than most OBGYNs will tell you. This was possible because of the study we participated in called NuMom2B (if you're a first time mom in the Provo/Orem UT area, I recommend looking into it!).

If it was up to me, I would have just found out during the sonogram, but I have an awesome sister-in-law (shout out to Kristen!) who was sweet enough to plan a little gender party for us. So, when the doctor came in to do the sonogram and asked if we wanted to know the gender we answered, "Yes, but not right now." Haha. We asked her to put the precious information into a folder that we could deliver to our family and they would then surprise us with the gender. When the time came we were asked to close our eyes-- it was SO HARD!! But I did it.

Driving home, I had the envelope in my purse. It was as if heat radiated from the bag on my lap! The knowledge was so close!! But I was determined to be patient. Unfortunately we had to wait until the next day to find out. The. Next. Day. Ahhh! Somehow, I was able to not touch my purse for an entire day and it was well worth it.

The day before Valentine's Day we visited with my in-laws. I gave them the envelope and went to the other room, in case someone had an audible reaction. After a moment of deadly silence, we heard from the other room, "We can't tell!" What?!?!?! You can't tell? It wasn't as if Bryce and I could look and say, "Oh, here. It says it right here." So we tried to give them directions from the other room. "Do you see it say either boy or girl in the print on the top of the picture?" Those few minutes seemed to last forever!! Finally my mother-in-law found where it said it and a huge sigh escaped from my lips. A few minutes later this is what happened.

And the truth was revealed!! Both Bryce and I thought it would be a boy. We even had a boy's name picked out, but the news that it was a girl was exhilarating! We'd have to find a girl name! Many times people had asked me, what do you want? I always answered that I wanted it to be healthy, mostly because it's true, but also because I didn't really know. Once I found out it was a girl, though, I realized that was exactly what I wanted!

After we found out the exciting news we had cake (which was delicious to my pregnant belly)! The pink on top means it's a girl. They weren't going to be able to wait to make the cake until they found out the gender so they got creative by making a cake that was both blue and pink and just flipped to corresponding side. 

What an exciting day! I'll be able to do pigtails and cute little dresses! Not to mention adorable bows!! After we found out the news, Bryce and I picked out names for days! We had a list of about 20 names that we liked and we just couldn't narrow it down! One day, though, all of the sudden Bryce was looking at our list and pointed out one of the names on it. "What about Olivia?" he asked. I said it a few times out loud, "Olivia. Olivia. Olivia Allred." I fell in love. I piped up, "What about Renee as the middle name?" Olivia Renee Allred. Bryce said he liked it. The next Sunday as we were sitting in church  we were both doodling on a piece of paper writing down the name over and over again. Olivia Renee Allred. We couldn't get it out of our minds. And so we decided! But it's still tentative, we don't want to say that's it for sure until we meet her, to see if it fits her. As I speak to her through my tummy, though, Olivia Renee Allred seems to fit perfectly. I'm pretty sure that's what will go down on her birth certificate. What do you guys think?

Walmart Registry

Target Registry

Babies R Us Registry

There's A Bun In Our Oven!

That's right! We're pregnant!!

I first found out on November 11th of 2012 and Bryce found out shortly thereafter. In fact, I woke up early that morning to take the test because I wanted to do it while Bryce was still asleep but I couldn't hold the news even long enough for him to wake up. After I found out I crawled back into bed and whispered into Bryce's sleeping ear, "We're pregnant, honey!"

Of course, though, I had to really break the exciting news to him in a creative and fun way! I couldn't do any of the fun make a T-shirt ideas or anything like that because those require time once I've found out and secrecy-- neither of which I could pull off (I whispered it in his ear while he was sleeping for Pete's sake!). So instead this is what I did. I took a picture of my positive pregnancy test and made it the background picture on his ipad!

I found out on a Sunday morning, meaning that as soon as Bryce woke up we'd be getting ready to go to church. I had to make sure he saw his ipad before we left or I would go crazy, haha! So I asked him, "Hey Bryce, do you need to charge your ipad?" I don't usually ask him that question so he looked at me kind of funny (plus, he was still half asleep), but the sudden inquiry did its job as he reached for his ipad. He unlocked the lock screen and looked at the background for a while, undoubtedly thinking, "Hey, this is different," but his half asleep mind wasn't able to take it in very quickly. Soon enough, though, I heard an excited "WHAT?!" come from the other room. I came in and said, "WE'RE PREGNANT!" and we kissed and talked and babbled in excitement for heaven knows how long. 

Bryce and I participated in a study for first time moms called NuMom2B. Through this program I gave various specimens for testing: blood, urine, and more. In exchange we received early sonograms and by the end we'll be $50 richer. But really, I was just excited to get a sonogram at 13 1/2 weeks along! Here's a small compilation of photos from that sonogram!

What a sweet little nugget, huh? Well, we're due July 17th of 2013 and we're STOKED! Oh, and here's a photo of our pregnancy announcement that we sent out to friends and family. :)

Well, since we just moved into a new area, I'm not sure if we'll be able to have  a baby shower of any sort, but I'll put links to our registries anyways, in case any of you guys are feeling super gracious. We would appreciate any sort of help. 

Walmart Registry

Target registry

Babies R Us Registry

Both of these registries pretty much have the same things on them, so if you've seen one you've seen them both. Anyways, we are so super excited to be bringing a little Allred into this world, and we'd love for you to share in our excitement! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

I'll leave you with a short video of when we first heard our baby's precious heartbeat ♥

An Eastern Anniversary

This past summer (2012) Bryce and I went out east for work. We were working with a company called Vivint and we installed security systems. Our office was in Voorhees, NJ but we also worked in Delaware and most often in Philadelphia. Living out east is definitely different than it is in the west or in the south. People have a different way of going about their days. There were many things about Philly that were so annoying, such as: people parking their car in the middle of the freaking road(!), no one ever uses crosswalks or waits to see if there is even a car, poor road quality, poor manners, almost no one has A/C (which was a bother when you're working in a hot basement for hours), and parking is almost impossible to find! I realize most of these things are about being on the road but that's what we were mostly doing, besides actually installing the security systems. All these things aside, there were some pretty neat things about the area also. One thing that I will always remember is how much work and pride people would put into their front door. Since most people lived in row houses and every single home looked exactly the same, they would make their front door as individual as they could.

Our goal that summer was to install 200 security systems. That put us at the highest pay-scale and also made us feel pretty good about ourselves! Bryce and I made this paper chain for Family Home Evening one of the first Mondays we were there. Every week we would take off a paper chain for each of the jobs we completed. Towards the end of the summer it was getting pretty close, too! But by the end of our time out east we had completed 208 jobs!

We called these fish "Vivint Bellies" because orange
 was the color of our company!

That's enough about work, though! What about the fun adventures, you ask?!? Lucky for us we had a little bit of time to enjoy ourselves that summer. When the weather would permit, and when we were in an area that was sufficient, between jobs all the technicians would fish. That was my first experience fishing and it was a blast! We weren't near any raging rivers, lakes, or oceans though, so we weren't super hardcore about the whole thing. We would use balled up bits of white bread for bait and sometimes we didn't even use poles, that's when we would just have a hook at the end of the line and we'd quickly tug when a fish grabbed on.

One of the birds at the store we were able to hold and play with.

One of my absolute favorite places to go between jobs was this place called Todd Marcus Birds Exotic. (Check out the video of their famous bird Einstein on their webpage!) We visited this pet store while we were working in New Jersey once and we fell in love with the place. The neat thing about that store is that they let some of the birds loose, and others that are caged you can ask to hold them and they will totally let you! We learned a lot about birds there from some guy who we thought worked there, but he didn't! Haha. I guess he just liked to hang around there just as much as we did. Bryce and I both decided that one day we were gonna get a bird or two as pets. Our favorite ones to see there were the Toucans and the African Greys. African Grey, I decided, was my favorite kind of bird. 

We also had a fun time at home. Bryce and I liked to watch Cake Boss a lot that summer. One day we decided to have our own "Cake Boss Night." We bought some supplies and had a cake making contest! Unlike Buddy, though, Bryce and I are no pros at cake making. This is what we came up with. Haha. We gave one of the cakes to the other technicians because we decided that if we kept them both at home we would get sick. We took one cake to the office and all the other techs liked it! Anyways, in case you didn't already guess, I won the competition. ;) 

Liberty Bell!

One weekend we were able to visit downtown Philadelphia and see all the historical sights. That was a neat day. We saw some of the early meeting houses and courts, the homes of some very influential people, Benjamin Franklin's grave, and the Liberty Bell! One thing that was really funny about visiting Benjamin Franklin's grave-- people would toss pennies on it. When we visited, there was probably around a hundred pennies on his grave. They say that people do this because of his mantra "A penny saved is a penny earned." I think throwing your pennies away like that kinda defeats the purpose. What do you guys think?

Can you see our bellies about to burst? Haha.

One of the most delicious adventures we had was, when our office met its goals for a number of weeks, we were taken out to a Brazilian restaurant called Fogo De Chao. YUM! Meals there normally cost over $50 a plate, so you can bet we'll never be eating there again! What a treat it was to go there for free, though! The food was sooooo delicious! We ate till food practically started coming out of our noses, since it was buffet style and since we knew we'd never be able to do so again. 

The best adventure, by far, though was our first anniversary! Bryce was able to get work off early on one Saturday so that we could celebrate our first year of marriage together. Everything was a surprise to me, all I knew was that I needed to pack my bag and to make sure to include a swimsuit. We drove down to Ocean City where Bryce had a nice little hotel room set up for us. We spent the rest of the day at the beach. There Bryce also surprised me with what he called a "Janine Picnic." He made a basket full of all of my favorite snacks! What a sweetheart! 

My delicious picnic! 

Later that night I had the BIGGEST burger craving ever(!) so we had our dinner at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We bought a small cake from our local Walmart and ate every delicious bit while we watched TV in our hotel room. The next day we spent the whole day at the beach again.We had lunch on the pier and before we knew it, it was time to go home. What an amazing anniversary it was! And what an amazing, yet difficult summer that was! Though it was a lot of hard work, we had some great times and some amazing adventures. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Thanks for the adventures, honey buns! 

And with all that being said, I leave you guys with one last thought, one last picture. Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!