Recently in Make Me Happy Category

Yesterday we had our first trimester ultrasound. Will and I had told our parents, closest friends, and a few other family members, but we were waiting to actually see the baby before we shouted the news from the mountain top (i.e., posted the news on Facebook).

We had been looking forward to the appointment for two long weeks, since the initial prenatal visit. I had gone into the prenatal visit with high expectations, hoping to receive an ultrasound that same day, but it didn't happen -- Dr. M said it was too early (at 10 weeks) to see or hear much. I was very disappointed, but this new ultrasound appointment gave me one more thing to look forward to.

To avoid being disappointed again, I guess I had lowered my expectations for this visit. Despite having memorized the "What to Expect" chapter related to the third month and the illustration of a tiny, person-shaped baby, I still expected to see on the screen an indeterminate blob-shape with a fluttering heartbeat. What we got was so much better!

As soon as the image came up on the screen, I could immediately recognize the shape of a tiny person! This came as quite a shock, but I was immediately filled with happiness. We laughed as the baby squirmed around and wiggled its legs. We got a look at that baby from all angles. I loved every minute. Ultrasound technology has come a long way from what you see in the movies -- the images are much clearer, and they even warm the jelly before they put it on your belly.

In the month that we've known about the pregnancy, up until yesterday, there was always a small element of worry in my mind that the baby wouldn't be healthy. However, when I heard the baby's heartbeat and saw those baby dance moves, I just knew this baby was OK, and that I was in love.

Will and I are excited to announce that we are going to be parents. :) I'm about 11 or 12 weeks pregnant. The baby is due around the first week of September.

Overall I'm feeling well -- not much trouble with morning sickness. My main complaint (besides having to give up bacon: nitrates = bad for baby) is just feeling tired all of the time, but the books say that will go away in a couple weeks.

Will is very happy and supportive and helpful. I'm very thankful he's such a good husband, and I know he will be a great father.

It's been about five months since I last updated, and about two weeks since the last big piece of news, and I thought today (Valentine's Day) would be a good time to break the news: I'm getting married. :) :)

Will proposed to me the morning of Friday, February 1. It was about 8:00 in the morning and there was a knock on the door, which Will answered as I continued to doze. He came back to bed and we started having a brief conversation about FDIC and the improbability of bank runs in the U.S., until there was a pause, and he said, "Becky, I have something I want to talk to you about."

I asked what it was, and he presented me with a small box, which I opened...

I looked at him, and he said, "Will you marry me?" I think I smiled at him and put the ring (originally his Gram's and then his mom's) on my finger and said yes and kissed him about one million times. We lay there in our PJs, all cozy and happy, and snuggled and enjoyed the moment for a few minutes, but then it was time to get up and start calling family to tell them the good news. Everyone was very happy for us, and then I went to teach my class at 10:30.

I was bursting with the news, and when I was using the document camera while teaching, I wondered to myself if any of my students were looking at my ring, but I think they were all busy learning accounting. :)

The next morning we (Will and Tyler and I) got up REALLY REALLY early to go to St. Louis to check out the chapel, where we decided to have the ceremony. Will was pretty pooped when we got there and while we were waiting for the coordinator to show up, but then he perked right up when we got inside the chapel. It's really so beautiful, with all this golden light, and .. I had been hoping for some time that Will would ask me to marry him, so the fact that he had asked me, and that we were starting the planning process.. it was all kind of moving and just lovely for me.

The next day (Sunday), Will and I trekked out to the 9th Street Abbey in Soulard, to see whether it would be a good place for a reception. We looked at it the day after a Mardi Gras party so it was a little cluttered, but here are some photos: (this is on a grey day so the light isn't the best)

So basically we thought it was beautiful. I went back and visited with my parents the next Friday and met with Susie from Patty Long Catering, and loved it, so we booked it. By the way, the wedding will be September 12, 2008, in the afternoon, with the reception in the evening. We're planning to have breakfast for dinner, but there will also be chicken in a white wine caper sauce for those people who are offended by the idea of breakfast in the PM. We're still setting the menu, but wouldn't mini-waffles just be an adorable 'horse doover' (as Grandpa K once called it)?

Then, last Saturday, Will and I went to The Enchanted Bride bridal shop, on Olive. People (Mom included) were scandalized that I brought him with me, since there's that superstition about it being bad luck for him to see me in the dress before the wedding day, but.. nevertheless, we found The One there. It was only the third dress I tried on, and it fit like a dream, and I felt like one million dollars in it, especially with Will looking at me with love and admiration in his eyes.

So those are the big things we've done so far. We've set the color palette as ivory, dark red (crimson/burgundy, not wine/purple), and gold. I've also basically designed the invitation. I also have found some ideas on flowers and stuff from theknot.com, and my favorite so far is:

Any other information you want about our wedding will (eventually) be found at www.willandbecky.org, which my dad bought for us so that we could share information and details about planning and the actual big day with all the guests. :) So go there and check back often.

Eighty days ago, I set a weight loss goal of 25 lbs. Today I met that goal, with a combination of diet, exercise, and overactive thyroid hormones.

Six days ago, I began a relationship with a wonderful person named Will, who just so happens to be the big brother of my best friend from undergrad, Olivia. :) I visited him last weekend in Chicago (where he's a PhD student in the Classics department at the University of Chicago), and even though we were both anticipating a lot of awkwardness and weird times, there was none of it. There was a quiet pause every now and then (especially when I had just gotten there and we were sitting out on the balcony and I was overly excited and having heart palpitations), but mostly I just felt comfortable and happy to be there. I love talking to him and even just listening to him talk, because no one talks like him. He uses words I didn't even know existed. He communicates thoughtful, well-articulated ideas (something I struggle with, these days). He incorporates references to opera and literature into conversation, for Pete's sake! But for all his intellect, he's not stuffy -- he cracks me up when he gets idioms wrong, or sings Johnny Cash, or imitates Sean Connery, or really most potently, when he's blabbering out of exhaustion.

"I think there are one L in 'balloon'."

So it's probably pretty clear that I'm enthusiastic about it, and one reason for it, is that it doesn't feel like dating. It feels like what dating OUGHT to be like -- an enjoyable process of getting to know a wonderful person.

Other than that, I've just been teaching and trying to keep up with my classes, which is tough with my Financial Reporting Theory & Practice class, but easier with others. I'm going to get an iodine uptake test next week to figure out what is going on with that, so I'll try to update with the results on that. Hasta luego.

Looks like it's shaping up to be a good New Year's Eve. Today is Joe's 21st birthday, and he's having a get-together downtown at McGurk's (an Irish pub place), so Rob and I are going to make our way up there around 9:30. Hopefully I will take pictures and put them up later.

Apparently my friend Matt doesn't like the idea of me even considering BYU as a grad school, just because it is run by crazies. Pish, like that stopped me from attending Rhodes. And he can't talk, he's considering going to CAPE GIRARDEAU for grad school, for God's sake. That's like Crazy Central Incorporated, Inc. Or so the many statisticians in my employ have informed me.

Anyway, so I sent him an email explaining why I was considering it:

To which he replied:

He is such a darn liar! The second most dangerous city in America is DETROIT, not Provo. Interestingly, St. Louis was #1 on that list. Coincedence that they were both World Series 2006 teams? Probably.

First, smart. Mrs Taylor, praising Tyler at the awards ceremony: "The best mathematics students I've had in many years." (He also won the Spanish IV award, and received the clock for having above a 4.0. He's ranked 11th in his class.)
Second, dumb. On Law and Order: Criminal Intent, detective Eames: "Too bad it wasn't a swimming lessons patch."

So I finished my two tests today. They went all right, I guess. I studied pretty hard yesterday.

Yesterday in my yoga class, Gary was trying to make everyone do handstands, which I am not up for. He went on to warn the girls, "if you're on your moon" not to do it.. yikes.. But I decided to try some headstands against the wall in my room tonight and I really enjoy it, except that it hurts the top of my head, and also my neck when it's decompressing.

I've studied for my Spanish test tomorrow, and CSI, the Office, and ER are on tonight. Yay.

Joe: Kittens are the root of all evil.
Me: Oh, are they?
Joe: Yup.
Me: Explain.
Joe: Though they are sweet and cuddly, their root motive is to destroy, and crap in hard to clean places.. mostly to destroy, though.

That is it for me, for Junior Fall semester. Now Drew and I are going to see Narnia. Yay!