Our Life

Saturday, July 5, 2014

blessed

I am so blessed. It's the silent moments like right now (paxt sleeping) that help me to recognize just how truly blessed I am. We have been having a really good summer. At times I like to complain to Mark about how I wish we were going somewhere or doing something but then I remember how much fun we actually have here... together. Having Paxt this summer has really made a big difference in the things that Mark and I can do together, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Yesterday was the 4th and we had SO much fun with our little man. Paxt loved the parade at Aunt Julies and loved trying his first sucker. He also loved the fireworks snuggled on mamas lap. I love that little energetic man. Paxters is a crawling fool and is now learning to stand up by pulling himself up on the couch or our legs. He is definitely keeping me on my toes ,crazy to think that he is already 8 months old, time is hauling and I already miss my baby. Mark is such an amazing dad and husband. He has been applying to all sorts of scholarships and had either won them or been a finalist.... stud right? He won the working parent scholarship and right now we are SO close to winning the LDS bookstore one as well. We need the social media votes... which is a hassle and can be embarrassing but we are thankful for those who have helped us.I am SO thankful for him and for our marriage. Two years ago we were spending our first weekend together again after his mission. We get a kick out of how "fast" everything happened but again... we wouldn't want it any other way. This summer we have worked opposite shifts and only see each other for a few min a day for the "pass down" of Paxt. I miss my husband.
I've started my practicum and so far so good. Besides getting attacked by a clients dog I have enjoyed it. It feels really good to know that I am helping other people and that they are appreciative of what I am doing for them. I love knowing that the career I chose is something that I LOVE to do. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with people and talking to them. We are getting anxious for school to start... so it can be over. We are in the process of applying for masters school and that can be interesting. So far we are planning on applying to the following: University of Utah. Boise State, Montana State, Northwest Nazarene, and Washington State. Two more years till we are done! Social Work is honestly the best field for us. We love talking to one another about things in the news or discussing our ideas on certain subjects. I have really grown to respect people and to make sure that I am seeing not only the person but the whole situation. We are so blessed.
We miss our family but we have decided that it is fun to just be here as our own family too. We get to start our own traditions and just be together which is nice. Mark's parents are doing great in the Philippines and we are proud of them. In the past 4 years Mark has only been with his parents for 1.5 of those years... and that's being married to me. So yes... we miss them. Next weekend we are going camping to Salmon with Mark's brother and sisters and we are really looking forward to that.
We just love being our own little family. We are truly blessed.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Mother, Student and Employee?

I am a mother, student and employee in that order. My husband is a father, student and employee in that order as well. Being a mom to a newborn baby while being a full time student and part time employee, is really a full time job. In October of 2013 I was blessed with a healthy baby boy full of spunk and a hungry stomach. I was 39 weeks pregnant and in the middle of my first semester in the Social Work program. October 23, 2013 was just a typical 39 week doctors check up. That is until the doctor told me it was time for me to have my baby. At first I was excited until I realized I still had STATS homework to finish and my husband had a test that afternoon. We convinced the doctor to let us head up to campus and finish our homework and exams and then we would come back in later. Being a mother, student and employee requires flexibility.

Flexibility is key to staying sane in this ever changing life. I quickly learned that while on our drive back to campus. It is vital that we are capable of being flexible and understanding that flexibility helps us mentally and physically. We quickly learned to become flexible as our baby was bounced from friend to friend for day care outside of our classrooms. Since we didn’t have family close by or know of any decent day cares in the Cache Valley I was required to be flexible with the cultural role of a mother. Most mothers in this area stay home with their child to help rear and raise them, but I was not that mother. I was required to be a mother, student and employee which meant that my baby was going to be tended by his father and our close friends.

Paxton was born on October 24,2013, at 4:16 a.m. on a Thursday. I always knew that I wanted to be a mom and that I wanted to also be able to provide for my family as well as gain a solid education. Once Paxton was born that desire increased ten fold. Although it would have been a lot easier for me to hang up my backpack and snuggle my baby all day, I knew he deserved more than that and so did I. I quickly returned to school the Tuesday after he was born and pushed through the day. Punctuality is key in being a good mother, student and employee. I knew that if I was to take more days off than necessary of school it would be harder and harder for me to return. Having a new baby also made me realize that I needed to get up earlier in the day and that things would take longer to get accomplished. But being punctual is important to me, in fact it is one of my defining qualities. I have a reputation for being on time and precise and I did not want to lose that since it is something I am proud of. Professors don’t allow homework extensions since I am a mother nor do they allow tardiness because I have a sick baby. My employer didn’t allow me to show up late to work or leave work early because of my baby. I was still required to be punctual but now it was more difficult. I attribute my 4.0 that semester to punctuality and organization.

Diapers, pacifiers, bottles and homework. Did I mention homework? I quickly became grateful for my prior organizational skills and clean home which made the transition of baby things easier to handle. I am a list maker. My planner became one of my best friends. I learned that if I highlighted when different things were due it made my life a lot easier. I had to be organized to be a successful mother, student and employee. Organization is the reason that I am able to be flexible and punctual. Because I have my “ducks in a row” I know when it is okay to be flexible and have a change of plans. Because I am organized I am able to be on time to things and hand in assignments on time. Being organized while working during school helped finances to go smoothly and allowed me to work more shifts. Organization helped me to balance just the right amount of time for work and school work to still manage time with my baby and husband.

Being a mother, student and employee is difficult. Being a mother and attending school and working is difficult. However, being a mom makes me who I am and gives me motivation to achieve greatness. Being a full time student is difficult. There are times where I second guessed myself and my motives for continuing school. However, I know that my baby and I deserve to gain an education. Working while going to school and being a mother is difficult. However, I know the importance of being smart financially and staying out of debt. Understanding how to be flexible, punctual and organized make being a mother, student and employee a breeze.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Moving Right Along

My goodness so much has happened the past couple months. We started school again, yay. We are the worlds biggest nerds and we love school. Good things have been happening with school. It is so nice to only be in classes that we are so passionate about. It makes such a big difference because we actually like the topics we are assigned. We are taking a social work research class with the worlds worst teacher.. ah. But the good news is we had a test last Thursday and we both nailed a 98% on the test which felt fantastic. I have also been blessed with understanding my Social Stats class and got a 103% on my exam, yes! Mark got notified that he is in the top 15% of his junior class.. figures that punk genius. We have put a lot of effort in getting homework done before Paxton gets here. We are happy to say that all of our papers... complete! We have spent a lot of time the past two months getting ahead so that we can spend more time with our little man. I really love having classes with Mark. It is fantastic to be able to hear each others opinions and learn form one another. I have one smart sexy husband that I love very much. Here's our first day of school picture rocking the belly at 30 weeks!!!

Luckily I have the worlds greatest mom and sister. Bayli and my mom threw me a baby shower at the beginning of September. It was so much fun and Paxt got such a haul. We are so thankful for everyone who came and supported us. My mom had her friend make the most adorable cake for it, I loved it! Barley wanted to cut into it it was so cute. I am excited and a little obsessed with Paxton's clothes.Now we just need him here to play dress up with :)

Mark and I decided that we really want to start early teaching Paxton about missions and missionaries. We started Paxton's mission fund with these cute little piggy banks and change. He has got to have close to $20 in it and he isn't even born yet. We cannot wait to raise our kids in the gospel and to teach them. I am thankful that I have such a strong husband who has such a wonderful testimony to be their dad. They are lucky! I went to my friend Vanessa Buttars house and in her families living room they had a sign that said "In this family we serve missions" I thought it was fantastic. Mom and Dad Hobbs submitted their mission papers again, what amazing examples we have in our lives.

Since we weren't able to celebrate our first anniversary on the actual weekend or day :( Mark surprised me with tickets to the Luke Bryan, Thompson Square, Florida Georgia Line concert. We had such a blast together! I thought Paxton was going to be deaf forever afterwards :) It was so much fun to just spend time with my handsome husband and to laugh and enjoy ourselves. Our friends Jake and Kori Soffe were there too and we stayed at their house which was a blast. Thanks guys!

Okay... I went to the Logan Pajama Outlet store and found this gem. I could NOT resist. Every baby bump needs a bear hug right? Pretty sure this is the most comfortable thing I have ever worn in my life and Mark is sick of me wearing it... but that's just too bad :) Yay for $4 sweaters

Mark had been working like crazy in the evenings after school. He is such a champ! Max and I tend to get bored without him. We are thankful for him and all he does for out little family. Mark and I were talking the other day about how much we love to have Max. He is so snuggly and cute and adds so much happiness to our life. We will have to see how he does with baby Paxton.

My parents are probably sick of my house. They have been so much fun and have visited a lot this fall. They came up and went to the Boise State game vs Utah State. It was fun to have them here. I love my family and feel so blessed to have such a strong support system and positive relationships with them.

Overall we are doing fantastic. I have had the worlds best pregnancy and have nothing to complain about. I am getting really anxious to meet Paxton and to do the whole birth thing... ahhhh..... I can do it! I feel so blessed that we were able to start a family when planned and that my pregnancy has been so smooth. Now its just a matter of time as to when Paxt wants to grace us with his presence! We had another ultra sound done on him last week to make sure everything was good and the good news is the doctor said that he passed the breathing test within ten seconds and they normally give them 30 min to pass. Yay Paxt!! We love you all and are so thankful for you. Until next time....

Jocelyn

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Baby P

I am officially 26 weeks into my pregnancy today. So crazy to think our little baby will be here so shortly! Time has flown by! Some of my family has been interested in how I am feeling etc so I thought I would just catch up on the blog and update our life :)

I have been extremely blessed during my pregnancy I guess since its my first I don't really know what to expect but from what I have heard from others I definitely can't complain. Besides some intense headaches in the first trimester I have felt fantastic. I have had no nausea never thrown up and for the most part feel just like my normal self. Just the past couple weeks my body has started to feel tired and my feet are starting to get swollen. Lucky Mark, he doesn't have to deal with a sick wife. I think we are both pretty naive to "normal" pregnancy symptoms which we are both okay with.

Mark got to feel baby P kick for the first time on fathers day... pretty great fathers day gift! We have decided on a name and are thrilled about that. Mark officially decided that he liked it when he decided it would be a good name to yell in the stands for basketball, typical. I am anticking a pretty large baby since Mark was over 10 lbs... yikes! I love to feel our baby kick inside me but he always seems to do it when I am just about to fall asleep. I was able to feel him roll completely over in my stomach the other day and that was for sure a new strange feeling. I hear moms say how amazing it is to feel their baby kicking and if I am honest with myself I would have to admit that sometimes I am a little creeped out by it! Takes some getting used to.

I am still working at the assisted living helping the elderly. I really do enjoy my job but am finding it hard to lift my patients with this belly. Lots of back pain and sore feet are resulting from the 8 hour shifts. Luckily I have some really good coworkers to help out and to make me laugh. I have finally been called "huge" referring to my weight instead of my height... not too sure what to think about that. One of my coworkers was gone for a few weeks (happened to be the weeks that my belly started to really "pop") when she returned to work she was sure to let me know that I had a stomach that was huge. Haha some people are really interesting. I am used to people calling me that for my height but not for my stomach, I couldn't help but laugh. Probably not the BEST thing to tell a hormonal pregnant lady. I am going to try and last a couple more months working but baby P might make it impossible, at least in that job setting.

Mark and I have had a really good summer. We have spent most of it working 40+ hours and packing our apartment to move. Just a few weeks ago we were able to go to California for Mark's side of the family reunion. We had so much fun with our family and playing on the beach. I even attempted to boogy board with my belly per Mark's request. Not a good idea... after a few decent attempts a large wave nailed me and my board got caught under my tummy. I had some pretty good bruises and burns on my stomach to remind me not to try again. Beach volleyball was a blast but a total fail of skills. I had a difficult time spiking and serving with my tight belly. But a blast watching my cute father in law kick trash on the court.

We were able to move out of our tiny basement apartment and into a HOUSE. I love it!! No loud neighbors, a fenced in back yard for Max to run in, garden, babies room and all. I have had a really fun time decorating and am thankful for a loving husband that helped me decorate at midnight when I got into the decorating mood.

This week marks our 1 year anniversary. CRAZY! My older brother Jordon is also getting married this weekend. We are really happy and excited for him and love his fiance Rachel. They are getting married on the 26 in Boise and then having a reception in Rexburg the 27... which is our anniversary. I guess that means that we "get" to spend our anniversary at their wedding reception which results in celebrating our first anniversary another day. Which is totally worth it to see my best friend get married to his best friend. It definitely has been an amazing year. I love being married to my best friend.

We are really excited to have our little baby and to be parents. Lots to look forward to and prepare for. My good friend Susan just had her little baby boy. We were able to meet him on Sunday and he is so cute! Crazy to think that I am going to be a mom to one of those sweet little souls in 14 short weeks. We also just found out that my best friend in the entire world Haley is also having a baby boy in December. I am so excited to get our little babies together and to have them be good friends!

School starts in about a month, then real life begins again! We are nerds though and LOVE school so we are excited. I just need to become a little more social in my ward and neighborhood so I can get a good babysitter for our babe when he gets here! Luckily I only have classes for 4 hours on Tuesday and Thursday!

We love you all!!

I found some cute old pictures of Mark when he was a baby! Love him!