Baby Emmitt is almost here!

Name: Emmitt Thomas Jenkins
Due Date: July 24th
Favorite things to do: Grow, Hiccup, and Kickbox
Tom and I are so excited to be parents. It will change our lives up completely, I'm sure, but what an adventure! If you'd asked us a year ago, "Where do you think you'll be in one year?" Emmitt might have been a thought, but I don't think either one of us really knew we'd want kids so soon.


I hope Emmitt is just like his dad. Tom is such a good guy. Aside from being smart and handsome, he works like a maniac (in schooling and employment), he's responsible, he's kind, he's positive, he loves basketball, and he's going to be a great dad. Here's a funny side note about Tom and Emmitt. I was talking to my dad once and he said, "You know, when that boy turns about 14, if he grows to be as tall and big as Tom, you're going to have to keep lots of food on hand." I don't know why, that just made me laugh.



All throughout my pregnancy, I've been looking up websites that tell me all about my baby in the week of pregnancy I'm experiencing. Right now, Emmitt's almost 5 pounds and he's trying to pack on the fat instead of adding to his length. The first trimester, I probably looked these sites up once a month. Now, I do it twice a week. (: 

I really don't know how you can know anything about bringing a baby into the world and not think of it as a miracle. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for this beautiful blessing. It has been a wonderful experience. I've been pretty lucky, too. There are a lot of horror stories out there, but so far, my biggest complaints are behind me in the 1st trimester with the morning sickness. Bleck! Don't worry, I know there's this really painful thing called birth coming up. I also know I have no idea what I'm getting into, so you don't have to burst any bubbles. I'm sure we'll find out.

I'd say the coolest thing is feeling him wiggle around. He's so active and big now that we can even see his movements. I've been asked if that "freaks me out", but nothing could be less accurate. It's so good to know he's alive and well.

Here are the scary parts. Like I mentioned, Tom and I have no idea what we're getting into. I'd say every parent I've talked to has said that being a parent is the hardest job they've ever had. I don't doubt it. I've never had anybody be completely dependent on me before and to go from that to being responsible for someone full time, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about my capabilities. 
Also, there's so many things that could go wrong with a pregnancy. On many occasions, I've told Tom I thought something was wrong because I hadn't felt the baby move, I felt "weird", or a myriad of other things. Maybe I'll be less paranoid with my other kids.

Well, Tom and I have one more month with just the two of us. Here are some fun things we've been doing (lately and not so lately).

 We took a day trip to Mesa Falls. This was almost a year ago, actually. We were still engaged, so I guess these really aren't recent enough to be considered relevant...so sue me.

 Perfect weather, perfect company!

 Apparently, he was too cool to wear his hat the right way today.

 Here are a few pictures from our Honeymoon to Lake Tahoe. It was so beautiful there! I hope we get to go back someday.

 

Houses right on the Lake. LUCKY!

 I didn't quite outguess the timer on this one...but Tom looks nice.

 We saw this life-size llama made of rusty metal scraps and Tom needed a picture. It was standing guard at the gate of a big fancy summer home. Quite fearsome.

 

 This is where we stayed. HA! Just kidding. There were so many beautiful homes there...I was kind of sad to see that most of them were vacant for a good part of the year.

We took an awesome bike ride on a trail that went past all these fancy houses and an occasional lake view. The weather was perfect all week: not too hot, but bright and clear.

Not too far into our marriage, the mustache emerged. Tom said it would disappear after Halloween, but then he got attached to it. The day he shaved, he found out where I was on campus without telling me he was there too. When I looked up and saw him coming, I didn't recognize him for a good two seconds. He said the look on my face was pretty funny.

At Porter Park in the Fall

 

 

 This gap in the pictures could probably be explained by morning sickness on top of my great talent at forgetting to bring my camera to photo-worthy events.

But here we are today. These are shots on Father's Day evening in the campus gardens. Probably one of my favorite spots.

These are from a Saturday night. It started out as just a walk, but we ended up doing lots more. First, we saw some new fountains that have been recently built on campus.

Then, once again, we visited the gardens.

 Mr. Thomas found Mr. Tumnus. Tom's either mourning that Mr. Tumnus has been turned to stone or he's singing. Not sure.

 We enjoyed a really pretty sunset that night. 

 Then we happened to find a competitive league baseball game at one of the playing fields. Tom loves baseball and I have to say it's become one of my favorite things. We went to a game when we were engaged and I just like the atmosphere. The reason we stopped is because a batter had gotten nailed in the head with the ball and Tom's paramedic instincts got him interested. He didn't know whether or not to step in and ask if he could help, but somebody had already called the ambulance. The guy was fine, but he definitely needed stitches. Yikes! 

To finish off the night, we grabbed some ice cream and the movie "Stardust". I think we were up till 2 AM, but definitely worth it!