Will is laughing!

Video of our darling little boy laughing at his goof ball dad.

Will "The Real Deal" Hutchins

This is the most recent picture we've taken of Will. He is listening to Tyler play the guitar and sing. Tyler does it almost every day and Will really seems to like it.

To catch you up in case you haven't heard the details yet, Will was born on August 16th at 5:55 am. He was 6 lb 13 oz and 21 inches long. As of his latest doctor's appointment, he is 8 lb 5 oz and 21 & 1/4 inches long. We've got a tall baby on our hands! We were surprised as well :) Will is a great baby. He is very relaxed and will let anyone hold him and play with him. He sleeps well, eats well, and is extremely adorable.

As for us, we are still getting used to the fact that we are parents. We love it, but most days it doesn't seem real. It's cool for me to not be pregnant anymore and to start looking like I did before pregnancy. In addition to having a baby, I also had gall bladder surgery 10 days after Will was born. At 32 weeks into my pregnancy, I had a gall bladder attack that sent me to the hospital. I didn't know what it was until we went and then they did an ultrasound and let me know that I had lots of gall stones and would need to have it removed. The gall bladder problem actually turned out to be a blessing. Because I needed to have it out, the doctor agreed to induce me at 40 weeks when they wouldn't normally induce until 41 weeks with a first baby. When the doctor delivered Will, he discovered and then told us that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck three times and he had two knots in the cord as well. So he was meant to be born at 40 weeks and not any later, whether little Will knew it or not. He was stubborn about coming out but I am so grateful that we didn't wait any longer and that we have our sweet little boy to hold every single day.

I'm only five weeks into it, but so far being a mom is better than I imagined. I wake up in the middle of the night more now than I did before, but there is always this perfect little baby boy to hold when I do that stares at me with the big beautiful eyes. Tyler and I are really enjoying this new adventure together!

Missing You....

I have not eaten a hamburger in two months. I haven't had a good chocolate ice cream shake in just as long. I've only eaten a handful of fries in the past 8 weeks. I am so happy that this is not a permanent lifestyle requirement and I am very much looking forward to having a baby and then having my gall bladder taken out so I can eat other meats besides chicken and turkey.

Thank You Very Mutchins!

The first set of pictures come from the baby shower my co-workers gave me about six weeks ago. Baby Will got so many new things! After this shower, we pretty much have received everything we will need for this little boy. We are so lucky to have such great family and friends! The last two pictures were taken this week and one of them shows the rocker/glider we just got thanks to some other gift money from our awesome family!

This is a baby bath thingy that I'm very excited to try out! Supposedly it's pretty great and still easy to store.

By far one of the most exciting gifts! I am so excited for my little Longhorn to get here so I can dress him in this outfit :) We have yet to receive any BYU gear for Tyler to represent his school...Which bothers him more than me.

One thing we really needed! Our pack n' play. We are going to keep Will in our room sleeping in this thing for the first little while. Some of my awesome co-workers went in together to get this for us.

This is my 37 weeks and 4 days picture. Today I went to the doctor and they said that I'm starting to progress towards labor, but nothing too big yet. I'm happy for baby Will to stay in his home in my belly until his Gram (my mom) is closer to coming into town.

Here is the rocker/glider I was talking about. It has an ottoman too. You're all welcome to come visit and rock baby Will right to sleep in it!

Viva Las Vegas!

For Memorial Day weekend, Tyler and I escaped to Las Vegas to get a little sun and warm weather in our lives. His grandparents live there in a beautiful house with a pool, so we really enjoyed that. We were especially glad that his parents and siblings drove over from California to spend the weekend with us as well. We only took pictures at Red Rock Canyon because we spent most of the weekend playing in the pool, shopping, watching movies, and playing the Wii. It was a perfectly relaxing weekend!

The hiking group: Grayson, Zach, Sabrina, Haley, Roxanne, and Raquel
Not pictured here: Tyler, Rebekah, Papa Hutchins

I'm pretty sure Tyler is in the danger zone in this picture with the combination of the aviators, air guitar, Texas shirt, and cool back drop. Grayson had also been air guitaring it up, but got distracted before I could take the picture.

Pregnant lady taking one of many needed breaks during our hike around Red Rock Canyon. I am using the term "hike" very loosely.

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of

In May Tyler and I took a trip to New York City. My best friend and roommate from college, Amy, is currently living there with her husband Travis so we had many reasons for wanting to go. They will only be living there for another year, so we figured that at six months pregnant, we better take advantage of seeing the city while we had tour guides and before we have a small little baby. We had such a blast with Amy and Travis! Here are some pictures of the highlights.

Tyler's #1 favorite thing: The Yankees vs. Red Sox game. As you can see, we are supporting the Yankees. Tyler is a lifelong Yankees fan since his dad grew up in Rochester and Tyler's been watching games with him his whole life. It was his first time to Yankee stadium and we had a good time watching the game and a few scuffles that broke out in the crowd.

I am standing on the Brooklyn Bridge. There is another bridge behind me but I'm not sure which one it is. This was our second to last day and by far out worst weather day. Every other day was perfect! And even a little drizzle and clouds wasn't so bad.

Me and Amy sitting on the red stairs that are in Times Square. This is also the place where we bought our Broadway tickets. We saw Catch Me if You Can and really enjoyed it. We also enjoyed singing Alicia Keys and Jay-Z every time we went to Times Square...which was almost every day since Amy and Travis live so close to it.

The island of Manhattan is what's behind Tyler. We went on a boat tour our first day in the city and got to see all five boroughs from the cruise boat. It was really cool to get oriented and also see some things that we didn't want to necessarily take a tour of but we at least wanted to see what they looked like.

Anticipating and Venting

Here’s the latest pregnancy picture. I realize that this type of pregnancy picture can be cheesy, but I like seeing other people’s side belly pictures so if you’re into that too, enjoy.

Anticipating
Now that baby Will is starting to move more and hard enough for Tyler to feel him too, we are getting way more excited about him! It’s going to be so cool to see if he comes out looking like a Hutchins or a Flynn or a Flutchins. With a little more than three months to go, it doesn’t seem like it will be too far away. In fact, living in Utah, the coldness going away seems farther away than baby Will being born.

Venting
My vent is related to pregnancy as well as other major life events. I just want to know why people feel the need to make you dread motherhood or marriage or a mission?! Now that I’ve been on a mission, been married, and been pregnant, I have received plenty of unsolicited “advice” on all three.

Mission
I honestly feel like most of the negative reactions come from guys. Most girls that have served missions have mostly great things to say. But you hear a lot of “Oh man, there were lots of crazy sisters in my mission.” OR “You will be so tired. It will be so hard to wake up.” OR “The first year goes by fast, the rest drags on.”

Marriage
As a woman, I hear the most negativity from women. Things like “Oh, you’re engaged? Congratulations! Well, marriage is really hard, but it’s worth it. I mean, it is a lot of work, so be prepared.” OR “Yeah, the first year is great. Talk to me after that.” OR “Man, the first year is really hard/terrible. Then it gets better.”

Motherhood/Parenting
Once again, most of these comments come from women. “You better get lots of sleep now because you won’t ever get enough sleep again once you start having kids.” OR “Nursing is really great for your baby but it is going to be extremely painful. But you should really stick with it. But really, it feels awful.” OR “Your life/body will never be yours again once you have your first baby, so enjoy it now.”

My Reactions
Mission: I loved my mission. I had zero crazy companions. It went by fast. I met my husband in the MTC. For the rest of my life serving a mission will be one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made and is something I think about every single day. I’m not one of those who wants to go back and stay a missionary forever, but I want to always remember how much I loved being a missionary, how much I loved my companions and the other VC missionaries, and how much I absolutely loved the people I met and taught. Oh, and not getting more than eight hours of sleep each night is called the REAL WORLD. Waking up at 6:30 am everyday is realistic, not hard.

Marriage: People who complain about marriage should have been single longer. Then maybe they could learn to be more grateful for a person choosing to share his life with you. I have only been married 18 months and while Tyler and I aren’t perfect, we are so happy. Being married is amazing. Even though I miss teaching high school and living in Texas, having a more dull job and living in Utah is a small price to pay to share my life with such an amazing individual. I wasn’t half as happy before being married as I am now. The first year was awesome. The second year is even better. I am so in love with my husband and I’m so grateful that because we were sealed for time and all eternity in the temple, I will be his wife forever. Nothing sounds better than that. So when people tell me they are getting married and I can see that they are genuinely happy together I say, “That is so exciting! You will love being married! It is so awesome!”

Motherhood: Since I don’t have my own experiences to reference, I will just say that when people make negative comments, what I hear is “You should never have children. They ruin your life.” I know that people don’t really feel that way, but why is it so easy for them to tick off all of the negative aspects of parenting and only mention the beautiful parts as an afterthought? People like this might also consider that there are many wonderful couples that struggle to have children or never have them at all. So if you don’t have anything positive to say about bearing and rearing children, then keep your comments to yourself because there are some people (ME!), who are very much looking forward to it. And while I know that it won’t always be glamorous, I expect it will be beautiful, fulfilling, and one of the greatest adventures of my life.

TO CONCLUDE,
thank you to the people who always have positive things to say about life's adventures. I need to say that the people closest to me have always been positive and supportive about my mission, my marriage, and my baby and that most of the negativity comes from acquaintances or strangers. So to all of you positive people, your optimism and encouragement are valuable. We need more people like you out there!