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!

4.5 months down, 4.5 months to go

Here is the first official belly picture. In all belly pictures, I WILL be fully clothed. You won't find my naked belly anywhere on this blog.

I took this about a week ago, so I am definitely starting to look pregnant. A few days ago I started feeling the baby move, so that's been cool and weird at the same time.

Not much else to report. We are starting to buy clothes and get more and more excited. Thanks for tuning in.

Got my hair did!

So, here's my new look. I haven't had hair this short in about 13 years, so it was time. Don't tell me if you hate it. Compliments are always welcome.

2011: A Rabbit Baby

In honor of my brother Jonathan serving in Hong Kong and the fact that at work I sit next to a girl from Hong Kong, I have learned about what kind of baby Tyler and I are to expect come August, according to the Chinese Zodiac. Thanks to Wikipedia, we know that our baby boy will be: "Rabbit (🐇 🐰) – 兔 or 兎 (卯) (Cat (🐈 🐱) in Vietnam) (Yin, 4th Trine, Fixed Element Wood): Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, lucky, flexible. Can be moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, stubborn."

Let's discuss some of these traits. The first few seem like the kind of characteristics a Tyler & Rebekah offspring could possess. However, "soft-spoken" is something neither me nor Tyler has ever been called. I don't even know what we'd do with a quiet child. Maybe the child will be quiet because Tyler and I will talk so much that we won't give the kid a chance to speak. As you move down the list of positive traits, once again, shy comes up. I just cannot imagine a child of mine being shy, but I guess you never know.

After two rounds of ultrasounds though, this baby boy has demonstrated some of his rabbit qualities already. He likes to keep his legs crossed the entire duration of the ultrasound, thus showing that he is both reserved and stubborn. We tried speaking to him, telling him we just wanted to know his gender and that it was okay to uncross his legs for his parents. This must also be his shyness manifesting itself.

In all seriousness, we are really excited about having a baby! However he decides to behave, we are happy to have him in our family and excited to start training him in the ways of goodness, funniness, and intelligence (like his parents, of course).

We have decide on the name William Fielding, taking the middle name from the father, Tyler Fielding Hutchins. William is a pretty grown up name for a baby, so we will call him Will or baby Will until he decides he wants something different. As many of you know, naming a baby can be a difficult task, so there are no promises that his name won't change by August 14th.

Don't Hate Us Because We Have Beautiful Hair

As fate would have it, Tyler and I are both hair models. Most of you won't be surprised to hear this since you've seen, touched, or smelled our hair. Or all three. But while you are not surprised, you may not know the details of our hair modeling days. It's obvious that Tyler would have wanted to marry me the instant he found out about my modeling experience, but as it turns out, I had never told him the story until just a few weeks ago.

My experience began when I was 18 and a freshman at UT (hook 'em horns) and Tyler was also a freshman (Murrieta Valley High, go Night Hawks!). One Friday afternoon I walked out of my last class of the day around noon to discover that it was raining pretty hard. I had about five blocks to walk to my car with no umbrella. I was irritated because I had fixed my hair and put on makeup that day and didn't want my efforts to be ruined. I put my jacket over my head and started walking down Guadalupe Street towards my car. About halfway there (near the old UT Co-op), a man with an umbrella and a microphone stopped me to ask me a few questions. I obliged since he had an umbrella and I wanted to be helpful to what appeared to be some college students doing a class project. First the man asked me about my major and how I liked college. Then he asked if I was currently using a two-in-one conditioner. I replied that I didn't and then he asked if I would be willing to get my hair washed with a two-in-one shampoo and conditioner.

By the time he had started inquiring about my grooming habits, three cameras had appeared and were all pointed on me. I still believed this to be some kind of university project, so I asked about the location of the sink, he pointed to the parking lot behind the University Co-op bookstore, and I agreed. They had me fill out a release to use the video on t.v. without giving me further compensation beyond the $50 I was apparently going to receive for the washing. Then they took me to the sink, video taped me while getting my hair washed, and made me say "Yee haw", which I hated. After the wash, they blow dried my hair, styled it, touched up my makeup and then put me in front of a nearby wall mural. They asked me a few questions, made me flip my hair around, and because it had stopped raining, told me to continue walking down the street in the direction I had originally been going. They video taped me for about a block and then disappeared.

This happened to me about ten years ago, and though I have yet to see my beautiful locks on t.v., I still feel flattered knowing that the Pert Plus man picked my head of hair out of a sea of people.

Though I hate to admit it, Tyler's story is way better than mine. During his junior year of high school, a woman he attended church with approached him and complimented him on his smile and jaw line. Turns out that she wasn't a cougar, just a regional manager for Fantastic Sams, looking for a male hair model for a hair cutting competition her salon was entering. She asked Tyler if he would be willing to come get his hair cut and have pictures taken as part of the contest. He agreed and she said she'd be in touch.

A few months later in the summer, the woman got back to him and gave him the details about the hair cut and photo shoot. Tyler went in and got his hair cut but a talented Fantastic Sams stylist and was then given a black shirt and red silky tie to don for the photo shoot. The makeup artists gave him a little man makeup and then the photos began. They took quite a few pictures, serious ones and smiling ones. After an hour or so, Tyler was thanked and told he could keep the shirt and tie.

A couple of months later, the woman at church mentioned that her salon had won the competition but didn't offer any other details. Shortly after that, a guy at school came up to Tyler and said, "Hey man, I think I saw your picture the other day when I went to get my hair cut." Tyler laughed and told him that it was possible. Fast forward a couple of years and Tyler is on his mission in Tampico, Mexico. One day he went to get his hair cut and jokingly told his companion that he wouldn't be surprised if he saw his own picture at the barbershop. Sure enough, when they walked in, Tyler spotted himself on a poster with lots of other hair models, including Joey Lawrence. His companion couldn't believe it and neither did the stylist at first. Later in his mission, Wal-Mart built a new store in Tampico, right next to the mission home. The Wal-Mart had a hair salon and sure enough, you could go in and point to a picture of Tyler Hutchins to request his hairstyle. Finally, about 7 months ago, we were going to Utah Lake and we ran into one of Tyler's former roommates. He told Tyler that one time he and his wife were at a Fantastic Sam's in San Diego and saw Tyler's picture in a hairstyles book.

Unfortunately Tyler hasn't received any compensation from Fantastic Sam's for his beautiful head shots, but just knowing that people will have better hair because of him makes it all worth it.

Obviously we were meant to be together.