Nick will be getting his MD at...

Back in October Nick got accepted to Creighton University Medical School located in Omaha, Nebraska and we have made the final decision to go there for his MD.  Creighton is a Jesuit school founded in 1878.  It has just under 8,000 students in undergrad programs as well as dental, law, nursing, pharmacy, and of course medical school!  The mascot is Billy Bluejay so our (well Nick's) school colors will still be blue and white.  Nick is very eager to begin his medical school education and will be starting just 4 months from today!

Center of Campus

I'm excited that Nick will be attending yet another university with great values!  Here is a quote from their website:
"The principles of a Jesuit education, as defined by St. Ignatius of Loyola, have endured at Creighton: Change the world in Christ’s image. Study humankind. Transform yourself and your community. Seek truth in all you do. Go forth and set the world on fire."

Here is a map of the US so you can see where Omaha, Nebraska is located.  Yep!  It's right there in the middle.  It is right on the border of of Nebraska and Iowa.  It is a little under 14 hours away from Provo, UT so our move won't be too bad but we'll definitly take it in two days with a 1 1/2 month old baby.  It is also just 6 hours from my home town St. Louis, MO!  

Lots of trees and green grass!!! Oh how I have missed you in this brown Utah dessert!

Here are some facts about Omaha:

• Largest city in Nebraska
• First populated by Native Americans and then European Americans established the city
• 42nd largest city in the US
• Inventions from Omaha: TV dinner, Raisin Bran, cake mix (awesome), Butter Brickel Ice cream, Reuben sandwich, center-pivot irrigation (not sure what that is but probably important to growing all of our food), bobby pin (up-do's!), ski-lift (I don't think they have skiing though)
• Rated 8th in USA Today's largest cities in per-capita billionaires and Fortune 500 companies
• Warren Buttett (richest in the world) is from here
• Humid summer (July average is 76.7 F - not bad!), dry winters (January average is 23.5 F)
• Frequent thunderstorms (I love thunderstorms and miss the ones in St. Louis so I'm excited!)
• Sometimes tornadoes (not so good)
• Average percipitation: 30.6 in, average snow: 28.7 inches
• 408,958 people (2010 census)
• 68% non-Hispanic white, 13.7% African American, 13.1% Hispanic, and I'm not gonna put the others

We are so excited to spend the next 4 years in Omaha beginning at the end of July.  We will miss being so close to family but are excited for the new adventure and look forward to making close friends there.

3 Months Left!

I am now in my 3rd trimester! Only 3 months left (well until my due date).  Time is starting to go by so fast!  Well, sometimes it seems like I've been pregnant forever (and it will probably really feel like that more towards the end).  Here are some pictures from the last few weeks so you can see my belly growth:

 25 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

Everyone who said the second trimester is the best was right!  I wasn't nauseous at all, I had a bit more energy (unfortunately not enough to wake up early enough to exercise everyday), and I wasn't uncomfortably large yet.  The good days starting to come to an end though!  My ribs and back are starting to hurt a bit and bending over to put my socks and shoes on is not as easy.  It is even uncomfortable sitting with bad posture.  I think baby is not only getting bigger but migrating up my chest cavity!  It is pretty amazing/interesting to see my body changing.  I never imagined my stomach ever popping out so far!  I find it hard to believe that my muscles and ligaments will shrink back down but I know it will.  The human body is truly magnificent!

I am starting to feel our little girl pushing and kicking a lot and I absolutely love it!  Sometimes when I start to feel her moving I just stop what I'm doing and stare down at my belly to watch her.  I can't wait til she comes so I can see her kicking and moving her hands in the air.  It is amazing how much love I already feel for her!  I am so excited to see her in her daddy's arms too!  Nick is going to be such a good father.  It is pretty cute how protective he already is of her.

Well we are starting to collect a bunch of baby stuff.  A few months ago I posted that Nick's friend at work gave us a car seat and just the other week they gave us a pack-n-play!  We are so grateful for their generosity!  I made sure that I was able to figure out how to set it up and I did it.  I struggled a bit at first because I've never set one up but it is actually quite easy!  This will be our little girl's bed for the first few months before we move to where ever we're going for Nick's medical school.  We only have one room so baby will be sleeping right next to me in this.  This pack-n-play will be super nice because as you can see from the picture it doubles as a bassinet so I don't have to bend all the way over to reach her.

Nick's sister who has 4 girls gave us bags and bags of baby clothes and other random baby things and said she still has more for us!  I am so grateful to have such loving and generous friends and family!