BOY OR GIRL?...

We asked people what they thought the gender of our baby would be…and the majority thought it would be a girl.  Although some people said it would be human, which we're starting to doubt looking at our ultrasound pictures.  It still looks like an alien.


Anyways, the results are below.  We are so excited for this little baby boy to join us in September!

Our First Christmas...

With being newlywed, the holidays can get tricky.  Parents aren't quite to used to the fact that their child is sharing their life with their spouse now.  At times parents seem to expect the newlyweds to drop everything and be the "daddys little girl" or "mommas boy" that they used to be.  However, when it comes to the Holidays, this parental thinking can hinder what newlyweds think about the Holiday season.

This is why we decided to alternate years on which family we will spend Christmas with.  This last year we spent it with the wifes family.  Next year we will spend it with the husbands family.  We are sure that eventually we will just want to spend Christmas as a family, but we don't have any children yet, so we feel it neccessary to comply to our parents wishfulness at this moment in time.

Despite all this chaos, it was nice to rekindle our first date love by going to Temple Square, seeing the lights, and attending the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert.  Enjoy the pictures of our life!

We are also in the market for a high quality camera.

What is the best kind to get?

When You're Both Sick...

I think the worst part of being married is when you are both sick.  We have never before been sick at the same time while we were dating and into the first month of school, we are hit hard with the cold of all colds.  We have already gone through one box of tissues and our noses are raw from blowing.  We are taking DayQuil and NyQuil, vitamin C, drinking herbal tea, and trying to sleep.  We are trying to get well while working part time, going to classes full time, and attempting to get our homework done.

We both have no desire to clean our apartment, so it is becoming a mess...and for this week the only thing that sounds good enough to eat is soup...though neither of us want to cook it on the stove.  The question is, who is supposed to take care of who when we are both sick?  It's moments like these, when we wonder why we decided to grow up and wish that our moms would come to the rescue.

The point is, that being sick with your significant other stinks.  I can't imagine what it is like for parents to be sick with their kids...cross our fingers that doesn't happen...ever...

We would totally post a picture of ourselves, but our noses are a little red and our faces are a little pale...

Liberating Name Change...

I have often thought to myself before I tied the knot, what will I do with my last name when I get married?  Will I change it and take my husbands last name?  Will I drop my middle name and move my last name to my "maiden name"?  Will I not take my husbands last name?

I started writing down the options to see what I liked better:

Michelle Marie Monson

Michelle Marie Nielsen

Michelle Monson Nielsen

Michelle Marie Monson-Nielsen

I liked them all.  I couldn't change my name based upon what it sounded like.  This was a huge dilemma.  My middle name of Marie is a namesake from my mother.  My last name of Monson is something that I gain power from-I've been through a lot as Michelle Monson.  How could I give those two important names up?  Though, I wanted to take my husbands name, I still wanted MY NAME so I could be me.  I wanted MY NAME so I could still be an individual.  I wanted MY NAME so I could still have that little part of me, without giving my whole self to my husband.

I don't feel that I'm a feminist, I don't have anything against feminism, but I do feel that there is something liberating in a name.  As a female, I didn't want give up my whole name for my husband's sake.  I didn't want myself to feel like that I was giving up my identity.  (Note: my husband doesn't make feel that way, I just didn't want to ever feel that way).  I didn't want my last name of Monson to go because with that last name, I graduated high school, I overcame an abusive ex-husband, I overcame a divorce, I served a mission for the LDS church, I learned how to do the monkey bars, I went through 2 spinal fusions, and much more.  A last name is a powerful thing.  We look at past USA Presidents, and though his name is Abraham Lincoln, he gets referred to as Lincoln.

I came to the conclusion that I will always have my mother's name; to my parents, I will always be known as Michelle Marie.  I can always keep the family name of Marie when I have a little girl of my own.  Though, most people through my life have referred to me as Michelle Monson, not Michelle Marie.  Therefore, I made a much contemplated decision and have dropped my middle name to become Michelle Monson Nielsen.