Viva la Varner

TWO

2012-01-11T20:26:00.000-08:00

These pictures are all from awhile ago, and Abraham has already changed soooo much! I was pretty nervous about having child number 2. I remembered how tired I was with Macy and how I wanted (and did) sleep until noon when she was really little. I was also so worried about Macy feeling betrayed and jealous. I was also a little concerned about having a boy and how I would feel towards him. I have only ever known loving a girl baby...how would a boy be different? Well I am pleased to say that the transition has not been near as difficult as I thought it was going to be! Maybe it is because Abraham is such an easy baby, or maybe because Macy has dealt really well with the new addition, and maybe it has a little to do with the fact that I am more experienced and not as stressed as I was with Macy.

Whatever it is though, I am glad. I feel like I am really enjoying this newborn stage with Abraham. He took to nursing like a fish to water (Thank Heavens!) and, although he was up every 2 hours to eat through the night for the first 7 weeks, I am happy and in a very good place. Abraham is growing like a weed...and I am not kidding. He was 6 lbs 13 oz at birth. He weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs 4 oz at one month, and when I weighed him two weeks later, it said 13 lbs. We will find out his two month stats tomorrow along with Macy's two year stats. I always said how I wanted a chubby baby and man have I got one. My favorite nickname for him right now is Chunka.

Macy has decided that she wants a binky all of the time now because baby has one. I'm fine with it except when she takes his binky and sucks on it...yuck!

After my family left and it was just our little family at home, Macy would say over and over,"Hold you." I thought that she was talking to me and wanting me to hold her all of the time. Come to find out, it wasn't me she wanted, it was the baby. She asks to hold him constantly and would hold him non stop if I let her.

I never could have Imagined how much I could love two children! At times I feel like I am cheating on Macy with how much I love Abraham, but then I think of Macy and my heart is full of love for her. I love having a boy! I thought it would be so weird, but it isn't. He is my little buddy and I can't wait to teach him how to be a gentleman. I look forward to him going on a mission and being a good daddy someday. All I know is that the woman he marries better be a good one (sound like a mom to you?).

Abraham is so chill. He almost NEVER cries. He will just chill where I put him down. If he is opposed to something I do...he gives a tiny little whimper. My mom says it must be the Hawaiian in him.

Macy is growing up to be a lot like me. Before I thought that she was going to be just like Clark, but alas she is not. She is her mother's daughter that's for sure. She makes so many facial expressions like me, she talks like me, she is super social, a wanderer, a dancer, and very independent. There only a couple things not like me...she is cautious (no complaints about that) and she likes to make people laugh. I mean, I would love to make people laugh, but it just isn't one of my strong suits...I am more of the laugher. She is also super into the ABC's. She loves to sing the song and she can identify quite a few. She can also make the sounds of the ones she knows.

I really hope that as my children grow up that they will have a true love and kinship with one another. I know that there will probably be fights and a little sibling rivalry, but I hope that the love that they have for each other will win over that. If anyone has any suggestions for how to foster that love for each other in siblings, let me know! As for now, they could not be more fond of each other.

Clark was so excited about having a son. He feels such a special responsibility to teach him and guide him on correct paths. Their love and bond is precious. One thing I didn't expect out of Abraham's birth was how it would bond he and Macy. Clark has had to take on more responsibilities for taking care of Macy like getting her if she wakes up in the night and other things when I am busy feeding Abraham. Due to this, Clark and Macy have become best little buds. They play together so cutely and she even calls for him when she wakes up. This brings so much joy to my soul!

This is Macy's first gingerbread house that she made at our ward Christmas party. She wanted to eat all of the candy rather than stick it on a house...and so she did. And then threw it on the floor and stomped on the graham crackers til they were mush.

I don't know if any of you have seen Kung Fu Panda 2, but Abraham looks just like baby Po. A panda bear was a perfect choice of stuffed animal for this little/big guy.

Man how the time has flown. Abraham turned two months old today and Macy turned two years old on the 16th of December. A favorite quote I like to remember is, "The days are long, but the years are short." Isn't that so true? I will have to do another post for Macy's birthday and Abraham at two months, but for now, I hope you enjoyed.

Abraham Kalama is Born!!!

2012-01-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

On 11/11/11 Abraham Kalama was born at 3:07 pm. He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 3/4 in long. He has been a joy since he was born and is growing so so so fast. I have been wanting to document his birth story since even before he was born, and I am finally getting down to it. Here is Macy happy while Mommy was in labor.

With Macy, I was kind of talked into getting an epidural and pitocin, and I wasn't a fan. So with this labor and delivery, I wanted to do it all naturally. I was still going to be in the hospital with an obgyn, but I was gonna go without any drugs or an i.v. My mom had told me a long time ago that I was the only one of her children that could have a baby on 11/11/11. I thought she was crazy, but she must have known something cuz it worked! My due date was on the 18th, so the 11th was exactly one week early. The doc told me that he would induce me on the 11th if I wanted, but I was not going to give up my natural childbirth. I did all the research I could on the internet about all the different methods of childbirth like hypnobirthing and the bradley method. I took from them what seemed to fit for me. I would visualize each night and try to prep Clark with affirmations to repeat to me when I was in labor. I also read every birth story I could and watched video after video of natural childbirth. I still had my worries, but I was determined to do this.

On the 10th, I went to the doctors office and they stripped my membranes. I was 2+/3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. My mom and I went to the mall and walked walked walked. That night she pushed on my pressure points and I took evening primrose oil. The next morning nothing had happened. I was pretty bummed, but I was still gonna try to go into labor. After a little bit of trying to go into labor and having pretty consistant braxton hicks, my mom heated up a hamburger for us to share. I took 2 bites and I felt a really strong contraction that peaked went down and then just peaked again. Then I felt a gush of fluid.   I said, "I think my water just broke." When I stood up, I was pretty sure it had, but when I got to the bathroom I saw that it was blood and a lot of it. My grandma called at that moment(12:00) and asked if anything was happening. I told her what was going on and she said the same thing happened when she went into labor with my mom. I was worried that maybe my placenta was tearing off, so we just grabbed what we could and ran. Macy hadn't even been changed for the day or had lunch.

On the way to the hospital, I tried to get ahold of Clark who was at school. He doesn't get reception in his lab, so I called his friends wife to call her husband to tell Clark to go to the hospital. It's a good thing that worked, otherwise he would have missed it. My mom wasn't really sure that I was in labor, but I knew that I was from the very consistant contractions. I guess I just handled them well.

Once at the hospital, I told the nurses what was going on and one of them kind of freaked me out that I was gonna need an emergency c-section. Luckily the nurse assigned to me was very calm and reassuring. She said I would just need to have constant heart rate monitoring on the baby because of the large amount of blood I was losing. His heart rate was great and he wasn't in stress the whole time, thank heavens. I asked my nurse if she could tell how strong my contractions were and she said,"you tell me, you seem to be handling them well." That was such a nice compliment. I then warned her that I dilate quickly so be prepared. She was scared to check me at first, but after talking to the doctor, she did and I was 5 cm. Pretty soon after, I needed to use the restroom. I walked over and while going I started to get super light headed. After a little bit of apple juice, I perked right up, but they still wheeled me back to the bed.

This is when the intensity of the contractions picked up. I was 6 1/2 cm, but I knew that wouldn't last long. I was stuck sitting on the bed, which was exactly what I didn't want, but I worked with it. I tried getting in new positions, but the way I felt the best was just sitting with Clark's hand on my lower back. I felt really tired and could hardly open my eyes.   When the contractions got stronger, I started to make an "oh" sound, and Macy copied me which was so cute. Between contractions I could still talk and enjoy myself.  The one time I lost it was when I was trying to move positions and my foot got caught in the cords. I was standing on the bed on one foot in the middle of a contraction and I yelled,"I'm Stuck!" I got checked shortly after and I was 8 cm. This is when my mom and Macy left the room. The nurse called the doctor and he arrived a couple minutes later, checked me at a 9 and broke my water and left the room to sit down. He said that I was way too calm to be doing it all natural. After the next contraction I felt the urge to push. The nurse checked and said all I had left was a lip. The doc came in and checked and said I was good to go.   I just kept saying,"I need to push, I need to push." The doctor told me to push if I felt like pushing and not to if I didn't. I love that he gave me the freedom to follow my body.

Pushing was the craziest thing I have experienced. It was like I wasn't even there and my body just took over. I didn't even feel any pain.  I never realized how strong a uterus is until I felt it push so strongly. The doctor had to give me an episiotomy because my previous scar was not tearing or stretching and he didn't want me to tear somewhere else (this was the only bummer). Abraham was born 7 minutes after I started pushing.  The moment he came out I said,"That is the best feeling ever!" I have never felt such a good feeling in my life, it was amazing the relief I felt.  They waited just a bit to cut the cord and placed him on my belly. After weighing and measuring I got to nurse him and he latched right on. He was so alert and calm. I felt great and even walked from my delivery room to the recovery room. Right after Abraham came out, the doctor asked me if I had a method I used...I said that I just researched and did what came to me. The pediatric nurse said that I used a sing song method because my oh's sounded like singing I guess. My labor was 3 hours and 7 minutes...awesome!

I love how good I felt after having Abraham and how much better my recovery was. I think the second time around is also better because I know what I am doing and am not stressed about everything.

Clark loves his little man.

After walking to the recovery room.

Macy loves her brother...sometimes a little too much.

Post NZ California Visit

2011-12-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

The trampoline is what Macy wants to go on constantly when we are at my parents house. Luckily she had Daddy there to play on it with her.

Eating ribs at Lucille's...a Lund family favorite!

I love how she has started with a cheeser smile.

We got our tortoise, Donatello, and Macy loved him.

More Pics from NZ

2011-10-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

Rotorua

2011-07-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

Rotorua is a must see if you are ever in New Zealand! The pictures are a little backward, but here are Raven, Kia and Keaka at the hot spring pools.
Macy loved the perfectly warm pool.
Keaka was so kind to take us to the skyline buffet. NZ has awesome seafood at all of their buffets...too bad I was pregnant.
THe big hit of the day was the luge. You sit on these little roller cars and you go down the mountain on concrete trails. I was able to take Macy with me down twice on the beginner trail. She LOVED it and loved riding back up the mountain on the ski lift pointing to all the cows on the mountain side. Kainoa watched her the last trip so that I could go on the intermediate trail...soooo fun. I smiled the entire time.

Of course in true NZ fashion, there was beautiful scenery.

Hamilton Zoo

2011-07-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

My sister in laws family lives right down the street from the zoo in Hamilton, so one day Clark, Macy, Raven, Tama and I walked down there. Macy and I were both enthralled with the animals.

I love this picture of Clark and Macy.

Brisbane, Australia

2011-07-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

On our way to New Zealand, we had a 12 hr 45 min layover in Brisbane, Australia. Luckily my second cousin, Mariann lives there and agreed to come pick us up and take us around a bit while we waited. We ate, walked around, and went to this really cool look out point to see all of Brisbane.

Disneyland for FREE!!!

2011-04-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

After my little kiwis went to stay with Marcus and Tami, my little sister and her friend, Marissa, came down from Idaho. Julie just finished her semester and BYU-Idaho and was picking Macy and myself up on her way down to California. Our plan was to drive the entire way to CAlifornia on Monday, but Marissa's dad was put in the hospital and was in pretty bad shape, so we decided at 11 that we would leave at noon. I thought it would be a good idea to stop in Las Vegas and stay with Clark's Uncle Eric and Aunty Keahi...it's also where his mom lives. We arrived just in time for dinner. I was sad though, because that night we were supposed to have a family dinner with Clark's family and Raven and Erana were going to be there. I wasn't sure if that was the last time I was going to get to see them.

My family has a couple of friends that work at Disneyland, and my hope was that we could get one of them to sign us in. Erana had never been to Disneyland and Raven hadn't been since she was around 6. When we got to California, I put out all of my feelers and really worked on getting someone to sign us in. We had a possibly on Saturday, so I called my mother in law and told her. Then by some kind of miracle I got a text that a family friend, Laura would sign them in on Thursday at 4 pm. It was late, but we would still have 8 hours because the park didn't close until midnight. I hurried and called, and plans were made for them to get to California on Wednesday night. I was stoked!

In the meantime, Julie and I hung out with some of her friends and got our nails done. My mom didn't get in til Tuesday evening, so we were on our own for a little bit. Julie had an interview for an internship on Wednesday at my father's company so we went and met him for lunch at Islands and waited while she interviewed and got a drug test.

Wednesday night, the girls arrived and I was so happy to see them! The next day we had a little time to kill, so we went SHOPPING...and man can those girls shop. I loved watching them go through the stores and pick up item after item...they are gonna go back with a lot of loot.

We finally made it to Disneyland, but about 30 minutes early, so we waited in the hot sun and took pictures. After Laura signed us in, we thought we would go to Splash Mountain because we were so hot and we didn't want to get wet late at night. It was closed. Huge bummer since it is one of my favorite rides. We then went on Haunted Mansion because it is right next door. Macy rode between my mom and myself. I was a little worried that she would get scared, but she didn't, and she actually danced to the music.

After the Haunted Mansion, we headed over to Pirates of the Carribean. We started off with the little rides so that the rides would just get better and better.

Julie, my mom and Macy waiting in line for Pirates.

Erana and Raven waiting for some Yo Hoing.

Macy and me on Pirates.

After the ride, Julies friend called and told her to go get in line with her at Space Mountain, so she, Raven, and Erana ran on over. While they went on Space Mountain, my mom and I took Macy on Jungle Cruise. Macy loves animals, so we expected she would love the ride...which she did.

Macy would squeal and point at all the different animals she would see. I just loved seeing her excitement. Disneyland is definitely a magical place for little ones.

We had the perfect spot on the boat where Macy had a great view of everything.

After Jungle Cruise, my mom and I wanted to get in line for Indiana Jones. We asked about the child swap, and to our pleasant surprise they told us that we got to go through the fast lane. When the girls got back to us we hurried through the line and made it to the ride in no time. This is where the fun rides began. I just loved seeing the girls reactions on the rides. Erana was especially entertaining to watch and made me laugh all day and night.

Macy waited patiently with Grandma while we were on Indiana Jones. Once we got out, my mom went on the ride and took Raven with her. The rest of us headed over to Thunder Mountain. This time I waited while the rest of the gang went on the ride. Once they finished, Erana went back on with me. Again, we got to go in the fast lane...how awesome is having a baby! We laughed and screamed the whole way; Disneyland is so much fun with someone who has never been.

After Thunder Mountain, we were hungry so we headed over to California Adventure to get some grub. After Raven, Erana and I were done, we wanted to go get on Screamin' the rollercoaster...to our utter dismay, it was closed for the rest of the night and so were all of the rides on that side of California Adventure. I was so let down; I wanted the girls to get to go on the one upside down rollercoaster at Disneyland. Atleast Hollywood Tower or Terror wasn't closed. We headed over and got in line while my mom stayed with Macy. On the ride I couldn't stop laughing because Erana was pumping her fists in the air due to the extreme fun of the ride. After, Erana went back on it with my mom and my mom said that Erana looked like she was at a sporting event with the way she was swinging her arms...so funny.

We headed on back to Disneyland and took the must have pictures in front of the mickey face. Then we headed to the Matterhorn. Raven said that it was her favorite ride.

After, we had time for one last ride and the girls wanted to go back on space mountain. We headed over and got in line. A man came around saying that they were having technical difficulties. A bunch of people got out of line so we got to move way up. The ride started working shortly after and we were able to get on super quick. We screamed the entire time and lived up our last ride.

After the ride we did some must needed Disney shopping. It was late, and we headed home, but not with out a stop by McDonalds.

We all had a blast and were completely pooped the next morning. This was such a fun day for me and I really hope that it is an experience that Raven and Erana will never forget, I know I wont.

I hadn't had this much fun at Disneyland in a long time...I felt like a kid again.

New Zealand to Utah

2011-04-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

No I didn't go to New Zealand, but my niece Raven and her friend Erana came from New Zealand to America on Holiday. I had never met Raven before and she is actually the first of her family that I have met. Her mother is Clark's oldest sister Keaka...and I still can't wait to meet her. I was so excited for them to come, but little did I know how much fun I would have with them and how closely I would bond with them. They are truly amazing women and I'm starting to think I'd like to raise my family in New Zealand because they sure know how to do something right.

I don't want to forget a second of our time together, so this might get a little lengthy. They first arrived in California, but eventually made it up to Utah. They got here on Friday April 1st, and I kept telling Clark that we had to see them right away. I had cleaned the house and got all ready because I was so excited. We didn't get to see them immediately, but eventually we went up to Clark's brother Marcus' house to see them. They were with Clark's mom and sister Mattie. Raven opened the door looking beautiful as ever. Then they introduced me to Erana...it's a Maori name and you roll the R so after they told me her name I was like "what?" But I soon got it. I would go to bed at night saying her name because I wanted to make sure that I was saying it right...I didn't want to be one of those white Americans who can't say cool Maori names.

Raven gave Clark and I a package full of New Zealand Lollies and loot. I still love to look at the stuff and we now have cool Kiwi magnets on our fridge that Macy loves to point and squeal at. All of their candy is so yummy and it's funny how they have different stuff there than we do. I always just pictured it like Hawaii, but I've come to learn that it is quite different.

The girls stayed with Marcus and Tami for the weekend. On Saturday night we went up to have kind of a girls night while Marcus and Clark went to priesthood session. I painted Tami, Mattie, and Ravens nails in French manicure while we watched Night and Day. It was quite fun to hear the girls laughing all throughout the movie.

The next morning the girls got up bright and early to go to Conference at the conference center in Salt Lake. Because they are from another country, they just had to show their passports to get in. Raven had a little bit of a hard time because she is an American citizen, but when she told them her stake and stake president in New Zealand, they let her in. I'm so happy the girls got to experience Conference in person. It is such a spiritual experience like none other to be in the same room as the prophet and apostles.

That Sunday night we had a family meeting with Clark's family. There was an abundance of food as usual. After hearing a plethora of stories about Clark's grandparents and family we decided to hit the road. This night the girls were coming home with us. Mattie and Sina also came just for a couple hours. We talked a bunch about boys, conference, and spiritual experiences. We got to bed really late, but that was just the beginning of some very late nights.

My pictures are backwards of the things that we did together, so I will just go backwards. Raven said that she would like to go ice skating, so I took them to Seven Peaks Ice Arena in Provo. The girls were really good and didn't fall once. Erana's ankles started hurting, so she stopped after a little while and helped me watch Macy (she was always doing this and I dont know what I am going to do with out her now...she will be the greatest mom). Raven went around and around getting a good work out. After ice skating, we went a picked up Clark for a break from school and went to also pick up Rebecca Tuala. I took the girls to the Provo temple to do baptisms for the dead. Macy and I got a much needed nap. After the temple, we went to Pleasant Grove and played volleyball with a cousin Michael. I just watched as the girls showed off their mad athletic skills...I was highly impressed. Macy just kept saying ball over and over again. After volleyball they threw around the rugby ball. This was my first experience with a rugby ball and man did those girls show me how it is done. They know their rugby.

On another day, I took the girls up to Park City. The Alpine Slide wasnt open yet, but the Alpine Coaster was. I loved the Alpine Coaster when I went on so I kinda encouraged the girls to go on...they needed little convincing and went. They had a blast, but they really have a blast doing anything. Then we went to the olympic park and walked around. After the olympic park we went to the outlets for a short time. I was impressed by the girls abilities to shop...they shop til they drop. After shopping, I took them to the famous Cafe Rio...yum and yum.

On the way back from Park City, we stopped by temple square. We put a few quarters in a meter and started walking. We went in the Joseph Smith Building and saw that a showing of the Joseph Smith movie was just about to start so we ran on in. Macy does not like to sit still, so most of the movie I was chasing her around the theater. Even with a moving baby, I still managed to cry. On the way out, Raven reminded me that our meter had run out. I had totally forgotten...so I booked it to the car. Luckily there was no ticket...we must have been blessed because we were doing a good thing.

I took the girls to BYU. We walked around looking at buildings and shopping in the bookstore. We got ice cream from the cougareat and a taco bell burrito. It got really fun though when we met up with Vernon Heperi. Marcus knew that he had known Raven's dad Jamie when they were growing up, so he told us to meet up with him. Then Erana told me that her mom had dated him. What a small world. Well we met up with him around noon and he took us to the skyroom to eat. It is not cheap and the food was wonderful...we were stuffed. Come to find out, Vernon knew a bunch of Erana's uncles and had roomed with Raven's uncle at the Church college of New Zealand. He told us all sorts of stories. Then he took us around some of Provo to get a good look of the whole valley and to see the football stadium. The doors were open to the stadium, so we got to go in and take pictures. Then he took and bought the girls BYU hats and gave them shirts and shirts for their parents and a shirt for Clark and myself. Man did we get lucky meeting up with him.

We also saw the latest Narnia movie at the dollar theater. At nights we would rent a movie to relax and watch. I will always think of Raven and Erana when I watch "You Again." It was such a hysterical movie, with out anything bad in it.
I will never forget all our drives together. First, the girls knew more American songs that I did, and Erana knew pretty much every word to every song. Second, Erana would sit in the back with Macy and they would dance their little hearts out. Erana taught Macy how to use her hands when she is dancing and now Macy always uses her hands.
I constantly had a blast with these girls. I don't know how anyone could not like them.
On Thursday I took the girls to Tami's school because she wanted them to help her with a science lesson. It was so hard for me, but I let them go. The next day, they were gonna be at Marcus and Tami's with no place to go, so I bugged Clark all day to go up their with me so that they wouldn't have to be alone and bored. He finally agreed and we went. I was soooo happy to see the girls again. I took them to Betos where we got nachos (we didn't wait and we ate them there even though we were supposed to bring them back) and to Walmart. The girls LOVED Walmart. I was so impressed by their lack of superficiality. They aren't all about couture and name brands...as long as something was cute or sporty...they liked it. I learned a great lesson from them (well I learned a lot, but that was one of them). Finally, after staying longer than I told Clark, we headed home. I was supposed to see them again while in Utah, but Julie's friend Marissa's dad went into the hospital, so we started for California early.

I wanted so badly to see the girls again, and I was trying to find a way to get them into Disneyland for free. I could not imagine if I didn't get to see them longer...they became two of my very best friends and they always will be!

Macy's Bday Pics (LATE)

2011-03-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

Macy LOVED her cake!!! She even kissed it.

We played put the spot on the ladybug.

We were leaving the same day for California so we had her party in the morning and served breakfast (pancakes, bacon, and eggs). Macy devoured all of her food.
We had the party at the church.
The kids made caterpillars out of egg carton pieces.

I made a ladybug cake out of red velvet cake, cream cheese frosting and reeses crumbs in the filling. I also made cup o dirt cupcakes...chocolate cake, pudding filling, chocolate frosting, oreo crumbs and gummy worms. My mother-in-law made a trifle with the left-overs. And of course Macy had her smash cake.

video!

2011-02-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

One Year Old

2011-01-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe my baby is ONE year old!!! Where has the time gone. I have been super emotional about her growing lately. Yesterday, Clark and I packed away the clothes that don't fit her anymore and put away things she doesn't use and we both got really emotional about how the time has flown by and that Macy is not a baby anymore. Well she is, but isn't all at the same time. The good thing about her growing up is that she is really blossoming. She is understanding so much of what I say to her. She can actually communicate with me, not all with words, but it is still so helpful.
Macy is such a little lover. She gives honis (kisses) freely. Often I will look over to see her giving her toys, dolls, books, etc. kisses. This melts my heart. One of her favorite things to do when she is allowed in Mommy and Daddy's bed is to go back and forth giving Clark and me kisses. The other night she was doing just this and as she went to kiss Clark a burp came out and up came spit up right in his mouth. He spit it out on my sleeve and this made Macy laugh soooo hard. This was the hardest she has ever laughed and she went for about 3 minutes straight. Clark and I just laughed and laughed with her. This is my favorite memory I think I have of us all together so far.
Macy is getting so smart. I'm sure she is just normal, but I am a proud mama. She can tell us what a doggie says, what an elephant says, and what a cow says. She is working on cat right now, but meow is a hard sound for her to make.
I'm pretty sure Macy is going to be artistic like her father because she loves to look at pictures. I often find her staring at a painting on the wall or just looking through the pictures in her books.
This picture is Macy making her elephant noise. She has a little sense of humor and thinks she is so funny. When we were in California for Christmas, she fake sneezed for my mom and dad. When they got a big kick out of it, she did it over and over grinning after each time.
Macy has finally learned how crawl correctly. She still prefers the army crawl because it is much faster, but she will get up on all fours and crawl now. I don't think she is close to walking just yet. She is incredibly cautious and doesn't like feeling unstable in the slightest. She has gotten a little more daring, but I think it will be a couple months until she walks. I walked at 13 months and Clark at 14 months so she's not really behind in that matter.
Macy has become a copy cat. She copies most of what I do. I love this because it is such a good way for her to learn. She now knows how to use a phone because of copying me. She picks it up puts it to her ear and jibber jabbers. We pulled some cotton out of a shoe and Clark put it up to his face and said HO HO HO. Macy took the cotton put it to her face and said O O O. What a little precious.

Macy still loves to dance to any music she hears...I love this about her. She is such a happy and curious baby who doesn't sit still. She is letting me know her opinions more and more each day, but she is still a sweetie pie.
12 month stats:

length- 30 1/4 in 87% (she was arching her back so I think she is actually a little longer)
weight- 17 lbs 15 oz 7% (she was sick and lost a little weight, but she is still so skinny)
head- not exactly sure, but 75% (she has been 75% forever for head)

Santa Claus

2011-01-05T10:46:00.001-08:00

WE took Macy to meet Santa for the first time at my cousin in law Geoff's chiropractic clinic in Lindon. Macy is usually totally fine going to strangers, but of course she was sick and totally clingy to Mommy. I was the total epitome of "mom" and kept trying to get her to smile and telling Clark to take another picture. I wanted to capture the perfect image.
This Santa has to be the best Santa I have ever seen. He was so sweet and jolly and even I was star struck. Macy looks like she could be one of his elves.
While we were waiting for santa to arrive, there were these little boys talking about why they thought he was late. One said that it is pretty hard getting down a chimney. The other said that he was probably held up at the hospital giving all the kids presents. How sweet and innocent childhood is. I love seeing Christmas through a child's eyes.
This experience really got Clark and I excited for the day when Macy really knows what is going on and can get all giddy and excited about meeting santa and waking up Christmas morning to find presents under the tree. But we are most excited about is teaching sweet Macy about our brother who was born in a stable and lived a perfect life and atoned for our sins so that we could return to live with our Father in Heaven again.

Roseola

2011-01-05T10:14:00.001-08:00

A couple of days before Macy's first birthday, she came down with a horrible fever. Even after giving her tylenol, it was 103 degrees. I made Clark go get some infant ibuprofen at around 10:30 pm because I just wanted her to sleep. She was miserable and I was miserable. She had a very hard time sleeping and most nights she just laid in our bed crying. I felt so bad for her. I was terrified that she had some horrible illness, but we were lucky and after 3 days the fever broke. Then came a rash...to the untrained eye this would look like a bad thing, but luckily I have a pediatric nurse practitioner living right upstairs that helped me diagnose it as roseola. It is very harmless and very common, the worst part is the fever.
Macy wanted to be held all of the time, so when I needed to get something done she was handed off to Daddy. Here she is watching him play world of warcraft on the bigscreen. You can see how sick she is in her eyes.
Love my baby girl.

11 months (almost a month late)

2010-12-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

Macy enjoyed herself some lasagna...as you can probably tell. She shoveled and shoveled to her hearts content.

Macy has mastered the stair at the camera look.

So sad that the one picture of her smiling is cut off...that's what I get when I am trying desperately to get her to smile and not paying attention to looking in the camera.

Macy has turned into such a little lover. She gives me hugs and kisses (honis) frequently. Lately she has been understanding so much. I love that she can understand what I am saying and somewhat communicate with me.

Macy can say a few words really well, and she attempts many others. Yesterday, we put up the Christmas tree and she called it the sasa de. It was pretty close. Her best words all start with the letter D, and if they don't originally start with D, she adds one.

Macy is a paper eater...any paper she can get her hands on goes in her mouth. I hear that her father also loved him some paper and even ate a whole newspaper once.

Macy is a great eater of solid foods, she will eat ANYTHING! The problem is that she eats more solids than she drinks milk, so I am trying to force a bottle down her along with nursing. She is just so skinny...she needs some fat on those bones.

Macy does not like to sit still. She is a mover and a shaker. The only time she sits still is when she is in a big group of people she doesn't know, or there is a ton of commotion to keep her occupied and entertained.

Macy is so close to being 1 year old. I cannot believe how quickly time has gone. Macy feels like a giant to me now, and I wonder where my baby has gone. I am enjoying seeing her learn and grow and develop. Being a mom is seriously the best job ever!

Pumpkins and Ladybugs

2010-11-03T07:56:00.001-07:00

I was so excited to carve a pumpkin this year since we now have a child. Macy was so enthralled with the entire process. Clark gave her some of the inside gunk and she inspected it and inspected it. I wish we had had more time so we could have really let her explore...oh well, next year.
Macy LOVED the pumpkin...all she wanted to do was touch it. I kept freaking out because there was a candle lit inside and she was getting all grabby.

I wish we had Clark home more so we could enjoy more fun festivities...I like doing things as a family and making fun family memories.

I have been thinking about what I wanted Macy to be for her first Halloween since I was pregnant. I had all these great extravagant plans...but alas they were not fulfilled. I wanted to do a family theme, but Clark had to work on Saturday night (the night we celebrated) so those plans were foiled. Then I decided that I wanted Macy to be a ladybug because I call her Macy bug. I went looking for a ladybug costume, but the only 2 that I like anywhere were sold out EVERYWHERE. I then decided to make her costume...I didn't think I could do a ladybug, so for a while I was gonna make her an m&m mini. Finally I decided I could make a ladybug costume and it didn't matter if it was the cutest costume anyone had ever seen because Macy can't even walk or understand what Halloween is...so...
On Halloween Macy wore black pants as well, but this was just a little photo shoot I did the next day. I really wanted to get pictures of her on Halloween, but I left my camera at home and was also locked out until around 8'oclock pm.
We had a lot of fun on Halloween. My Aunt and Uncle had a Halloween party at their house with most of my dad's side of the family and their posterity. Macy loved playing with all the little kids. There were a ton of games like pumpkin bowling, fishing, guess how many candy's in a jar, a cupcake walk, and more. All my cousins and their families, and my aunts and uncles were dressed up great. They had some really creative costumes. I hope they do this again next year!
My mom and Julie said that Macy was the longest ladybug they had ever seen. I think they are right...

I love my little ladybug, who is quickly approaching the age of 1...I can't believe it! She is getting more teeth and starting to say a few words including, Daddy, no, doggy, and all done. I can't get over how precious it is to see her develop and learn. Man I love her!

10 Months

2010-10-18T19:25:00.001-07:00

Oh man how I love my baby! She gets cuter and cuter every day. She is getting so smart and I keep expecting her to start talking to me. She does however, have her way of communicating with me. With different pitches of "EHHHS," she lets me know what she thinks or wants.

Macy now drinks from a sippy cup. It has taken her a couple days to figure out how to feed it to herself, she can do it all by herself. She self feeds most everything. I just don't trust her with a spoon and yogurt, or anything of that consistancy.

I have taught Macy some new tricks. She now gives high fives and she can grab my nose when I ask her where my nose is.

Macy is cruising all around the place. She thinks she can walk, but definitely doesn't have the balance...this leads to some not so pleasant tumbles.

Macy's hair is growing, but not fast enough for my liking. I can put clips in it, but they just don't look great because she has almost no hair on the sides of her head. The back is getting longer and sometimes gets a little curl in it. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is grown out.

She continues to be a string bean. I feed her as much as I possibly can, but still no fat sticks to her. Clark even told me to stop feeding her all the time. She seriously is almost always eating.

Macy's favorite time of the day is our walk. She is happy the entire time and looks around at all of the scenery.

Macy LOVES animals. She starts shaking with excitement at the sight of any animal. I was watching some show that had zoo animals on the screen, and Macy stared at the animals and squealed at them. It is precious.

Macy is moving all over the place, and with that comes some bad effects. One is that I will find her chewing on something, and when I get it out of her mouth, it is a worm or a beetle!!! YUCK! I hate that we have so many little bugs coming into our house all the time...it is quite inconvenient.

Macy is a great appreciator of music. She dances ANY time music comes on...even if it is just a little snip it from a commercial, or a little tune I sing around the house. My favorite is when she starts busting out her moves in church to the hymns...so cute.

Macy also loves babies/kids and she will talk/squak at them at the top of her lungs. I think I need to make her a little sibling ;)

Guess Who Pulls Herself Up

2010-09-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

I thought Macy would never pull herself up...she seemed so far away from doing it, but I was wrong. BAM! Out of nowhere she pulled herself up on the bouncy seat. Then she pulled herself up on the fireplace. I am not a fan of this because the fireplace is marble/tile and has sharp edges. Any suggestions on how to child proof it?

Macy also stood by herself for about 3 seconds before losing her balance. I can't believe she is getting so close to walking. Oh me oh my, my baby is growing up :(/:)

9 Months

2010-09-21T17:21:00.001-07:00

My computer is acting really weird, so I can't tell where one picture ends and the other begins...because of this, I have to write at the very bottom. Macy is 9 months old now! In just 3 short months, she will be a whole year. Wow! Where did the time go? I thought it was going to take FOREVER for her to get old, and she already is.

I took her in for her 9 month appointment, and guess what...she is still tall and skinny, but I knew that. She weighs 17 lbs 3 oz, she is 29 inches tall, and her head circumference is 45 cm (I think). That puts her in the 25% for weight, 90% for height, and 75% for head. She is staying on the same curve for height and head, but dropped a little in weight. How am I gonna chunk her up. I started giving her bread and butter, so I hope that helps, and I'm gonna start feeding her avocado.

Macy is moving all over the place now, which is probably another thing keeping her thin (I should follow her example). She crawls on her elbows and knees now. She has progressed to getting her belly off the ground, but she isn't all the way there yet. I don't know if it really matters though, because she gets anywhere she wants to go, much to my displeasure sometimes.

Macy now claps her hands, waves, dances to any music that is played (even church hymns), laughs a lot, copies noises I make, tries to pull up on things and has been successful a couple times, walks in a walker, feeds herself harder foods, loves animals, loves books, pulls everything down from the shelves, eats straight off a banana, scrunches her nose and breathes hard (so cute), screams for attention, and the list goes on and on.

Macy now has a favorite toy. It is a little beenie baby bird. One of our neighbor boys, who is particularly fond of Macy, gave it to her. She will pick it out of any pile of toys. She is also loving blankets. When I put her in her crib, she pulls up her blanket(s) and puts it under her head like a pillow. Her favorite foods are foods that she can feed herself, like cheerios, Gerber puffs, bread, pieces of fruit, etc.

I love my little munchkin...I just want to eat her up! Oh and she has 4 teeth and one on the way, which are so darn cute...now if her hair will just grow in.

Grateful

2010-08-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today I was going to share this incredible recipe I found for completely healthy and scrumptious pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. As I sat down to write this post, I get a phone call from my hubby. First thing he makes me do is promise that I will not freak out...he then proceeds to tell me that he hydroplaned on the freeway, spun out and hit the center divider. He assures me that he is ok, so I ask about the car. He answers a little vaguely, and I know he is holding something back. He then tells me that he is not good with breaking news to people. I am thinking that the car is totalled because he assured me that he was ok. He then tells me as quickly as possible that his thigh might be broken. WHAT?!?! Now I am officially in panic mode. I am crying and hysterical as one can imagine. He reassures me again and tells me that he will call me when they get him moved off the freeway; and just as he goes to hang up the phone I hear the sickening sound of sirens in the background.

At this point my heart is beating at a beyond rapid pace and all I want is someone there to comfort me and take it all away. That's when I call my mommy. I cry to her and tell her the news. The only problem is that I don't know all of the news because in true Clark fashion he is trying to make everything ok and not panic (we really do even each other out). After talking with my mom, I go upstairs and tell my grandma. She immediately cancels her trip to Idaho that she was about to leave on and tells me that she will go with me wherever I need to go. I was so grateful to have her support.

Clark calls me back and tells me that the tow truck came and that he will be waiting for me to pick him up at a Burger King off the freeway (I have taught him something in saving money, he chose to be picked up rather than ride in the ambulance). I hurry and pack up Macy and we get in the car. I find him limping and carrying all our important belongings from our car. He is still worrying about me and trying to make sure I am ok...what a guy.

I believe everyone should have a doctor in their family because thanks to my aunt we were able to pass the ER and go straight into x rays. After the x rays, Clark heads straight to work to show them that he is devoted to his job and that nothing will hold him back. He took no pain medication.

I just received information that his leg looks fine, but that he quite possibly has a fracture in his shoulder. Tomorrow we will find out more details and get it all taken care of.

Today I am grateful that we read our scriptures and said our prayers. Today I am grateful that I got up early with my husband to spend time with him and make him a special breakfast and packed his lunch and dinner. Today I am grateful that I told him how much I loved him, and how I would never want to live with out him. Today I am grateful that somehow he was not hit by another car as he flew through lanes of traffic. Today I am grateful that the car did not flip like he was expecting it to. Today I am grateful we drive safe Camrys. Today I am grateful that Clark has a good job and we have health insurance. Today I am grateful that we have paid a ton of money for good car insurance. Today I am grateful that I get to see my wonderful husband again and hold him and kiss him and tell him again how much I love him. Today I am grateful that I have a husband who thinks of me even when he is in extreme pain and shock. Today I am reminded again that I am married to the most perfect man in the universe for me...there is no other man that comes close to being as perfect for me as he is. Today I am grateful.

8 Months

2010-08-20T17:35:00.001-07:00

Man I cannot even believe my little baby is 8 months old. Time flies! She is still the sweetest thing, even though she is starting to show the world that she has an opinion. If I take away a toy from her, she "throws a fit" where she arches her back and throws her head, but tends to get over it quickly.

(If you make this pic big you can see the unique color of her eyes)

Macy is learning something new everyday it seems. She has almost mastered the pincer grasp. Last Sunday we gave her Cheerios for the first time...at first she didn't know that she was supposed to put them in her mouth, but after showing her a couple times she knows what to do. These are now her favorite food and she shovels them in her mouth by the handful.

Macy has 4 teeth...they all came in in a little over a month. She got her first one (lower left) July 11th, then the other bottom and top left a couple weeks later and then her top right Aug 18th. I'm so glad that teething wasn't that big of a problem for her. I did get some pretty rough bites on my arms and fingers, but we got through pretty much unscathed.

Macy is still super tall and skinny...it will be nice if she stays that way forever...man would I be jealous. Her torticollis has gotten much better due to frequent stretching and strengthening exercises. I will be so happy when I do not have to worry about that anymore!

Macy can spot a cellphone ANYWHERE! I swear she has a radar for them. She has already broken the speaker on mine and Clark's phones because she slobbered all over them. She gets this sly smile on her face and heads straight for them and doesn't stop no matter what obsticles stand in her way...so funny.

Every morning I get Macy and bring her into bed with me because I usually don't want to get up yet. She is super patient and just lays there by me playing or talking to herself. She likes to make "f" noises in the morning, but only in the morning.

She loves drinking out of a cup and she is really good at it. Any kind of water gets her kicking and squealing. She grabs everyones nose, mouth, and hair. She still only rolls occasionally and it is usually not on purpose. She has discovered tags and attacks them always.

Macy gives honi's (kisses in Hawaiian). If I make a kissy noise at her she opens her mouth and goes for it. She adores to be kissed and I can usually make her laugh if I kiss her enough.

Man I love my little girl...she is the greatest gift and I feel so blessed that she is mine.

Summer Fun

2010-08-19T14:18:00.001-07:00

Although we haven't done everything I would have liked to do this summer, we did get to do A LOT of fun stuff (not all of which is on this post). These pictures here are from when we went beach camping with my family at Carpinteria for a whole 7 days!!! We had a blast! Clark wasn't there the entire time, but he got there just in time for to celebrate my birthday. We had tons and tons of deliciously unhealthy food and soda (my fave). We also got to dish about what we were reading in our plethora of gossip magazines (not Clark's fave). We had bonfires and smores (another fave) and lots of laughs. I just love spending time with my family and I adore Carpinteria, so it was just a perfect vacation.

This was our first time camping at the beach since I was 3 years old. We normally head straight for the Motel 6, but we decided to rough it this year. I don't think the camping was as much the roughing part as was the sleeping with 2 babies in one tent trailer. One would wake up and then the other...it made for some pretty interesting nights, but a good memory for sure. Macy takes after her mommy's heart and loves the beach...well she is Hawaiian and her daddy loves the beach as well, but I would like to take the credit for making a Carp lovin baby. She only ate the sand a couple times and cried everytime I told her "NO NO." I guess she liked how it tasted. I look forward to many more years of beachin it with my fam.

Another thing Macy has highly enjoyed this summer is her kiddie pool. It was definitely a great $5 investment. These pictures are from her first time in it back in June. She since has been able to play in it all by herself without me holding her/supporting her. She splashes splashes splashes. She also likes to try and eat the pink part of the pool...she likes pink just like Mommy.

6 and 7 months

2010-07-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Macy is now 7 months! It is so crazy to me that there are only 5 months until she will be a whole year long. I never knew time could fly so fast!

I am amazed daily at how fast Macy is learning and developing now. She is constantly doing something new and exciting.

Macy started sitting at 6 months, but now she can sit much longer and more stable. She also started scoot crawling at 6 months. She would lay on her belly and pull herself forward with her hands and push with her feet. Now she can get up on her hands and knees for a little bit, or she gets in a plank position to move. I have to constantly be watching her now. She has also started rolling over a little bit more, but she still cries every time...I don't know why it scares her so much.

Macy has turned into a big flirt and loves to smile at everyone. She still checks everyone out and is cautious, but almost anyone can get smiles out of her now.

Macy's favorite toys are cups. A cup is what actually got her to start scooting. She loves to drink water out of my cups, and she actually does it really well with very little mess.

Macy kicks like CRAZY when she gets excited; she does it so intensely when she wants to be picked up and she knows I'm coming to get her.

She has been doing a lot of swimming and loves it. I have a little kiddie pool she goes in, and she just splashes and splashes. For a family reunion a couple weeks ago we went to some hot springs. We took Macy in and she kicked like a frog and splashed like crazy. The water has tons of minerals in it so she would make a funny face when it got in her mouth, but she just kept on splashing.

Macy is a champion eater...she will eat anything and everything I give her. People who have seen her eat are highly impressed. She has had rice cereal, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, and prunes. The last two were the only ones that she didn't just love. It's funny because Clark doesn't like peas and I don't like prunes so it must be genetic.

At 6 months Macy weighed 15 lbs 8 oz(45%), she was 27 inches(90%), and her head was in the 75%. She keeps staying in the same curve. The doctor estimates she will be around 5' 10"!

Macy continues to just be a complete pleasure of a daughter. I love her to pieces!

First Food

2010-06-19T14:25:00.001-07:00

Macy started on some rice cereal 4 days before she turned 6 months. She was a little cautious at first, but then learned to LOVE it! She would keep her arms in the air for the entire feeding and make squeals and smiles at me the whole time.

I started with rice cereal for about 2 weeks before I gave her anything else (except a couple tries of mashed potatoes). Then I gave her squash for a week and then sweet potatoes. She really loves squash the most so far.

So far she is not too messy and feeding time is a pleasant time...let's just hope this lasts. I love seeing her grow and experience new things...she is so precious!

California

2010-06-19T14:05:00.001-07:00

The most fun thing happened about a week ago...my entire family got to go to California to be together. We weren't expecting it, so it was even more fun and exciting. The only bummer was that Clark only got to be there for the weekend, but Andy and Melissa's family, along with myself and Macy got to stay an entire week.

Julie graduated from high school on the 10th of June and we all got to be there to celebrate the joyous occasion...she is the baby and now all us kids are adults. Here she is on the special day...well night.

One of my favorite restaurants in Utah is Cafe Rio, well now they have a couple in California!! We all went and got some food and then headed down to the beach. Last time Macy went, she slept and was too young to understand where we were, but this time she was really diggin the sand. I guess it's a little glimpse into what's to come when we go to Carpinteria.

Macy has started sucking on her toes...I think it is so darn cute...so I got a picture.

PRECIOUS!!!

We got to fly to and from California...and I love flying. It happened to be Macy's first time on an airplane, lucky girl. On the way down, I was next to Clark which was nice. She nursed, fell asleep, and woke up when we landed. On the way back I flew solo so it was a little more tricky. Macy still did really well and fell asleep, but not with out a few squaks just to scare all the people on the plane into thinking it was going to be a really long flight. She already has a sense of humor ;)

Last time we were in Cali, Macy didn't really like my dad all that much for some odd reason, but this time she loved him. Here is to document their cute little time together.

Stella was so excited to get to see Macy and hold her. She has even named one of her dolls at home "Baby Macy." Well she did plenty of Macy holding...so cute. Every time she cried or made a noise, Stella would tell me that she needed a bottle or that she had to hold her. One day in particular, Macy was in her carseat and she started whining a little. Stella told me that she needed to hold Macy to make her feel better. So I got Macy out and placed her on Stella's lap. Stella got this grossed out look on her face, let go of Macy and said, "I don't wanna hold her, she smells sgusting(disgusting)." Poor little Macy has a spit up problem and sometimes can smell a little sgusting.

Showing off the cute cousins

I had so much fun visiting with my family...I wish we could all live super close and see each other more often.

A Day at the Park

2010-06-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is Macy at her second cousins graduation party...she was partying it up!!

A couple weeks ago, I drove down to Orem with Clark and dropped him off at school and then took Macy to the little pond right below BYU's campus. The weather has been awful here in Utah, so when a nice day arrived, I figured I would take Macy out to enjoy the outside world. She loved being outside, looking at the little ducks, and posing for pictures.

Macy showing her incredible neck and back strength.

I think I will take her to the park more often!

They Chill

2010-05-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Macy and Clark have had a lot of Daddy daughter bonding time lately. They "hang out" and "chill," as Clark likes to call it. I tutor for an hour Monday through Thursday, so they have that time each day, and I try to work out Monday through Saturday. It is so cute the special little bond they have. Macy ALWAYS smiles when she sees her daddy. I hope this lasts forever. I Love my little family!

Don't they look like twins?

5 Months!!!

2010-05-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

My baby is 5 months old. It feels like it has been forever and no time at all...crazy how that works. She is just getting so cute and full of personality. She loves playing with her toys and she can actually play with them now. Her toes have become a favorite toy. She holds them, sucks on them, uses the to push things and pick things up. She knows what a rattle is for and makes plenty of noise.

Macy has quite the sense of humor. She thinks it is the funniest thing to bite me while nursing, and when I say no or ouch, she laughs and laughs and laughs. It is so hard to keep a straight face because she is just so cute when she laughs. She also LOVES her voice...when she makes a new noise, she smiles like she did something so cool. She also likes to make raspberries with her tongue all the time...she gets spit everywhere.

Macy remains to be super laid back and calm...she is my angel baby. People are usually very impressed by how mild mannered she is. If I could 10 babies like her, I would.

Macy is getting close to sitting by herself, she can do it for a couple of seconds before she falls. She started rolling over from her back to her tummy last week. She was trying to get her toy and over she went. She wasn't so sure what happened. Whenever she rolls over, it is an accident, but that just means that she wont be moving around and I wont have to chase after her...so I'll take it.

As you can probably see, Macy is still super tall and skinny. She just keeps growing longer and longer, her chub just can't keep up. Because she isn't all chubby, she looks so much older. Everytime I look at her, I just can't believe how much she has grown up...she looks like a little girl already.

Macy is definitely interested in the world around her. This also has some negative effects for some people that meet her. Instead of just smiling and being happy with everyone she meets, she sometimes just investigates them or cries. I'm not sure what makes her like someone right away and why with others she is more stand offish, but I fear that stranger anxiety is coming on.

Macy's favorite position to be in is standing...when I sit her down, she many times tries to stand up. She is so close to standing on her own...it's crazy. I can just support her thighs and she balances herself...or I hold her hands and she can support herself(but she has been doing that for a couple months).

Clark and I have done some at home measurements...so she approximately weighs 15 lbs and she is around 28 inches long.

We LOVE da Macy!!!

Flashback Friday

2010-05-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

Every time I look at Macy, I just can't believe how big she is. Where has the time gone? Where is my newborn? Where is my baby that looks like this?

I have always heard mother's talk about how they dont want their babies to grow up. I was excited to see Macy grow, but a couple weeks ago I got a pit in my stomach realizing that Macy would not always be my baby. One day she will grow up, move out, get married and have her own babies. MY BABY! I want her to be my baby forever...and forever she will be my baby at heart.

I watched her birth the other day that my sister so nicely taped without exposing me at all (thanks Melissa). I bawled my eyes out...oh how I love my baby Macy!!!

Sleep: The Journey

2010-05-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

I drove home from a nice get together with old roommates determined to teach Macy to sleep on her own. I was waivering on letting her cry to sleep...it's just so hard to hear her cry. Well, she cried the entire 30 minutes home and fell asleep nursing when we got back. I figured I would start the next day. She woke up after sleeping 30 minutes, I went in and tried to rock her back to sleep...didn't work. I gave up, laid her down and let her cry herself to sleep. It took about 15 minutes. I thought, "Wow, maybe I can do this!"

The next day, I had a lot to get done, so I left Clark to stay with Macy while she cried it out. I got a couple "I hate you" text messages, and when I got back from the grocery store, Macy was sleeping on her daddy's chest. I gave him a scolding for saving her.

I started the routine of singing her "I am a Child of God" and then laying her in her crib. At night I also read her "Good Night Moon."

Macy would scream her head off when I laid her in her crib. She would slobber all over the place and then inhale her slobber and then scream louder. It scared me that she would suffocate on her spit, so I started going in the room after she cried for about 15 minutes and holding her head down and patting her back until she fell asleep. This became routine for the first 2 or 3 days.

I thought that Macy would never get better at falling asleep. I would start crying hearing her cry and it was really hard for Clark and myself. We were both really on edge during this. I prayed over and over that she would just get even a little bit better.

Right after I prayed...Macy started just whining instead of full on screaming. The time of crying went significantly down and she even started taking a pacifier when going to bed.

We have had times where she went to bed with out a single tear or noise and times where she cried for 20-30 minutes before falling asleep. I am so glad that I decided to let Macy cry herself to sleep...it has made for a happier baby and happier and more productive mommy.

4 Months

2010-04-21T16:58:00.001-07:00

My little baby is 4 months old! Where has the time gone? They do grow up so fast, it's incredible. I can't believe how much she has grown. I watched her birth yesterday, and I can't believe that the Macy I have now is the Macy in that video...she has just changed so much.

Macy is just becoming so expressive. I can really see her personality shining through.

She is in love with my face. She grabs my mouth any chance she can...she also grabs my eyes and nose.

Macy's favorite thing is to be kissed...she smiles every time. This is also how I get her to laugh.

I kiss her over and over, or I pretend to eat her cheeks or hand.

Macy rolls over from her belly to her back...she doesn't much like this, so she never does it on purpose.

Macy's favorite toy is her froggy...she just stares and stares, tries to eat it, and when I put it far away, she works so hard to get to it.

Macy attacks anything she thinks she can eat...she makes the people at church laugh with this.

Eating time is now Macy's favorite play time. She talks and laughs all when she is supposed to be eating.

Macy's favorite position is standing...I don't know if she will sit before she stands because she never lets me hold her in a sitting position.

Macy is just the sweetest little angel...she can go days without crying. I hear repeatedly from people how chill she is and how they are so surprised that she isn't fussing. I feel so lucky.

Macy now responds to her name. I think she likes it too based on the smile I get when I say Macy.

Macy had her 4 month check up today. She is healthy as can be, and she did much better with her vaccines today. She only cried for a minute and then started sucking away on Mommy. She even gave me a smile. Thank Heaven! Shots make me so sad for the little babies.

The doctor confirmed that Macy is super long and skinny...I have me a little supermodel.

Here are her stats:

-14 lbs. 55%

-26 in 95%

-41 3/4 75%

Sleep: In the Beginning

2010-04-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Macy was born a sleeper. At the hospital, the nurses would have to wake her up in the night so she would eat. After coming home, she had one night of no sleep, but then started sleeping at least 3 hours in between each feeding. At night she would even go 5 or 6 hours almost from the get go.

I figured I had it in the bag...my baby would be the world's best sleeper. She started sleeping 9 and 10 hours in her 2nd month, but then the tables turned. When she was 3 months old, she started not wanting to sleep. She would wake up the moment I put her down. This poses a problem because I needed to get things done...and I was not getting in any better shape sitting down and holding a sleeping baby all day. At night, she would wake up again and again, even if she didn't want to eat, she wanted me to hold her. Every night she ended up in bed with me. I was scared that one day she would suffocate.

I knew it was time to do something about this. I started looking around and asking for advice. People said to let her cry it out...I tried twice and she cried for over an hour each time with out going to bed and of course I went and rescued her. I also would be next to her while she was crying...this probably didn't help.

Nursing her to sleep went on a little while longer, but I knew something needed to change. That's when I met up with an old roommate and friend, Kristen. I asked her about her baby's sleep and she told me about Babywise. The point is to teach your baby to soothe themself. I read a little and realized that I needed to be consistent, and stick to this letting Macy cry it out, and have her cry for naps and not just at night. BIG CHANGE...will it work??? Find out...

3 months and more

2010-04-02T12:38:00.001-07:00

I can't seem to move the pictures, so here we go:
Our friends, Mark and Noelle took these pictures of our little family on St. Patty's Day. We have been having so much fun hanging out with them. We eat dinner, play Risk, and watch "How I Met Your Mother". They are so patient with how much I have to feed Macy and try to put her to sleep. It is so fun to have married couples to hang out with that both Clark and I get along with.

Macy is also 3 months...well she is now almost 4 months, but we have been busy and I haven't had time to post.

We went to the doctor to check on macy's head and Torticollis, we are going to the skull doc to make sure no bones have fused.

At the Doctor's office they weighed Macy and she weighed 12 lbs 13 oz, that is only a little over a pound since 2 months. I'm guessing her weight gain will speed up since she has been wanting to eat CONSTANTLY for the past couple of weeks. She doesn't give me a break.

Macy used to be the most wonderful sleeper, sleeping 7-10 hours straight at night, eating a snack and going back down for a couple more hours, but lately she doesn't want to sleep at all. Getting her to take naps is torture, and they almost never last more than an hour. Today she has only taken one 15 minute nap so far. AHHH she needs to sleep. I know she is over tired.

When she does sleep, she talks in her sleep. It is really cute when she coo's. She also has nightmares. She will cry in her sleep without waking up. It makes me so sad and worried that I will cause her to have more nightmares if I let her cry too long.

Macy has rolled from her tummy to her back once. She doesn't enjoy tummy time, so it's hard for me to put her on her tummy all the time.

Macy loves music and she likes to sing along. When I sing to her, she will coo along. She also coo's along with music on the tv or radio.

Macy is afraid of the dark. When we are riding in the car at night, she will cry, but she usually stops when we put on the light.

Macy has a really hard time getting her burps out. She usually wakes up from her naps or in the night because she needs to burp. If anyone has any suggestions for how to help her burp, I will gladly take them. I can't wait til her burps don't wake her up and she can burp on her own.

Macy is very expressive. She loves to talk ALL the time...even when she is eating.

Macy LOVES her fingers. Her hand is always in her mouth. At first it was just her fist, then she stuck one finger in and was choking herself, now she found two fingers to suck on. I'm nervous that she will get buck teeth from this, so I am trying to force the pacifier on her. She just semi started taking the NUK pacifier last night...let's hope it works.

Macy loves to touch my face and look at me...this is a problem when I am trying to feed her and she just wants to interact with me.

Oh how I love my little girl!

SMILE

2010-03-11T12:47:00.001-08:00

I finally got a good picture of Macy smiling! She smiles all the time, but whenever I would try to take a picture, she would just stare at the camera in amazement or the delay would miss the smile. Yesterday, we had success. I LOVE it. I love how bright her eyes look and how her eyelashes show and if you look closely, you can see her dimple on her left cheek. LOVE my Macy.

1st time Bumbo-er

2010-03-11T12:44:00.001-08:00

We put Macy in her Bumbo seat for the first time yesterday. I wanted to see how she would do and if she would like it. She did ok for a little bit. She wanted to reach for her feet...I think it was the first time that she has actually seen her feet. After a couple minutes, she started to fuss a little, so she was done. I think she will start to like it more and more as she gets bigger and gains more control.

This Makes Me Happy

2010-03-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

Macy loves Daddy and Daddy loves Macy!

I came home to this cute scene. Macy loves talking to Daddy.

Just some pics

2010-03-10T13:37:00.001-08:00

I LOVE this little girl!!!! I knew I would love my children, but I never could have fathomed how much. And I guess it doesn't hurt that she slept 10 hours straight last night and then ate one side and slept 2 1/2 more hours...how am I so blessed? LOVE you little Macy Mace

Little Lovebirds

2010-03-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

Today was so fun! My friend Ashley and her family are in town for about a week and I got to go hang out with them. It is so fun because Ash and I had babies just 6 weeks apart. We were saying how cheesy we seemed cuz we were feeding them at the same time then burping and then they both fell asleep at the same time. I just so enjoyed having someone to talk to and we could compare notes. Her little boy Oliver is so adorable. He is a solid little boy and definitely all boy. Macy couldn't stop staring at him...I think it might be love.

I have an inkling that he might feel the same cuz look how he held her hand and whispered sweet nothings in her ear.

They got themselves in this position...how cute.

We can't wait to see you again Ben, Ashley and Oliver!

In Case You Were Wondering

2010-03-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

Yes we are alive and Yes our internet has not been working. We ordered a new router, so I should be getting better at posting more frequently soon.

In Varner news...

Macy turned 2 months and is growing like a weed.

She is just so cute.

We went to the doctor for her two month appointment and here were her stats:

weight 11 lbs 8.6 oz 75%

height 23 1/2 inches 90%

head 39 I think 75%

She is definitely a tall girl!

Macy is developing like crazy...she notices everything around her. Yesterday she was looking at her blanket for about 15 minutes straight and tried and tried to grab it. She bats at things like my face and the mobile over her bouncy seat. She loves her bouncy chair which is otherwise called her pooper chair. Whenever we know she needs to poop, we put her in it and it does the job. She is sleeping through the night on a pretty regular basis. She started around 6 weeks sleeping around 6 hours a night...sometimes more sometimes a little less. She goes a long stretch and then wakes up, eats one side, and then sleeps for another 4 hours. Last night she slept 7 and 1/2 hours, ate one side and slept another 4 hours. I LOVE IT!! She has always been a good sleeper. She still doesn't have too many awake periods...she likes to eat and sleep. The time she likes to be awake is at night when I'm trying to put her to bed and she talks to me. She is a major talker. We go back and forth making sounds...everytime she looks at me she talks.

Macy has what is called torticollis. The neck muscle on her left side is tighter than the one on her right side. This is due to her positioning in my uterus. Because of this she has a hard time holding her head up straight and she has a flat spot on the left side of her head. it makes me so sad, but I just have to stretch it and give her lots of tummy time and she should be all good. There is a little one year old girl at church who has it and I wouldn't have known unless her mom told me...this gives me hope.

Macy's eyes have yet to change color. They are still a blue/grey/green color. I'm not sure what color they are going to be. The guesses we have gotten are grey, light brown, or hazel. I will be happy with whatever color...she is just a beauty no matter what.

We took Macy to church yesterday for the first time. I was very hesitant but clark really wanted her to go. So we kept her away from everyone and didnt let anyone touch her. She did really well and slept most of the time. It was sure fun getting her all dressed up for church! She wore shoes for the first time but we didnt get them in the pic

Noelle got married on February 5th to Mark Heaton in the Los Angeles temple. Well, I couldn't miss it so Macy and I headed down to California. We drove down with my friend Lindsey and had a great time. Macy was so good on the drive and only started to cry as we were pulling up to my parents house. We stayed almost 2 weeks. I was in heaven being with family, actually getting to eat out, actually getting to go outside, and just simply being in cali. Macy had a lot of fun with her grandpa and grandma Lund and Auntie Julie. At the end of our trip, Clark and his mom drove down for the weekend and to drive us back to Utah. While Clark was there, we got to go on a Valentine's date and to Newport beach.

It's Official

2010-01-28T17:15:00.000-08:00

Macy has a dimple!!!! I am so extatic about this. I'm going to let you in on a little bit of my history:

I have always LOVED dimples. I wish so badly that I had them. In church we would write down things that we looked for in a husband and first on my list was always DIMPLES. I really hoped that I would marry a man with dimples; of course if I was in love with a wonderful man without dimples it wouldn't have stopped the marriage, but still I hunted for dimples. Well it just so happens that the man I fell in love with and married has dimples. Hip hip hooray! Now I just needed him to give them to our children. Well he did. She only has one that I can see and it is on her left cheek. I have been searching since she was born to try and spot one. The nurse at the hospital said she did, but I wasn't going to take her word for it. I saw a dimple a couple of times, but I wasn't sure if it was my imagination. Then the other day, Macy had gas and was smiling a ton and I just stared at her cheek and saw her dimple appear over and over again with every smile. I was sure now. Then yesterday in her sleep she smiled huge and giggled. Clark got to see her dimple then. So fun!!! I couldn't be happier for my child.

One Month...Yesterday

2010-01-17T19:24:00.001-08:00

I want to take a picture of Macy next to her little elephant at every month mark. It will be fun to see how much she changes and grows. She has already grown so much. I love her little rolls that she is getting. She now wears size 1 diapers and fills them too. She is already starting to not feel like a newborn to me. She is much sturdier and thicker than she was when she was born. She is much more alert. She loves to look all around. When I nurse her in my bed, she loves to look at the black lamp...I think she likes the contrast against the white walls. It is fun to see her become more aware of her surroundings. She is becoming more aware of me too. So fun to have her smile at me...it isn't too often, but it does happen.

I know I am going to miss this newborn stage, but I am also excited to see Macy's personality blossom. I can't wait to see who she is. I already know that she is pretty patient, and she is quite cuddly. She loves food, being warm, her daddy, her changing table, her swing, and sleeping. She also took a bottle for the first time yesterday...I am so proud. This gives me hope that Clark and I will be able to go out some day in the future.

I love my little munchkin and I am excited for the days to come!

Pictures!

2010-01-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

So these pictures are backwards age wise...so you will notice that in the top pictures Macy looks bigger and chubbier.

Look how much chubbier she has gotten since her first bath! I love it!

Here she is in her swing...I don't know how often I should put her in it, because she tilts her head to the side...I should probably wait til she can hold her head up a little better.

I tried to have a photo shoot with Macy in her cute ballerina outfit...this is what she thought of that.

This is a typical Macy concerned face...so funny.

Oh and by the way...Macy gave Clark and myself some big smiles today. It melted our hearts right away.

GAS

2010-01-14T17:15:00.001-08:00

This is the common thing happening in our house lately. Macy is soooooo full of gas. It is a constant stream of gas coming out of her; I can't even believe it. She is the perfect baby minus the gas. She would be a great sleeper, but having to fart or poop wakes her up and then she wants to eat.

I have had to use antibiotics for about 1-2 weeks and I think this has been making the gas worse. I read that the antibiotics can lower the good bacteria in a baby's stomach and cause gas. I am so excited for when I dont have to take the antibiotics anymore and see if it helps her tummy.

I feel so bad for her because I know how bad gas can feel. I am very grateful that she rarely screams and cries, but mostly just gives complaints. Like I said...such a good baby.

In other news...Oh how I LOVE my baby. She is so precious! She is starting to "engage" meaning she looks at me in the eyes...and she is almost smiling. She is giggling in her sleep though and that is soooo cute. She is super strong...I am amazed. She lifts up her head to look at Clark and myself; melts our hearts. She also holds on to our hands and whatever she gets close to. When I hold her, she lays her head down and rubs my arm up and down.

She hates her baths...she has started screaming the whole time. She is a great little nurser...thank heaven! I really wanted a good eater. At first, nursing was quite difficult. I admit there were some nights when I cried because how hard it was and how it hurt, but now it is starting to feel normal and natural. Nursing was one of the biggest shockers to motherhood along with the lack of sleep. I don't know how it's gonna go when I have another child and HAVE to get up in the morning. As for now, I am sleeping til 11 or 12.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but my computer is dead and Clark's was in the shop for a while. I will hopefully be posting some pictures soon.

First Bath

2009-12-28T20:38:00.001-08:00

We gave Macy her first real bath tonight. Her umbilical cord finally fell off, so it was time. I wanted to give her her first real bath before my mom left because I was a little nervous. I don't know how I am going to do this by myself because it took Clark, my mom and myself to accomplish this task.

At first she wasn't quite sure about the bath, she wasn't crying, but she seemed a little concerned.

We made sure to get all that spit up out of her neck rolls.

Then the water got a little colder and she started the crying.

But in the end it was all good when she was warm and wrapped up in Daddy's arms.

First bath...success! Let's see how the next one goes.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T16:33:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Clark, Michelle, and Macy

Father Daughter Bond

2009-12-24T17:27:00.001-08:00

When Macy was in the womb...she loved her father. No matter how inactive she was being, she would always get her wiggle on when her daddy started talking to her. You might remember the story about when we were at church and Clark gave the prayer over the microphone and Macy started kicking and wiggling in my belly. This is particularly cool because she hadn't moved all day until this point. I knew she was going to be a daddy's girl early on.

Well the other day something happened that confirmed this. Clark was holding Macy and just started talking to her, then she looked up at him. She stayed like this for a long time, rested and then looked up at him again. She hasn't done this to anyone else. She loves her daddy!

Here's the evidence:

A Baby Story

2009-12-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

I started watching a baby story when I was in junior high...and now I have one of my own. Crazy.

It all started Tuesday night. I was having contractions for hours, so I finally decided to start timing them. They were coming every 2-3 minutes for an hour and a half and then they stopped. I was bummed because I thought it could be it. I went home and bounced on the yoga ball and watched Biggest Loser. I felt EXTREMELY tired so I hit the hay. Clark decided it was his last day of freedom, so he played WOW til 3:30 in the morning.

I was having nightmares all night (I think I was probably having contractions and that is why). All of a sudden it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach and I jolted awake. My stomach was sore, and I thought maybe my water had broken, but nothing was coming out. I decided to get up to use the restroom. When I stood up water came gushing out. I told Clark that my water had broken and at first he didn't really respond and then he was up running around saying that we needed to get the hospital.

We bundled up and headed to the hospital. I was having contractions about every 2 minutes apart and oh did they hurt. To me they felt like the same pain as period cramps, just a million times stronger and all over instead of just real low.

At the hospital, Clark dropped me off and I waited while he parked the car. He wasn't so happy about leaving me alone, but I was strong and did it. We headed up to labor and delivery and told them my water had broken. They put me in a triage room and hooked me up to the monitors. I could hear little Macy's heartbeat and it was soo precious. The monitor wasn't really picking up my contractions even though they were there. They checked to see my dilation and I was 3+ and my water had definitely broken. I'm so glad my water broke because then I was immediately admitted, if not I would have had to wait an hour. They told me I could get my epidural whenever I wanted. I decided I might as well go ahead so I could enjoy my labor experience. Before he came in to give it to me, the nurses said I was group B strep positive, so I needed penicillin. This was the worst part of the whole ordeal. The penicillin felt like someone was breaking my arm. I got hives all up my arm and I was in so much pain. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. I didn't even know that he was doing it because my arm was in so much pain. He said he was done, and I couldn't believe it. What a blessing; I was so afraid of the epidural.

My epidural was perfect because I could still move my legs and toes, but I couldn't feel any pain. My doctor came in and said that the baby had pooped in my uterus so they were going to flush out my amniotic fluid to try and dilute the meconium. While he was putting in the tube, he said I was 5 cm dilated. This was only 1 hour after they checked and I was a 3+. The heart monitor and contraction monitors weren't working very well, so they decided to give me internal montitors for both. When the nurse was putting in the internal monitors, she said that I was 8 cm dilated. This was only 20 minutes after I was last checked. It was going so fast. They had given me the smallest dose of pitocin when I got there because the machine wasn't picking up my contractions, but they decided to stop the drip because I was progressing so quickly and I needed to get 2 doses of penicillin. I actually barely got my second dose right before I delivered.

Clark's mom came and brought Clark breakfast and then my parents came. We just had fun talking. I was so excited and nervous and anxious that I couldn't stop shaking. Clark's mom thought it was so funny that I was so happy in labor. The epidural really is a heaven send. About an hour later, my doctor came in and checked and I was fully dilated. They had me rest and descend for about an hour and 15 minutes. The nurses came in and had me start pushing. I had my mom on my left side, Clark on my right, Melissa with a video camera and Clark's mom just watching.

At first, I couldn't tell where I was supposed to be pushing and if I was doing it right, so the nurses brought in a mirror so I could tell what was going on down there. This was soooo sooo sooo helpful. I know some people might think it gross or weird, but it really helped tremendously. I could see exactly where I was pushing and if I was pushing hard enough. The nurses kept going in and out of the room, so Clark was my pushing coach. He did so well. I was so motivated. Melissa also was very motivating. She kept telling me when I was pushing good. It was the best when we started to be able to see her head. Clark was so happy to see that the hair was dark. This is when I got really motivated and pushed my guts out. The baby's head started coming really quickly and the nurses told me to stop pushing. The doctor arrived quickly and I popped the baby out. I had to get a small episiotomy which bites, but I'll deal. The pushing took about 30-40 minutes which surprised the nurses. They told me I would probably push for 2-3 hours. Well then again, they also told me I would probably deliver around 6 that evening, and I delivered at 11:51 am.

When Macy came out, I could not believe the overwhelming feelings of love I felt. All of us were crying. She cried well, but not too much. The meconium didn't get into her lungs which is a miracle and blessing beyond belief and she was perfectly healthy. They laid her on my belly and Clark cut the umbilical cord. I got to hold her and nurse her for about an hour before they took her to bathe her. She is a really good eater and that's all she wanted to do for the first two days. I had the lactation specialist help me with getting her to latch correctly, and that was really helpful. We still aren't perfect, but we are learning.

I now know why it is called the miracle of birth...because it really is. I'm crying right now just thinking about it. I can't believe that with the help of Heavenly Father and Clark, I created such a beautiful being. I love her with all my heart and I couldn't be a prouder momma.

Isn't She Lovely....

2009-12-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

Macy has arrived

2009-12-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

11:51 a.m.
7 lbs. 10 oz.
19.5 inches
Mother and Baby are doing fantastic...

...More to come.

Waiting

2009-12-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

I have had so much going on lately...I really should post about them all. But...I shall not because all I can focus on is the baby coming. I have been waiting...not so patiently for her arrival now it seems like forever. The end is in sight because Thursday I am being induced, unless she decides to come on her own before then. I have been having some contractions for about the past two hours, but they are not strong enough yet for me to start timing them. I just hope they continue instead of die out like they have every other time in the past.

Yes I have been sorta grumpy lately because I do not have my baby in my arms, but really I should be grateful because it has truly worked out the best. My Grandma Lund died a little over a week ago and her funeral was last Friday. My whole family came up for that and if I had given birth, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to hang out with them. Also, all four of my nieces and nephews have been ill. I would be a paranoid wreck right now if the baby were here being exposed to the sicknesses. I am also being well entertained by my parents, sisters, niece and nephew. I have been preoccupied enough that I haven't complained TOO much about being overdue.

Well, I can't wait to show ya'll pictures of the beauty on Thursday!!!! Yippee...I really look forward to the whole experience and sharing them with you. Til then...

FINALLY!!!

2009-12-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

I have finished my quilt...well the baby's quilt. No, I am not done being pregnant :( But finishing this quilt was something I needed to get done before she arrived. I told her that because it is finished, she can come any time...preferably NOW! I started this quilt back in September when I was asked to go to quilting club with my ward. I didn't know then how much fun quilting would be! I even went on a quilting retreat up to Brighton and sewed all these pieces together. This was my first quilting experience and my first sewing experience since maybe my freshmen year in high school, so I am pretty proud. Two women in my ward also have quilting machines, so I was able to have it quilted without doing it by hand...phew. I did hand sew on the binding though...it isn't perfect, but it has the touch of momma's love.

On the other hand...I am getting so impatient for this little one to arrive! Everyone told me the last couple of weeks are the hardest...and boy were they correct. I am going mad! I will start having contractions and then they will just stop...how annoying is that? It's not that I feel uncomfortable or that I don't enjoy her little body moving around in me...I am just ready to meet her. It's also annoying that I am dilated enough that she could come any day, but she isn't.

I went to the doctor yesterday and he stripped my membranes. It wasn't as bad as I thought...just a lot of pressure. Anyway, he said he thinks I have a good chance of going into labor on my own in the next couple of days. Let's hope he's right. He also said that after he did that, I was dilated to 3 cm. Oh please come little love.

Here is a little photo shoot from last week when I was 39 weeks. I wanted to have a maternity shoot with Clark at some point in my pregnancy, but it never happened, so this is what we got.

My mom is in town now. This is helpful because she keeps me somewhat busy during the days. I have lost my desire to clean or pretty much do anything for that matter. All I think about is going into labor. People keep calling and texting to see if anything is happening, and I feel so lame that nothing has. Oh and 3 people that I knew who were due AFTER me have already had their babies...so not fair! Ok, ok I know I am complaining, but I am allowed some spoiled brat time now right?

I dont really think that I have dropped, but the doctor told me that her head is really low. I was getting so nervous that there was some reason that her head wouldn't drop and that I wouldn't be able to have her naturally. I guess that still could happen, but I will pray that it doesn't.

So this weekend would be a good and bad time to have the little one. Here are the many reasons why. First, Clark doesn't have class from Thursday til Monday, so it would be good there, and he doesn't have any homework. Second, all of my family is going to be in town and I want them to be able to meet her while they are here. The bad part is that they are coming to town for my Grandma Lund's funeral on Friday. So if I did have here any time after today, I wouldn't be able to go to the funeral. Why oh Why??? I really wanted to have her by today so that they could see her and I could make it to the funeral. Now it seems like it will be one or the other.

Oh well. I know it will work out the way that it is supposed to...I am not in control, but the Heavenly Father is and He knows what's best. I will trust in Him.

Miracle

2009-12-02T16:19:00.000-08:00

Every Monday-Thursday I tutor my little 8 year old cousin Danielle. She has been so excited about my pregnancy the whole time. Every day I am there, she tries to feel the baby move and kick. Before I leave, she makes sure to give me and the baby a hug and kiss goodbye. She is so excited about this baby.

Today as I was leaving, she kissed my belly and gave it a hug. She then exclaimed how incredible it was that there was a living being inside a living being. I told her that I completely agreed. It is so weird to think that I have a human inside me with legs and arms and a face... Naturally she went on to ask how it got in there and how that all worked. Uh...I told her it is a miracle. She said "NO, mom how does a baby get inside you?" I told her mom that I said it was a miracle and I was out of there.

Well it definitely is a miracle. How my body knows how to grow a human with all it's intricacies floors me. It is so incredible!!! I still can't believe I have a human being inside of me. It blows my mind.

In other news, I went to the doc's yesterday. I am 2 1/2 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Again he said I could go into labor today or a week late. All I know is that I am excited to be completely thinned out cuz now all my body has to do is open up...it's like half the work. I'm hoping this means that labor will go more quickly...and I wouldn't mind more smoothly either.

My momma is coming up either tomorrow or Friday. I am so excited! I just hope she gets here before I go into labor so that we can do some girly things together first like go shopping and out to lunch...it will be my last chance for a LONG time. I am not planning on taking the babe out for at least 3 months after she's born. It might sound drastic, but I would rather be stuck in my house with a healthy baby than in a hospital room with a sick baby and Utah is notorious for getting babies sick in the winter.

Well here's to wishing I go into labor sooner rather than later...send some good labor vibes my way.

Cast Your Vote

2009-11-30T10:28:00.001-08:00

I want to know when ya'll think I am gonna give birth (date and time). At my last doc appointment I was 2 cm dilated and 90% effaced, if that helps. I have another tomorrow and hopefully I have progressed even further.

I also want to know how much you think she will weigh and how long she will be.

AND what color hair do you think she will have...you can guess on eye color too, but we wont know that for at least a couple of months when they change.

I'm thinking I will give a prize to the person who is closest on all of these...even if it is just something little. So go ahead...guess away!

Rounding out the 37th Week

2009-11-24T17:00:00.001-08:00

I officially only have 2 weeks and 1 day til my due date!!!! HIP HIP HOORAY! It is getting so close, I can't believe it. People are still amazed at how little I look, but I went to the doctor today and I am measuring right on schedule. I am still feeling really good and the little one is moving like CRAZY. She officially takes up my ENTIRE abdomen. Everywhere I push, I can feel her...so fun.

Today at the doctor's office, I found out that I am 2 cm dilated and 90% effaced! I'm pretty excited about that. The more I progress now, the less I will have to progress when I am in pain. Clark wants me to go into labor tonight because then we will have a long weekend to spend together, but the doctor said she will probably come at the worst possible time, which is my due date and Clark's finals. We shall see.

Here is my bare belly at 37 weeks and 5 days. After taking these pictures, I realized that I kinda still have a waist...cool.

Sorry to blind you, but I think my belly is cute. I still haven't gotten stretch marks (hallelujah) and let's hope it stays that way.

In other news:

Clark and I set up our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I really want the house to be decorated for Christmas when the baby gets home, so we did it a little early. It is so fun to get into the Christmas spirit. We still have to put up our garland, stockings, and make our wreath.

Clark gave me one of my Christmas presents early...tickets to the midnight showing of NEW MOON! It was a sacrifice for Clark to be in a theater with a bunch of teeny bopper girls, but he pulled through. I did really well and didn't even get tired, but I was pretty swollen when I woke up the next afternoon. Clark is team Jacob, but I am and will always be team Edward...even if I did marry a man who looks like he could be in the quillette tribe.

Baby Shower Dos

2009-11-24T16:46:00.001-08:00

This past Saturday, my visiting teachers in my ward threw me a baby shower. It was so fun!!! Everyone was so generous and thoughtful. There were a lot of people that couldn't make it, but so many brought over gifts anyway...how sweet is that. I got a lot of stuff that I needed. One thing in particular was a baby carrier, which Clark has been dying for because he wants to take the baby hiking as soon as the weather gets warm again.

The shower was really laid back. We ate and talked and I opened presents. It took me almost the whole 2 hours just to open presents because I am so OCD about keeping the wrapping paper nice and folding all of the tissue paper.

The food was soooo good...let me tell you. A couple different people made breads. We had plain zuccini bread, chocolate chip zuccini bread, and cherry bread. YUM!! They also had cupcakes, cookies and veggies. The drink was spectacular; it was sprite mixed with crystal light. I loved how everything was baby pink.

We played a game where we guessed how many m&m's were in a bottle. I actually was one of the closest guessers, but I didn't get to win since it was my baby shower. I got to have the bottle with the m&m's though...so much better than any other prize ;)

Here are some of the wonderful ladies in my ward. I wish I had a picture of everyone that came. Especially Gentry and Sara who threw the shower...darn them.

I had so much fun...I wish I could do it again. Well, maybe I will get another shower when I have another baby...we shall see. Thanks Hillside Ward!!!!!

36 week Doc Appointment

2009-11-19T15:47:00.000-08:00

I went to the doctor's on Tuesday, when I was still 36 weeks. I was so nervous because it was going to be my first internal exam. I really wanted to hear that I was starting to dilate, and it is just uncomfortable being under that paper towel. Well, the doctor checked the heartbeat and said that it sounded fantastic, he said I was growing well, did the group B strep test (yuck!), and then said that I was 1 1/2 to 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced!!! Yay! I was so excited to hear this. He said he thinks that she will come early if anything, but he also said we could be surprised and she could be a week late. I'm hoping more for the week early thing, but I guess I'm not really in control of that.

Now I am 37 weeks and FULL TERM!!! I was always so nervous that I wouldn't ever carry a baby to full term, but here I am. She is definitely getting big and taking up every inch of space in my abdomen, but I LOVE it! I love being able to feel her body and know which parts are what. Her head is down and the doc said it is getting low...yay yay yay!!! I just can't wait to meet the little girl that's been living inside of me for the past almost 9 months.

Oh and Clark just loves to tease me and say that the baby is gonna come out a boy. Not that I wouldn't love to have a son, but I just have EVERYTHING for a girl and would not know what to do if a male came out...so let's hope that doesn't happen.

Shower

2009-11-18T20:24:00.001-08:00

This last Tuesday, my cousin Emily, cousin Mandy and Aunt Linda threw me a baby shower. It was so fun! I have been looking forward to it for weeks and weeks. They are always so sweet and giving and thoughtful. It's nice to have such great family.

I will start off by telling about my wonderful guests, because it wouldn't be much of a shower without these great folks.

Here's my sis-in-law Tami, Aunt Vicky, and Aunt Angie.

My cousin Emily, cousin/aunt Lisa, cousin Maryann, and Aunt Linda.

Two of my best friends Emily and Noelle. I love how excited they are for the little one. They are the best...and they are giving good lovin to the little bug.

My Aunt Anita, cousin Katie, and Great-Aunt Nancy.

I am so grateful to everyone who came and supported me and my babe. I felt so loved!

And then there were gifts. Everyone was so thoughtful and generous. My favorite gift had to be the blessing dress that my Mother-in-law made for the little one. It is GORGEOUS!!! This picture doesn't do it justice, but oh man! She got the material in L.A. and then sewed it so perfectly. I love the little bonnet. I totally cried when I opened it, so sweet and the little one will always be grateful to her Grandma Tutu.

Here are some other guests. In the back: cousins Jamie and Mandy
In the front: an extatic me, Aunt Denise, cousin Danielle, Momma Varner.

One of my favorite parts of my family baby showers are the games. The memory game has got to be a fav. There are all sorts of different pregnancy and birth related words and phrases, and we had to find the ones that matched. If you found a match, you get a candy bar that relates to the word or phrase. I won two! I got breastfeeding (Milky way) and bottle feeding (Milk Duds). I'm hoping I am more of a Milky way...we don't want no duds!

The guests also guessed :) how big my belly was. I was excited to see what they guessed because everyone tells me how small I look. Almost everyone's string was way too big, but my Aunt Angie guessed right on! I am proud.

Here I am showing off her string skills.

Measured perfect!!!

Sorry about the duplicate picture...they are just so cute.

Here is Lisa guessing her string size. They had to do it before they could see me and the belly.

Here is my beautiful cousin Emily...the hostess with the mostess. She seriously is the most thoughtful girl I know.

Loved the cute pink balloons. Bring on the PINK!!!!! This baby better not come out a boy.

Mmmmmm...I loved the chocolate covered strawberries. My cousin Mandy made all of these by hand!

I wasn't expecting food because the shower was at 7 pm, but I was oh so pleasantly surprised. I was starving...so it was perfect!!!

Oh how I love baby showers. Stay tuned because I am having one with my ward on Saturday.

I am the Biggest Loser!!!

2009-11-07T20:52:00.000-08:00

Ok so that probably isn't a true statement...in fact it is for sure a false statement! I am probably the biggest gainer at the moment. But I am supposed to be right? Re assure me people...it's ok that I gain like a pound a day...right? Well it probably doesn't help that I am obsessed with Halloween candy, this will have to stop. Anyway, here a picture of me at 35 weeks and 1 day. Don't you love the Betty Boop pjs...my grandma has a matching pair. :)

Oh and about the biggest loser...I LOVE THAT SHOW!!! I watched it online last week cuz I didn't feel the greatest and became obsessed. It is so inspirational. I actually picked up our weights and lifted them while watching the episode...something I have not done in far too long. Today I watched another episode and drank a whole 44 ounces of water cuz they said to make sure to drink enough water. I definitely need like the seasons or something for after I have the baby when I can really get down to business. Oh, and I cry at least 2 times each episode. This season is so touching...are they all like this?

Farewell all my losers!

Pumpkin Carving

2009-11-07T20:43:00.001-08:00

Clark and I had fun carving our pumpkin this year. It was our first Halloween as a married couple and our first time carving a pumpkin together, so it was quite an occasion! We bought one big pumpkin that we could carve together...it only cost a little over a buck! This made for a fun Family Home Evening.

Here I am digging out the goop. Since one of Clark's favorite treats is pumpkin seeds...I decided I would try my hand at making them. I carefully separated all goop from seeds. I burned the first batch, but did better on the second. Clark ate them all anyway :)

Since Clark is the artist in the family, I had him come up with the design and draw it on. I am ok with a normal ol Jack-O-Lantern face, but Clark is much more creative.

Clark started out the carving while I worked on the pumpkin seeds. I did carve though...the whole right side...and I kept the design mostly intact...Clark had a little more mishaps than myself. I am proud.

And here is our scary Jack-O-Lantern....

I thought we did a mighty good job for our first go around. We shall see what next year brings.

My eggo is prego.

2009-11-03T11:49:00.001-08:00

Well today I had my 34 week doctors appointment. I will be 35 weeks on Thursday, so I kinda see it as my 35 week appointment, but alas it is not that big of a deal. The baby is doing great. Her heartbeat is strong and I am measuring 34 centimeters. I think I have started to drop because when i walk around, I can feel downward pressure and I feel as though I am going to pee my pants. I know, not fun. I am glad if I have begun to drop because hopefully that means that she will come on her own and I wont have to be induced. My doctor had me schedule an induction date for a week after my due date, so if she doesn't come on her own, I will be induced December 17th. I wouldn't mind having her a week early so then I wont have to worry that she wont come on her own.

Some weird things have been happening lately in the pregnancy world. I have started to lose my appetite. I think it has something to do with the lack of room for my stomach and intestines. Before, I couldn't go a couple hours without eating...now I have to force myself to eat. The only thing I dont have to force myself to eat is candy, but that's not good cuz it makes me sick and I'm sure it's not good for the little one. I make a commitment now not to eat only candy.

I also started to swell!!! YIKES!! No thank-you. I do not like swelling. It totally freaks me out. I'm pretty sure it was due to all the standing I did on Halloween, the lack of healthy food, and the surplus of sugar that I ate. My legs have gone back to almost normal so that's good. I just hope they stay down.

I also started having insomnia. This was full blown insomnia too. It wasn't due to being uncomfortable, but just the inability to sleep. I would be so tired, but sleep was not happening...I couldn't even take a nap in the day. I finally took Tylenol PM one night and that put me out, but I dont want to rely on that. It seems to have gotten better because the last 2 nights I have slept pretty well...hopefully this keeps up.

Pregnancy dreams...they are strange aren't they? I have dreams all the time that I forget to feed my baby or that I take her out of me and then put her back in. I have noticed that most of these dreams have to do with feeding her...I guess that can tell you what I am most nervous about. I really hope that she is a good eater, and that I get nursing down quickly.

Well I am getting so excited for our little one to arrive. I am so curious as to what she will look like. I am most curious about her coloring, but we wont really get a feel for that for a while after she is born. Oh, I had my first painful contraction...only one though. It felt pretty much like I thought it would, but I'm sure real labor ones will be way more intense.

We had some fun Halloween happenings and i will have to post about those when I get the camera back from my hubby.

Shew Fly Don't Bother Me!!!!!

2009-10-23T19:37:00.001-07:00

WARNING: This post may gross you out...it does me!

The other day, Clark and I were each enjoying a nice cup of Cinnamon Life (one of my faves). I was almost finished when I hear an unpleasant sound coming from Clark. He was expressing his wishes that what he thought he saw in his cereal was not actually what he thought he saw...it was. Yes, in Clark's cereal there was a FLY! There were no flies flying around, there was no fly in his cup, there was no fly in the milk, it came from the cereal box! EWWW. I was so grossed out. Poor Clark was flipping because he was just eating out of the cup with the fly in it, and he was so disappointed because he was hungry.

In this picture you can see the fly on top of the cereal.

Clark called Quaker and told them the story...they are sending us a replacement coupon. I was hoping for a million dollars cuz hey, that woman who spilled her own coffee got that. Oh well, I guess a replacement coupon will work so that we aren't out the money we would have been since throwing away that box of cereal. Clark isn't so stoked about the coupon because he wont be eating Life cereal for a while.

Big Belly, Big Belly, Big Belly

2009-10-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here I am at 33 weeks and 1 day. My belly is definitely getting bigger and I love it! People have finally noticed that I am pregnant and are making comments. A lot of people have been asking when the baby is due and if it's a girl or a boy. People are still always shocked at how soon she will be coming. I'm fine with that though because it means that I am not the whale that I am starting to feel like. It's amazing how having a big belly can make you feel large everywhere. Somedays I feel huge and others I feel cute and pregnant...I guess that's how it goes.

I had a doctor's appointment last Tuesday when I was still 32 weeks and my belly was measuring at 33 centimeters already. I knew that the baby was growing a lot since my last visit because I could feel it and I could see it in my belly. At my appointments before, I was measuring a little smaller and now I am a little ahead. I hope she keeps getting nice and chubby in there. We also heard the heartbeat, and Clark was amazed at how strong it was. I feel the little one moving all along my ribs, hip bones, bladder, and sides. She can't really do full on kicks anymore cuz she is getting squished, but she likes to try and stretch as much as she can...this can be painful. She seems to be a morning person because she is always moving at 5 or 6 in the morning when Clark gets up. She also is getting the hiccups ALL the time. This can be annoying because it reminds me a little too much of when I get the hiccups...and that I do not like. I just can't wait to meet this little one!!!

I will admit to you all that I am now obsessed with reading other people's birth stories. I am so fascinated and I want to know every possible thing that could happen. I definitely envy those girls that go in and find out they're already 9 centimeters dilated and they haven't really felt any pain, and I do not envy those that need an emergency c-section. I'm really hoping that I can get her out all on my own and that I am a good pusher. I am really curious as to what contractions feel like. I hear so many different things. I also hope that I don't go into the hospital thinking that I am in labor and then I am sent home.
Well, I guess we will see in a couple of weeks! I will just have to keep indulging in other people's experiences til then.

Goodbye Donatello

2009-10-23T18:39:00.001-07:00

Clark and I had a sad day yesterday...we sent our first baby off to the big bad world. When we got married, we received 2 African Sulcata Tortoises. We named them Michelangelo and Donatello. We loved them as our own. Well Mikey didn't make it through his first winter...he was a sick little boy. It was such a sad day and we promised Mikey that we wouldn't let his brother, Donny die.

Well, we have been doing a lot of thinking and have come to the conclusion that the weather here is just too cold in the winter for the little guy. He is getting too big for his cage and really enjoys getting out, but that wont happen when there is snow on the ground. So we came up with the plan to send him to California. Clark's sister's family lives down there and all six of those kids would love to care for Donny.

We sent Donatello down yesterday and the kids are just thrilled. It was really hard for Clark and I to say goodbye, but we know it is what is best for him. At least we know that we can see him often and that he will be well loved. It's amazing how much I miss the little guy.

Some things I love about Donny:

1. The way he ate ferociously

2. The way he wiggled his arms and legs in the bath.

3. How he would watch me do the chores around the house

4.How he would come to me whenever I brought out the lettuce...he was well trained

5.How he climbed anything in his sight

6.The way he flopped his body so funny when he slept

7.How he would always rearrange his "furniture" after we cleaned his cage

8.How he would climb on top of his log and look over his vast kingdom

9.His big black eyes

10.How he would copy be when I bobbed my head or opened my mouth

11.His little hind legs moving so quickly (he was a speedy little guy)

Goodbye Donatello! Mommy and Daddy will miss you!

It's Growing!!! 31 1/2 Weeks

2009-10-13T12:09:00.001-07:00

Yay! My belly is getting pregnant looking. I love seeing my belly grow. I can feel the babe getting squished in there. It makes you wonder how they stay in there so long when there's like no room. I can't wait...less than 2 months left!!!!

This pic isn't so good of my face, but I thought it showed my belly pretty good.

!!!!QUARANTINE!!!!

2009-10-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

Joy to the World Quarantine is over!!!!! Man Alive. It is really hard to be alone for 6 whole days. I missed my hubby like crazy...and I was sooooo bored. Luckily it was all worth it, and I have not gotten ill, and as far as I know, neither has anyone else! Hallelujah. I would have been quite distraught if I had to live the way I did just to get sick and infect others.

My life the past 6 days has been quite interesting to say the least. When I informed my mother that Clark had the flu, she told me to not go back into my apartment, but to stay in the other part of the basement. I followed her direction and parked myself in the downstairs master bedroom (this room is currently being used for storage). I had NOTHING in there with me except my purse. I asked my mom how I would get food, and she told me that I could go get fast food and buy healthy things at the grocery store that do not require cooking or refrigerating. Needless to say, my options were quite limited.

Here I am being sad that I had to be on quarantine.

I was pretty excited that I had an excuse to eat fast food, but after the first time, it got boring. I realized that I mostly like going out to eat because it usually involves other people. Being by yourself does not qualify as a good time...unless you are super cool I guess. I would usually go to Wendy's and then eat in the car so that I could still be "out" without infecting other people. I also frequented the local Kohler's Grocery Store about a bazillion times...I kinda feel embarrassed to walk in there now.

I spent A LOT of time in this bed. After a day of not having my computer or anything to do, I put on a mask, held my breath and ran into our apartment to get my labtop and some movies/tv seasons. In the morning I would check my email, facebook, and blogs (by the way people really need to update more often). I would do this over and over until I finally got up the motivation to get out of the house. Then I would come back and spend my evenings watching the entire 1st season of Friends and the entire 1st season of Newlyweds.

I got fed up with living like this so one day I decided I would go window shopping. Yeah that lasted maybe an hour before I was ready to go back home...I'm not a big shopper and I definitely don't like doing it alone...I like me some people!

Clark had a great idea on Friday. You see, this is usually our date night and he didn't want us to skip one, so he had me pick him up a hot dog at Costco and since we have 2 copies of Ever After, we watched it at the same time just in separate places. It was so cute for Clark to come up with this all on his own...so cute and might I add, Romantic!

I missed Clark so much! I don't even know how he survived because he couldn't even leave the apartment at all. At least I got to see the real world. Well, since we both missed each other and both had a very hard time getting to sleep at night alone, we would talk multiple times a day on the phone and for about 3 hours each night. I would have him talk me to sleep at night so that I wouldn't be so scared. Isn't technology wonderful!

I am so glad the week is over and I can see my love and my home again. I'm sure I have put on some weight due to my lethargic week of laying and eating out. I am so grateful I didn't get sick and that Clark is doing much better and back at school.

On the baby front: I think all the laying I did made it so the little one got more calories cuz I can feel her growing like crazy inside of me. I feel like I am finally getting big. I have started a love/hate relationship with food because it now always gives me heartburn. Atleast it didn't start til now. I have Braxton-Hicks contractions all the time. I get one every time I use the restroom and when I go on a walk. If I go on a walk for exercise, I feel like I have one big long contraction the entire walk. This kind of scares me, but it doesn't hurt like a labor contraction, so I am guessing it is ok. I also got a UTI the other day which is so annoying, but much better than the flu.

I am getting so anxious to meet my little girl! I just keep trying to picture her and I just want to squeeze her. Sometimes I can feel her body with my hands and I will try to hug her from the outside...it's pretty funny. I just love her to pieces!

This is me at 29 weeks. I am now 31 1/2 weeks along so I will have Clark take a picture of me tonight and I will try to post it soon.

Sickie

2009-10-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday Clark came down with the flu. EXACTLY what we did not want. He is living with two people that have compromised immune systems. I for one am pregnant and my grandmother is going through chemo therapy. I told my doctor today and he was very concerned, as was my mother when I informed her. Apparantly if he has the swine flu and I get it...I could die. That sounds great doesn't it. I called my doctor and asked if he would just give me tamaflu so that I wouldn't get it...we are still waiting for that call back. I feel so bad for my sweet hubby. He is so sick. He moaned and groaned all night :( To keep me from getting anything and not spreading it, I am quarantined in a small part of the house that is being used mostly for storage, and is decorated with all sorts of scary dolls. Luckily there is this computer that I can use after washing my hands for an insanely long period of time.

Let us pray that Clark will get better, I dont get the flu, and that we dont spread it to my dear sweet grandma!

Belly Pics!!!

2009-09-17T18:28:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to put up belly pics on here, and now I am. I love seeing people's blogs with their pregnant bellys on them. I have become obsessed with looking at blogs of pregnant girls and comparing my belly to theirs. I have been told over and over how little my belly is for how far along I am. It's true, most of the time people can't even tell I'm pregnant, or when they find out how far along I am they are stunned. It's crazy that I only have 12 more weeks left til my due date! Although that does seem like a mighty long time. I'm not the best waiter...and these past 28 weeks have gone by oh so slowly.

Anyway, here is a picture of me at 26 weeks and a couple days.

And here I am at 28 weeks. The babe is all the way up in my ribs and stomach and lungs. I have had some occurances where I have almost passed out due to the inability to breathe. This is mostly after I eat...I think my stomach expands and then leaves even less room for my poor little lungs. I just started getting heart burn yesterday...I no like. I keep hoping the baby will start moving out instead of just up. Pretty soon there is going to be absolutely no room up in my chest area and she will have to go out right?

I still love feeling her move around inside. She loves kicking my ribs...a lot. It hurts and tickles at the same time...strange. She is already a daddy's girl because she moves and kicks any time she hears him talk. At church the other day, Clark said a prayer over the microphone and she started kicking. She hadn't kicked all day and then she didn't kick after he stopped talking. She just loves her daddy.

Alien Stuff

2009-08-30T15:11:00.001-07:00

When Clark was younger, he was sometimes called Kalel like Superman's alien name. He also used to make a drunk ant face which made him look quite similar to drawings of alien faces. This caused him to think that he in fact was a real live true extra terrestrial. He was completely convinced. One time his teacher called in his parents and said she was concerned because Clark seemed to think that he was an alien. His parents just said "we know."

Well since this "alien" has gotten me pregnant with his offspring, I have come to feel like something from men in black. One true blue sign that I am indeed carrying an alien happened last night while having family scripture study. I was laying on my side and the little being from another planet started moving like crazy inside of me. I told Clark to watch...and this we did for the next 15 minutes or so. He saw the baby kick and roll and twist and push. He asked, "Was that the baby? It like moved your whole belly!" He was astonished. I was thinking, well it's your daughter...of course it's gonna move my whole belly and what do you think I have been telling you these past couple weeks. I swear, I don't think people believe me when I tell them these things. Atleast now I have a witness.

So now I will continue to enjoy feeling my little alien inside kicking and shoving her mommy's belly.

Oh and don't you think Clark was such a cute little boy...that's why I am super excited to have a little girl Clark.

Finally!!!

2009-08-28T16:09:00.001-07:00

My belly is FINALLY starting to poke out. I have looked chubby for way too long! I think I still might just look chubby to a lot of people who don't know that I am pregnant, but it works for me. I love seeing my cute little baby bump. I just hope the largeness continues to go to my belly and not to the rest of my body.

I love being pregnant...only it seems like it takes forever. Nine months really is a long time, I guess it's good warning though so I have time to prepare. I am really lucky not to have many bad symptoms of pregnancy. Most of mine all have to do with sleep. Like I HATE sleeping on my side and my hips ache all the time, I pee constantly at night (last night I peed 20 whopping times!), and I am tired all the time (which probably has to do with the prior 2 negative symptoms). But other than that, I am great.

My appetite has gone up a little; every now and again I will feel like I could eat non stop. I try not to do this because I'm pretty sure that it would have some very negative side effects. I do hope the babe is growing well. When we had the 20 weeks ultrasound our baby was pretty little, but I want a big healthy chubby baby. We will see I guess.

The Results Are In!!!

2009-08-25T18:38:00.001-07:00

We had our second ultrasound today to check up on things that could not be seen in our last ultrasound and the doctor said that baby is indeed A GIRL!!!!!!! Yay I am so excited! Now all those bows I bought for her hair wont go to waste and the entire wardrobe my mom has already bought will be worn. I am so excited for my little angel to come. She has been kicking and squirming so much lately and I love it. I wish she moved all day every day. I have about 15 more weeks to go and I can kiss her precious face. Clark is super excited too. He has finally gotten used to the idea of a daughter and he has been so sweet to my belly. He talks to her and tells her he loves her all the time.

Here is a profile pic from the sono today. It's the same picture, but I didn't know which one came out looking clearer, so I posted both. I think she looks just like her father. I'm pretty sure this first one will be a clone of her father, but we will see!

Going Back to Cali Cali Cali

2009-08-25T18:23:00.001-07:00

For the past 10 days, Clark and I have been priveleged to be in California. It was SOOOO fun! This was the first time that my whole family was together since Clark's and my wedding. Also, I had never met Melissa's little Sterling...so I was totally looking forward to that. I just loved being with my family. We could have done nothing and it would have been marvelous, but we did do a lot of fun stuff. My mom's 50th birthday happened last Tuesday, so we got to celebrate that a couple of times. Below, we are all at Lucille's BBQ (so scrumptious). Clark was in the bathroom and missed the picture :( Also Anna stayed home with her two tired children.

The next day we went to lunch at Islands with some of my mom's grown up buddies. That was fun to see them all and it made me want to do stuff like that with my grown up buddies when I'm older.

I am so sad that these are all the pictures that I got with my camera from our trip...not even one of Clark! How lame. I know, I need to be better. I make it a goal to improve. Anyway, we did a lot more fun stuff. Some highlights are: going on a double date with Andy and Melissa, Seeing Grace and Stella play, Being in church with the whole fam, Carpinteria, Sneaking Julies birthday present, Laughing in the hotel room with Anna and Tyler, holding Sterling as much as possible, watching Julie make Sterling laugh, drinking loads of soda, My dad's tri tip dinner, seeing Clark connect with my family on a new level, and the list could go on and on, but I wont bore you.

Clark and I also spent some time with his sister Marylani and her family. That was so much fun; her kids are all so well behaved and loving. I love being their Auntie. I also love talking with my sister and brother in law. They are so lively and kind hearted. I could learn a lot from them. It was sad to say goodbye.

When the time came to say goodbye, I bawled my little eyes out. One reason is that I probably wont be back in California for another year due to the little bundle of joy that will be arriving in December. Also, I had been looking forward to it for so long and it was over...I hate those let downs. I will miss my family tremendously. I love them all so much and I wish we all lived super close. Atleast I NEED Melissa and Andy to move somewhere on the western part of the U.S. South Carolina is far too far. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that they can come out to Utah in December.

Birthday Special

2009-08-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Ok well I will go backwards on our birthday week. Clark and I happen to have birthdays only 5 days apart. Mine is July 28th and his is August 2nd. For my birthday we had our ultrasound, found out we were most likely having a girl, went shopping for the wee one, got the baby her first comic book, saw Night at the Museum 2, went to Red Robin, and went maternity clothes shopping. Clark was so sweet to let me do whatever I wanted on my b-day. It was so cute because Clark picked out tons of cute clothes for me to try on and then helped me pick two totally adorable shirts. It felt so nice to be able to actually buy something for myself, something I have not done since I got married.

Then Clark's birthday was on Sunday, so we weren't able to go out and do anything, that way he got two days of celebration. On Sunday, it was kind of a bummer because Clark had to fast (well chose to) for my grandmother who we just found out has cancer :(. He took a nice long nap, while my sister Julie and I decorated the house and made him a cake. I put up a home made banner that said Happy Birthday and little hearts with sayings on them all over the house. We invited Clark's brother and family, as well as his mom and two nieces over for cake. It was fun to have a full house all celebrating my hubby being 25!

The next day, when Clark got out of class, we went to Cold Stone and got some yummy ice cream, then read books at Barnes and Noble (Clark's other love), saw Terminator Salvation (so good), and ate at KFC. It was so fun just to spend time together and enjoy each others company.

Presents:
-I got Clark a pair of boxing gloves. He says he needs to take up boxing so he can teach
our daughter how to protect herself.
-Clark got me a pregnancy massage. I had this today and oh was it joyous!!!! I have
never been so relaxed. What a man!

Here's Clark showing me his moves!

Noelle, one of my bestest friends ever, took me to the Primrose Spa to get a pedicure. It was heaven...I love being pampered, it's probably my favorite passed time. I love my toenails, they are barbie pink.

85% sure it's a...

2009-07-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

GIRL!!!!!!!!!! Ok so we went to the doctor yesterday and had an ultrasound...the little stinker of a child we had was all curled up in a very strange position. The doctor couldn't get a good look of the baby's head or face. Imagine seeing a spine in the shape of a half circle...and that is how our baby was laying. Then the baby had her legs sticking up in my belly button area. The little tyke also had her legs crossed so it was hard to get a good look into those genitals. Luckily we have another ultrasound in a month. I think I would be sad if we went in and found out it was a boy now, not because I don't want a boy, but because now that I think I am having a girl I have my mind set on it.

Clark and I went and bought the baby a couple of really cute outfits. It was so fun to see Clark get excited about the girl clothes. He is super protective already and he is already wrapped around her little finger. Let's hope it stays my little princess.

Pictures to come soon.

20 Week Belly Pics

2009-07-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

When my mom was here she took a couple pictures of my 20 week belly. These are much more true to my size even though the one where my hands are outlining my belly still looks pretty big. The one where my arms are up looks pretty true to size. I'm still really little, but I can feel my hard uterus and the baby moving so I know that it is all good in the hood.

I CANNOT WAIT!!!!

2009-07-20T18:11:00.001-07:00

I have been doing very well lately...I think because my family was here to distract me. But now that they are gone, my mind is stirring and my heart is pounding. Now, for those of you who don't know what this is about...on July 28th (my 23rd birthday) I will be finding out what gender my baby is!!!!! HELLO! This is what I have been waiting for since I found out I was pregnant. I have been made to wait almost 6 weeks since my last appointment...the things they do to pregnant women...GEESH! I just can't wait to find out. Oooh and I want people to make their bets on what I am having. I don't know how to make a poll. Maybe I will figure it out...if not, just put it in a comment.

Desert Getaway!

2009-07-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago, Clark and I drove down to Mesquite, Nevada to stay at my grandmother's desert house. Nobody lives there, so it is a perfect getaway place. They have a couple pools and spas that I have been dying to go to since we got married. I always said we should go down and relax in the spa. Well, since I am prego and do not want to boil my baby, I was unable to go in the spa, but definitely lived it up in the pool. Clark and I also LOVE the Virgin River Restaurant! We eat there whenever we pass through Mesquite. They have a $4.99 Prime Rib dinner that is enough to fill Clark. Since we both LOVE meat and are on a tight budget, it is perfect.
We also ate there for breakfast one morning. The meals were $3.99 and I couldn't even eat half of mine it was so big. Here we are eating at our favorite restaurant and right before we headed to the pool.

We didn't have anyone to take pictures of the two of us, so you can't really tell where we are or what we are doing...oh well.

Here is Clark's pregnancy picture...he is pushing out cuz he says he is farther along than I am.

Here I am at around 16 weeks. I am pushing out and for some reason I look way bigger when I put my hands in that position. I really dont look that big...not even in a bathing suit. My mom got a picture of me the other day at 20 weeks and I think it is a little more true to my actual size, so hopefully I will be able to post that soon.

All has been going well with the pregnancy. I LOVE feeling the baby move and it scares me when it doesn't move a lot. The little one goes in cycles or something. For about 3 days it will move like crazy and then the next couple of days it will only move 2 times the entire day...I don't know. Maybe that is common...if it is let me know.

I have gained around 5 pounds so far...for a while I wasn't gaining anything, but my family came up and we went on vacation where we ate plenty of junk food so I think that did me in. I am trying to eat really healthy because I want the babe to come out healthy and plump...I love chubby babies.

I am not sick, but I do have trouble sleeping at night. I hate sleeping on my side...it makes my hips ache. I also get cramps in my leg muscles. I hear this only gets worse...ey carumba.

I am kinda starting to show now...without sticking out my belly. I still dont think people can tell I am pregnant, but the bump is getting bigger. I just hope I dont completely pop all at once, cuz that is a recipe for a stretch mark city...and I do not want that. We shall see...

I feel movement!

2009-07-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, I was at my Brother in Laws house just sitting on the ground when I feel something tickle across the inside of my belly. I think to myself, "Self, could that be the baby moving? Why would the baby tickle me...that's strange." Well I waited for a time in the convo when I could ask my sis in law what it felt like for the baby to move. I heard that it feels like flutters...whatever those are, or that they feel like gas bubbles. Well, for me gas bubbles feel like someone is taking a knife to my insides, so I was hoping they wouldn't feel like that.
Anyway, I ask and she tells me that it feels like the baby is tickling your insides and that is what flutters mean. OH! Cool. I felt the baby! I then showed her how it felt like the baby wiggled it's little fingers across the inside of my belly and she confirmed that yes in fact it was the baby. HOw exciting!

Then I went to the potty and I felt it again. I preceded to feel the baby a couple more times throughout the evening. I am now pretty positive that the baby is on an opposite schedule and that when it gets bigger, it will be keeping me up in the wee hours of the night with it's wiggles. Oh well, I'm just grateful that I felt the little love inside of me. I had been panicking because I am 17/18 weeks and that is when most people say they feel the baby move. I was afraid that my baby was paralyzed, but again my baby has proven me all wrong...and thank heavens for that!

Oh and Happy 4th of July!

A Heart Beat

2009-06-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we went to the OBGYN for my 16 week appointment. Well they have my due date as Dec. 10th, but with all the ovulation testing I was doing, I'm pretty sure it should be Dec. 2nd. Anyway, since they couldn't find the heart beat for us to listen to last time, they did it this time. The moment the doc put the doppler on my belly, we could hear a loud, strong and fast heartbeat. Then we heard static and no more heartbeat. Apparantly our little bundle of joy doesn't like to be pushed and prodded so he/she moved away from the thing that was pushing. Clark likes that, he says our baby was showing attitude. haha. I was so glad to hear our baby move and it's heartbeat. I was so scared that our baby had spina bifida or was paralized. The doctor said that our baby was super active and Clark says it's because the babe is trying to show me that it's not paralized. Thanks little babe for helping your mommy know you are alive and well down there!

My Life as a Housewife

2009-06-17T12:35:00.001-07:00

Now that I have been on summer break for a couple weeks now, I have settled into my life as a housewife. I love it! If only it would stay this way, but I know that once this baby comes, it will be a 180 degree flip on the life I live now.

Let me give you a little glimpse into the life I live now. I awake at around 10:30 am (of course this is after a night full of restlessness and peeing every hour, but still). I get up, leisurely eat a bowl of cereal, throw on some stretchy clothes and head for a walk. This can get a little lonely since the crickets are usually the only ones on the street to keep me company, so I usually call my mother and chat for 30 minutes to an hour.

When I get back, I take a shower and get to the chores. This isn't the most leisurely thing I have done in my life. It's a good thing that I have this time before baby arrives because I am really gonna have to learn to do this a lot more efficiently. Every chore takes me FOREVER! Clark finds this humorous because I have wanted to be a stay at home mom my whole life, yet I am not so good at the housework part. I'm pretty sure I will be better at the taking care of the kids thing...I have had plenty of practice, but keeping up a house is a lot more effort than I thought. After I sweep, there are still crumbs on the ground...it's infuriating! I do the dishes and 10 seconds later, there are more dishes in the sink...ahhhh! How do people do it. I don't even want to try and comprehend what it would be like to work full time and keep up house...no thank you.

Anyway, after I get the chores done...I usually check email, facebook, and blogs before I start on din din. This is another one of those things that I'm gonna have to get better at if my husband is gonna get fed at all after we have the little one. I'm used to cooking for myself and myself alone. I would eat a bowl of black beans for dinner...this will not do for the husband. He likes a lot more/better food than that. He is polynesian so you can imagine what women I have to live up to. I don't know how they do it...cook so good for so many! It really is incredible. Well I have made it my personal goal to learn to cook. I want to have at least 10 good recipes that I can always fall back on. I am loving finding simple, but delicious recipes that I can try. It really is fun learning how to cook, despite the clean up afterword.

After dinner I do a little relaxing...maybe watch a movie, do a little sudoku, wait for the hubby to be done with homework, etc. Then it's off to bed.

See...my life is not gonna be the same in 6 months. I must live it up now while I've got the chance.

"Michelle what's wrong?"

2009-06-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

This is the quote I hear from my husband, now multiple times a week. Pregnancy does crazy things to a woman doesn't it? I mean just now I was reading a post on my sister's blog about an exchange student going home...and I started weeping. I am pathetic! In church I raised my hand to give a comment and the moment I started speaking, out came the tears. I wasn't even talking about anything emotional. I was actually trying to tell the sisters how someone made me laugh and that's a way we can lift each others burdens. I guess I didn't really exemplify my comment very well.

I can't believe that I just cry over EVERYTHING! I feel like Graham from the movie The Holiday...maybe that's why I like that name so much. Anyway, I thought I was a crier before, but now it has gone to a whole new level. Pretty much everything I read that my sister posts makes me cry. I mean she does live across the country and I miss her and her family dearly, but that doesn't mean that I have to bawl every single time I read a post...does it? Well, I guess in pregnancy land it does. Let's just hope I can keep the water works in control just a little bit. I don't want any major embarrassing stories to tell, but oh don't you worry...I will tell.

Wish the weeper well.

I LOVE EDDIE!!

2009-06-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

Just so you all don't think I am cheating on my husband...I am in the love with the products of Eddie Bauer. When I found out I was pregnant, I started immediately to look into baby stuff. I looked at cribs, strollers, carseats, blankets, diapers, etc. When I had a break at work, I would go to Target and just look around. Well I fell in love with Eddie Bauer strollers and carseats. I love the prints and how they are neutral boy and girl. I don't like the neutral thing for most baby stuff, but I do for carseat/strollers. I also like how snazzy they look. I seem to think a lot of strollers look cheap. I also fell more in love with the brand when I bought a polo shirt for my dear sweet husband that fit him perfectly and looked so handsome. It even went long enough to cover his backside and if you know my husband, you know that is a hard feat! Well anyway, I never thought I would be able to get my Eddie Bauer dream...until I did!! I found a great deal online and I asked some people for some support and we got it!!!! I LOVE IT!! The colors are red, tand and brown and every time I walk past it I just smile because I know my little babe is going to be in there some day. I think Clark is getting sick of hearing me say that.

Most of you are probably thinking that it is a bit early to have this, but I just want to let you all know that it is totally my style. I am no procrastinater, and I think I will enjoy pregnancy so much more now that I know I have these things. I mean, I am already happier and smiling more. I will see if I can get my camera working to take a picture of the snazzy contraption asap!!!

Ultrasound 12 weeks!!!

2009-06-03T11:15:00.001-07:00

Here is our baby a week and a half ago. We went in to hear the heartbeat, but the doctor couldn't find one, so we had an ultrasound. The first thing the doctor said was, "Oh there's a heartbeat." He didn't want me to freak out. I think he could tell that I was getting a little panicked. But it was so fun to be able to see our baby again. We got to have an ultrasound a month earlier so they could figure out how far along I was since I dont have regular periods.

I was amazed at how much the baby had grown. Last time the baby looked like a little blob...this time it actually looked like a little baby (or chicken if you ask Clark). I just think that it is the most precious thing in the world! I love my baby!!!

Well now that I am in the second trimester, I don't really feel all that pregnant anymore. Before I was soooo tired and felt a little sick. I never threw up though...so lucky! Now I have energy and I don't really feel sick at all. It might have something to do with not having to work anymore, but either way, I am grateful. It sometimes worries me that I'm not feeling sick, but I should just be glad. My belly has only grown a little bit. I feel like I just am looking fat. Other people don't really notice the belly change...but I do. I think it might be because I can feel it and they can't. I am wearing my "fat pants". I'm not yet truly into maternity clothes, but I don't fit into my regular clothes. I think this is the awkward stage of pregnancy.

Surprise!!!!

2009-06-02T16:27:00.001-07:00

Ok for a lot of you, this isn't a surprise, but I thought I would announce it like it is anyway. We ARE HAVING A BABY!!!! Yes I am pregnant. 13 weeks and 6 days to be exact. The baby is due on December 2nd in my calculations, but we say somewhere between there and the 10th. We have two ultrasound pictures that we are trying to scan on to our computer, but it hasn't quite worked yet. When it does, I will for sure be posting our babies first pics up here for all to see. Yay! We are so excited!

Married Blog!!

2009-05-25T09:15:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! So I have had my own blog for quite some time, but Clark thought it unfair that I have my own blog that he can't officially be a part of...so we made our family/married blog. I have spent some time just trying to get it started, but now that I have, hopefully I will start posting more new and interesting things about our happenings. The only problem is that my digital camera broke and so we have no way of taking pictures and posting them. HOPEFULLY I will get a new camera soon and we can post lots of fun pictures;) And trust me, they will be fun and exciting! Yay for married blog!!