Little Pumpkin

Saturday we headed to a local farm to pick out our pumpkins!




(She loved her little pumpkin so much she kept licking it)

(Laughing at us in her seat while we load up the pumpkins in the trunk)


(10 minutes later, such a long day)

Swaddle Duck

My favorite is after Kate's bath when she smells so yummy and is super soft. Matt likes to "fluff" her hair. A while back he got it so fuzzy she looked just like a baby duck. I swaddled her up (which we never do anymore) in a soft fuzzy pink blanket, and I just wanted to eat her. I showed Matt and said, "Look at this little swaddle duck." So now we call her Swaddle Duck. We love our little Swaddle Duck.
She has really become affectionate in the past couple of weeks. I love it. She caresses my face and chest when I nurse her. My favorite is when she just leaves her hand resting on my nose or lips. It just melts me. She does it so so soft and gentle. And when we get close to her face (like to kiss her goodnight) she puts her hands on our cheeks and rubs our face. It is just the best feeling in the world to know that your little baby loves you as much as you love them.

For Grandma Pam

Afternoon beach trip

I took Kate down to the beach to enjoy this amazing weather. Matt met us down there and we played for a little while. Kate was loving the swing! I love where we live.



What a nice way to spend the afternoon!

Santa Ana Winds

My favorite weather arrived last night.
It makes me giddy.
Don't worry, I ran outside in my robe this morning to feel the warm amazing wind!
Matt watched through the window.
He thinks I am crazy.

Fun Weekend

This weekend was just what I needed. Lots of Matt, lots of Kate, relaxing, old friends, and a good party.

Friday night we put Kate down and sneaked off to the movies. We saw Eagle Eye, it was pretty good. But even better were the free tickets we were given for sitting down in wet seats.

Miss Andrea is now a Mrs. We went to San Diego on Saturday night for her amazing reception. It was absolutely beautiful. There was a post card on each place setting with a personal message to each guest from Andrea. There were 300 guest. Hello! She looks stunning and so happy. It was SO GOOD to see my friends. It has been way to long. My best friend Jenna came and staid with us on Saturday night and it was so much fun. Thanks for teaching my the duck walk Jenna! Kate misses you!

Sunday I drove Jenna to the airport (sniff sniff) and then went to church. After church we had a family dinner. It was so good to see my niece and handsome nephews. We had a yummy dinner and went for a walk after. I love my family.

Such a good weekend. Need more like these.

Kate's Birth Day

**Warning, super long. Details for me to remember.

It all started 10 days before our May 27th, 2008 D-Day. I picked out the most stretchy clothes I had, barely covering my enormous stomach. We went to Becca Stapely's wedding reception and ate some yummy Greek food. Little did I know, I would be tasting that food many more times in the coming days. I had cleaned my house, and showered and done my hair that day, and made the comment to someone at the reception, that I was all ready and it would be a great night for her to come!

We went to bed, and at 4am, I woke up to the feeling of my water breaking. I jumped out of bed and woke Matt up with the good news. When I realized that this was IT, I started shaking really hard. So strange! Matt and I kept saying "I can't believe that we were going to have a baby today!"(Too bad it wasn't that day!) I called my mom, who went into calming mode immediately, telling me it was ok to be shaking, take deep breaths, and call the doctor. Called the Doctor, who said to come on in. Then called Danielle to tell her the good news. After that I went into some sort of strange last minute nesting. I loaded the dishwasher, and started it. I folded some clothes. Emptied the trash. Wiped the already clean counters. I told Matt to take a shower, because I didn't want him to have bedhead in all the pictures. I also instructed him to shave so his scruff wouldn't scratch our new baby. I knew he would be kissing her tons. I was right. After I got dressed, straightened my hair, and put on a little mascara we were on our way. I was getting more and more nervous as we got closer to the hospital. It was an excited nervous more than scared nervous.

Going into the hospital. Notice shirt not coming belly. Notice huge face. I look like a lion.

6am: When we pulled up to the hospital a white van passed us and parked right by us. I said, "That looks like Danielle's van, that would be funny if it was her." And it was. My sister to lives 45 minutes away practically beat us to the hospital. I love her. We got checked in and they made sure I was indeed in labor and that my water had broken. I was a 2.

Happy happy. Baby is coming! No pain yet!

8am: My mom arrived and we had a little party for a few hours before they started my on petocin. A few hours later, still a 2. So they increased the petocin. A few more hours, and lots of painful contractions later, still a 2. Not good.
3pm: I got my epidural.

Epidurals make you feel good enough to text.

Oh how I love epidurals. The party continued with more visitors.

The nurse and doctor were a little concerned that I was not dilating and my contractions were not registering very strong. But they felt sooo strong. A few more hours later the epidural was wearing off and they were hesitant to give me more because they thought the contractions were not that strong (they thought I was a wuss). The doctor thought that with the strength of the contractions (which he thought was low) and how much pain I was in (I thought high), maybe the epidual was not working.

6pm: They started talking C-section at this point. I instantly started to cry. I was tired, and in pain, and the last thing I wanted was a c-section. But, since my body wasn't contracting hard enough, that it might be necessary. I am still a 2. The nurse said that she would check me once more, and then call the doctor, who would check me once more at 9:30 before doing a c-section.

Notice furrowed bow. That is my pain face.

She checked my at 8:45, still a 2. I was beside myself. I was exhausted, in horrible pain, and wanted it to be over. I wanted to meet my little girl. I was bawling and through my tears asked that my family gather around for a prayer. Matt, my Dad, Mike, and David gave me a beautiful blessing that put me at peace and promised that my body would do what it needed to have our baby. The doctor arrived at 9:15 for one last check. He looked at me and said "8/9". To that I said "Excuse me, 8/9 what?" He said "You are almost a 9!" Again, the tears started to stream down my face. This time out of pure relief, the strongest since of gratefulness, and my heart burning with knowledge of the power of prayer and priesthood.
The doctor asked my nurse (that is a whole seperate story, HORRIBLE NURSE) if she had flushed my line recently. She never had. Once she did, my contractions were off the charts.

This is when the real, no epidural pain started.
The whole day I was having hard hard contractions, and not getting any credit for them! The next few hours are pretty much a blur. I can remember lots of pain. Squeezing Matt, my mom, and Danielle's hands very hard through contractions.

I also had back labor, so they also were rubbing my back.
I remember thinking that I must have a long time left since it was still just us and the nurse in there with us. They had not brought the equipment in yet and this was making me nervous. They kept saying I was close, but I figured they were just saying that to keep my motivated since it was now 11pm and no baby yet. I started pushing and still, no one was coming in to deliver the baby! I remember a little hand held fan my mom had in her purse that was my saving grace. I got so hot while pushing that I thought it I didn't have that fan on me, I would die. And Matt was the one who almost died when he thought it was ok to use the fan on himself and the rest of the team (mom and sister). Can you believe that?!

Red fan=life saver. Red fan=almost Matt's death. I think this is right after I yelled at him.

Once I got the hang of pushing things started to move faster. They kept saying they could see her head, and I would push even harder. Still, no doctor, no equipment, they had not even broken the bed down into the correct delivering position. (Remember, I had just seen how everything was suppose to go down 5 weeks prior when my sister delivered their). So, I figured I was going to be doing this for a long time. My sister was the counter while I pushed. She told me later that she was trying to count fast because she felt bad for me. I guess the nurse knew what she was doing and told her count a little slower! My family that was listening through the door told me I was yelling, "I can't do this!" Well, guess what? I did. The babies head crowned and my nurse still had not called the doctor. The head nurse just happen to check in and started calling our orders instantly. She came over and was holding the babies head in, while they called the doctor. They told me to NOT PUSH! Are you kidding me?! The doctor finally came in, delivered the baby without gloves on and sitting on the edge of my bed. 12:09 AM. 20 hours of labor.
My baby girl was beautiful. There are not words to describe the feeling of seeing and holding your baby for the first time. It was amazing.
She weighted 7 lbs. 11oz. and was 20 inches long. Lots of dark hair, and the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. She was perfect.

The second morning in the hospital they brought her to me at 6am. I woke up and looked over to see my beautiful new baby staring right at me. It felt like Christmas morning, but way way better. I scooped her up, and snuggled with her in bed. We both feel asleep and I woke in the same position with her sweet little head right at my lips. No one came in to bother and poke at us that morning. It was just me and my girl. I love that memory.

Look at all this hair! (Since then it has fallen out! Sad!)

Dr. May

The next week at home was so great. She slept from 11-7ish from the get go. Matt took the week off and we got to know our little girl together in our little home. I loved every minute of it. We spent hours snuggling with our little peanut. When we weren't holding, her we were watching her sleep, and when we weren't doing that, we were talking about her. She sure stole our hearts instantly!







The End!

My cousin and his wife just had their first baby a few hours ago. I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit jealous. Is that weird? The whole experience just goes by so fast! It was the most exciting day of our lives. I can't wait for next time. I can't believe I am saying that. But, how fun is meeting your sweet baby after waiting for 9 months? And having your family and friends come visit and adore your new baby? And have all the nurses wait on you? And the feeling when they bring your baby to you in the morning? Ah. The best. (Remind me of this when I am pregnant again and dreaded labor) But, I never recorded Kate's birth story. So I figure now is as good as any time.
And............Kate is awake.

To be continued.

My, how times flies.

I can't believe that 4 years ago I was off exploring the world, discovering who I was, and jumping into the Adriatic Sea. I thought life couldn't get more exciting. Boy was I wrong!

This girl loves her Daddy

Kate was fed, bathed and in her PJ waiting with me outside for her Daddy to arrive home from work. He immediately lit up when he saw us outside. He grabbed her up and took her upstairs to read to her before he put her down. I came into the room and saw this:

Kate totally loving on Matt's face
Totally ignoring the book (which she usually is really into)
She couldn't get enough of him.
My heart melted. She is so inlove with him. I don't blame her.

Educate yourself

The Facts:

Proposition 8 protects the people’s will and overturns activist judges.
In 2000 over 61% of Californians voted in favor of Proposition 22 to reaffirm that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. However, because this language wasn’t put into the state Constitution when it was approved, four activist judges from San Francisco wrongly overturned the people’s vote. In November 2008, Proposition 8 gives California voters the opportunity to reverse the court’s decision and restore the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman in the state Constitution.

Proposition 8 is simple and straightforward.
Proposition 8 contains the same 14 words that were previously approved in 2000 by over 61% of California voters: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” By putting these words directly into the state Constitution, the court cannot strike them down as unconstitutional.

Proposition 8 is about preserving marriage; it’s not an attack on the gay lifestyle.
Proposition 8 doesn’t take away any rights or benefits from gay or lesbian domestic partners. Under California law, “domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections and benefits” as married spouses. (Family Code §297.5.) There are no exceptions to this. Proposition 8 will not change this.

Proposition 8 protects our children.
Proposition 8 protects our children from being taught in public schools that same-sex marriage is the same as traditional marriage. In health education classes, state law requires teachers to instruct children as young as kindergarteners about marriage. (Education Code §51890.) If the same-sex marriage ruling is not overturned, teachers will be required to teach young children that there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage.

Proposition 8 protects marriage as an essential institution of society.
Proposition 8 protects marriage and the important role of a traditional family. While death, divorce or other circumstances may prevent the ideal, the best situation for a child is to be raised by a married mother and father.

YES on Proposition 8 does three simple things.

It restores the definition of marriage to what the vast majority of California voters already approved and human history has understood marriage to be.

It overturns the outrageous decision of four activist Supreme Court judges who ignored the will of the people.

It protects our children from being taught in public schools that “same-sex marriage” is the same as traditional marriage.

Vote Yes on Proposition 8! www.ProtectMarriage.com

Vote Yes on Prop 8

This is soo important. Please watch this:

What I have been up to

I taught the Young Women on Sunday about Marriage Standards. I totally remember this lesson from when I was in YW, and "Sister Weenig" taught it! (Hi Allison!) I was really nervous about it and spent tons of time preparing, but it really paid off. It went really well, and I think I connected with the girls. This cake was my moms idea (she taught the lesson in her ward the week before). It is actually a Flute dish turned upside down. All the girls were so excited to eat it and couldn't believe I made such a pretty cake for them! I asked them to cut and they were a little confused when they couldn't! I showed them the hollow inside. (Sometimes boys may look good on the outside, but the inside it the stuff that really matters. Also likened to a temple marriage).
We got to church a little late so I sneaked the cake into the fridge without any of the boys spotting it. After sacrament I went to the car to grab something and then went to get the cake only to find all the boys with the fridge door open, hands reaching, and saying "Whose cake is that? It looks so good!" After I was finished chewing them out, they ran out with their tails between their legs. We let them have some "cake" after church. So funny.


Made some onesies for Kate
These are not finished....
Played dress up with my little doll.

Went to Kate's 4 month check up. Sad. Two shots. But she is a happy baby. She weighs 13.5 lbs!

And I have spent a lot of time kissing this cute little face.