Family-Friend Holiday Weekend

Growing up, did you ever have what you referred to as family-friends? A family-friend in my mind was someone who was really good friends with my parents, really good friends before I could remember (or was even born in some cases). These aren't people that my mom was friends with in college and talks about but that I have never met. That would be "my mom's friend." Rather, a family friend is someone that was her friend, that has become my friend or in most cases I have become friends with this persons children. Do you follow? There are many of these family-friends in my life and when Darin asks me who they are, I say just that, "they are family-friends, we've known them since..." (aka: The Evans, Bullocks, Staceys, Criswells, Sperrys, to name a few). 

I really really hope that my kids refer to my close friends as some equivalent to what a family-friend is to me. I hope that my kids have memories of my friends and that they become friends with their children. I hope that they stop at some point and question whether my friends really are just friends or if they really are family, because after all, some friends are just that: family.

Memorial day weekend was spent with said family-friends (I don't feel that it's necessary for my kids to start calling them that, I can start now right?). We started out the weekend with a nice barbecue up in Heber, followed by roasting of marshmallows and non-stop jibber-jabber, something we are oh-so good at doing.

Monday we drove down to Spanish Fork and hiked up to some hot springs with the Rackhams.

Hiking Prep:

One kid ready:

 

One baby ready (and looking nice and sleepy already):

Hiking hiking hiking hiking, stopping in the shade for a moment, hiking hiking hiking:

  

We made it!

   

What a beautiful family!

Back to hiking hiking hiking hiking hiking:

  

And...we made it back. Don't we all wish that we could go on a hike like this?

Fun weekend with some of our favorite people. The only way it could have been better would have been Darin's cough going away and the baby not waking up four times a night, two nights in a row (here's hoping that tonight is better). 

You plan a trip, to Idaho, just to watch potatoes grow

Five years ago if someone had asked me what came to mind when I heard the word Idaho, I would have said:

First: Weird Al-Addicted to Spuds (Then I probably would have sung my favorite line of the song which I conveniently put as the title for this post).

Second: That kid song that goes "What did Ida-ho boys? What did Ida-ho? What did Ida-ho boys? What did Ida-ho? (Anyone else enjoy that song growing up?) I didn't realize this till just now thinking about it, but the next line is "She hoed her Mary-land boy, she hoed her Mary-land." haha! Ironic?

If you ask me what comes to mind today when I hear the word Idaho, my answer might be slightly different.  I would probably say things like: The place where the love of my life was born and raised, Park lane, Butterbeersburrs, Malad pass, Atomic City, weekend vacations, falling in love, fun drives... Weird Al...what did Ida-ho boys, what did Ida-ho? (those two would def still make the list).

Last week, my relationship with Idaho hit a new high. I saw a new side of Idaho that I had only before heard so much about. Potatoes. That's right folks, we went to the Potato Museum and I became an Idaho potato expert.

I was confused why Darin wasn't as excited as I was to put on the Idaho potato pin (and then was later informed that he already had lots of them from school). We were given a delicious little carton of hash browns (which my husband apparently doesn't know how to say correctly) and instead of using a plastic bag to put the souvenirs in, they put them in a potato sack! Clever.

 

All the different potato mashers! So cool. Darin finally agrees that what we have in the kitchen drawer that I use to mash potatoes is in fact, a potato masher. (Finally!)

 

After the museum we were craving potatoes like no other. Thank goodness for this cute little hamburger dig right around the corner. Blackfoot is clearly a small town because right when we walked in, a man pulled Darin aside and said, "I heard you say this is your first time. You've gotta get the..." Aren't small towns just adorable?

Oh Idaho, our relationship is just coming right along.

Words of Wisdom--Post Labor

The other day I was looking through pictures that my bosom buddy Molly Hunter took of our baby/family when she came out to visit after his birth. I realized that I never posted any of the pics on our blog and since this blog is pretty much a family scrapbook that I hope to get printed off someday, it's important to have these pictures documented (my goal was 10 pictures. It took me a long time to get the pics down to 12 so we're sticking to that). 

While looking through these pictures, I started thinking back to that first month of motherhood. Then I thought back to labor and how I had read so many birth stories and really tried to prepare myself for the actual labor. However, I never really read much about people's right-after-labor experiences and wasn't prepared for that at all.  Obviously, everyone's labor experience is different, but I came up with some things that I wish I had know or understood better right after having a baby. Here are my words of wisdom post labor: 

1. When they ask you if you want one or two Percocet, take two. I had just pushed a baby out, my epidural was really wearing (I could feel my legs completely), but I didn't feel like I was in that much pain. Why take two when I wasn't feeling pain? Man, I must be good, I thought. STUPID. Oh, the pain came and let me tell you, it hurt, BAD. I regretted only taking one up until they let me take more, at which time I of course took two.

2. Take a shower as soon as you can. I was pretty exhausted after pushing. I knew I was gross, but I was also really shaky and tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. A shower could surely wait till the morning (it was probably around 9:30pm when I got to my room). I had a terrible time relaxing that night. I couldn't sleep. I was an emotional and physical mess (and in a lot of pain down yonder by this point). At about 2am, I decided to take a shower. Maybe that would help relax me. Did it ever. I was still pretty shooken up after the shower, but I was also kicking myself for not doing so sooner. The hot water helped me relax enough to get a little bit of shut-eye. (Obviously, if you've had an epidural you might not be able to shower right away, depending on the state of movement in your legs).

 

3. You are not a bad mom for letting the nurses watch your baby so you can sleep. Shae didn't sleep with us that first night because we were too exhausted to take care of him. The second night, my mind was set on having him with us. He's our baby. We need to take care of him. Period. This might not be the case for everyone, but as I described slightly above, I was kind of a wreck and didn't sleep well that first night and could have really used a good nights sleep that second night but didn't get it either because I was so set on having the baby with us, and yes, he did what babies do best and kept us up all night. If I could go back, I would have him stay in the nursery the second night too and I wouldn't feel bad about it for one second. I get him every night now!

4. Formula is not evil. My plan from the start was to nurse, that's what we've been doing and are still doing. However, in my shaky miserable state that first night, I struggled breastfeeding my baby. I was struggling to take care of myself and knew that that needed to come first. The nurse asked me at one point if it was okay for them to give him a little bit of formula, I said yes because I didn't know what else to do. I beat myself up about it when I shouldn't have. It was better for my baby to get something rather than nothing and one bottle of formula didn't stop him from breastfeeding the next day.

5. Skin to skin with your baby. Just do it, and do it again and again. It's special. 

  

6. Use the "Do Not Disturb: Sleeping" sign. Little did we know that this sign existed until a few hours before being discharged and I had a breakdown with one of the nurses about how extremely exhausted I was and how every time I fell asleep someone new came in to talk to me (a nurse, the lactation consultant, my doctor, the pediatrician, the cleaning lady, someone wanting to talk about meds, someone wanting to talk about paperwork, etc.). She put the sign on the door and we were left to sleep with no interruptions. Until the baby wanted to eat again that is...

7. Breastfeeding. Read up on it. Talk about it. Practice with a doll? I really don't know what the best advice would be, I just know that I read so many things about pregnancy and labor and didn't even think to read about breastfeeding and what the first few weeks would be like. I assumed it would just come to me naturally. Be as informed as possible. Have someone there that you feel comfortable with that can help you. Be patient. 

  

8. Get newborn clothes. At least an outfit or two. Everyone told me that he'll grow out of them so fast, so why by them? I think we had two newborn sleepers and a couple onsies and that was it. He wore 0-3 month clothes from the start and swam in them. Not for long. It's true, they grow quickly, but I remember wishing so badly that he had some clothes that actually fit him well for those first two months. Not that he minded having big clothes, but I minded.

 

9. Make sure your significant other takes lots of pictures. I was kind of out of it for the first week (and, maybe a little more). I wasn't thinking much about pictures. I was thinking about nursing and sleeping. I'm so glad that Darin took charge of the camera that first month and took pictures of our little boy. 

10. When people tell you that "it gets better," it really does. I didn't believe anyone when they said this. I was in so much pain and had a new baby, that screamed anytime we put him down, to take care of. I felt like the rest of my life was going to be like this.  Three months later, it has gotten SO SO SO much better. 

3 Months

News:
~The kid has become a drooling machine.

~Met more family (Grandpa Bill and Uncle Stephen).

~Entered the realm of size 2 diapers.

~Cooing conversations with us (my favorite part of this month).

~Baby blessing

~Started grabbing toys (sort of..).

~Lays on the floor and plays for much longer periods of time (although he still LOVES being held).

~Eat's so much faster! (I lied above, this might actually be my favorite thing).

~Accidently rolled over for the first time when he was flailing around on his belly.

~Goes back to bed after his middle of the night feeding! (okay, I  might have lied again. THIS is my favorite thing. So many good things this month!). Now on to perfect nap time...(and by perfect, I mean establish).

~Loves his play mat.


~And of course he still loves bath time (Look at that belly!).


It's been fun to see him change so quickly and develop new skills. It amazes me each day how quickly he learns new things and grows. We're excited to see what this next months brings.

Mother Dear I Love You So

My Dad sent me this picture of me and my mom this morning. I don't think I've ever seen it before. I love it. My mom is a babe. As am I, a hairless chunky one at that.

My mom showed me her immense love for me this year by sacrificing a lot in order to be here when my baby was born. A few months before my due date she told me that she wasn't going to be able to come. I was sad but I kept telling myself that it would be okay. That "I'm tough," that "I can do it." That "I know what I'm doing" (um, no I didn't. Babysitting does not qualify you to "know what you're doing" when it comes to having a baby). In the end, my mom made it out to be with me and I'm so glad she was there. It was comforting to know that she had gone through everything that I was going through and encouraged me through the entire labor process and after. My mom's baby had a baby. No doubt it was as special a moment for her as it was for me.

I love you mom!

(More pics of me and my madre)

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Whenever a baby is born, so is a mother.

I don't know who originally said this, but someone said it in church today and I love it. Being a mother is new to me. I thought it would be weird to hear people refer to me as a mother, but it's not. It just fits. It feels right and I actually love it.

I feel more connected and in love with this little man each day and am so grateful that he made me a mother. His mother.

Happy Mothers Day.

Limbo

Limbo started today. As in, we no longer have jobs. Today was the last day that BYU would let us work since we aren't students anymore. Surely we have a future ahead of us, we just don't know what that future is yet. Surprisingly, we aren't as stressed out as I thought we might be. We both actually feel pretty calm and trust that everything will work out (we just keep praying that that's sooner rather than later). Darin has been applying to jobs like a mad man for the last two months and has had quite a few interviews these last two weeks. The interviews haven't turned into jobs yet, but they have turned into second interviews. I had an interview at a Language School here in Provo the other day as well so we're keeping our fingers crossed that something works out.

In order to enjoy fully of our "limbo" state, we decided to take a little vay kay and introduce our boy to the great state of Idaho.

For such a little guy, he really did make us stuff that car full. I promise he's in there.

Did you find him? See, I told you he was there.

 

He did great on the three hour drive. Fell asleep right when we got on the freeway and didn't wake up until right when we were about to get off. 

 

We'll try our best to stay calm and patient as we wait... and have some fun while doing so.

Hiking Fun

In trying to give my Dad the true Provo experience, we made sure to make time to hike the Y the day before he left (as well as chow down some Cafe Rio. What's a trip to Utah without some Pork Barbacoa Salad?). 

I'd like to blame having a baby a couple of months ago for making this hike a bit rough, but let's be honest, it's always been rough. It's not a long hike, just steep, and I sure was feeling it. The boys were patient with me as I lagged behind and stopped at every switchback to catch my breath and talk myself in to continuing forward. We finally made it to the top and enjoyed the view and some yummy turkey sandwiches while playing the question game and pointing out all of our favorite places in Provo. 

Pretty tiring hike for the kiddo. He slept the whole way up. Woke up at the top and then slept again on the way down. (Thanks Grandma Sharon for the hat! It came just in time).

The boys waiting patiently while I die slowly on the bench that some intelligent person kindly dropped at each switchback (thank you!). 

At the top, all tuckered out from working so hard to get to the top...

I absolutely love this picture of Shae with his Grandpa. So great! It was so nice to have him visit and Shae loved playing with him throughout the day. We're so glad that he was able to come out and visit and are already looking forward to the next time we all get to be together.