After Christmas

Yeah it's been a month since Christmas but we just celebrated with my Grandma and Ryan's family so I'm blogging about it now. This Christmas I decided to give all homemade presents. Now that I've done it I don't know if I'll ever do it again. I will definitely make homemade presents but not for everyone all at once.

So here's the roundup of what I made, some pictures but I forgot to take pics of all of them.
My mom and grandma- brown sugar vanilla scrub
My dad- homemade almond rocca
Andy and Mary- Tardis picture and saying
Ty- bleach shirt(it was supposed to be cooler. But I didn't really follow directions.)
Matt- quote mug
My grandma- a photo book to put pictures of great grandchildren in.
Ryan's mom- a framed nativity
Ryan's dad- chocolate covered Oreos
Lea- a framed quote

It really was fun making all of these things but at the same time it was a lot of work! I

What a Week!

Dax is a week old! What a week it has been. He spent his first day sleeping while family came to meet and hold him and then decided to wake up while mom and dad tried to eat dinner. His second day he spent time in the nursery for routine tests and I got us ready to be discharged. After coming home it has been a whirlwind of nursing, sleep for Dax, little sleep for me, a doctors visit, some car rides, diaper changes, spit up and a load of laundry.

When we went to the hospital last Wednesday for me to be induced I had a plan. No drugs, I had a whole lot of faith that my body could handle labor on its own after the little push from the midwife of breaking my water. I was determined and especially when they said I was already dilated four cm. I knew I had it in me. I didn't feel contractions much but we knew they were happening because of the monitors. When a doctor came in to suggest I be put on Pitocin I almost crumbled. It was four hours after my water had been broken and it felt like she was jumping ahead too fast. I sincerely surprised myself by telling her I had to think about it. After the doctor left I took a walk with Ryan and by the time I came back I was feeling every contraction.

At three in the morning I got checked again and was given the go ahead to move into a delivery room. The contractions were worse but for some reason I did not even really think of drugs. As they got worse my wonderful husband got me through them. I had been a little worried that he wasn't going to know what to do or how to help but now I know I wouldn't have gotten through without his strength and support.

After an hour and a half of pushing I gave birth to my big, beautiful, boy at 7:09 in the morning. I'd also achieved a major goal. Labor and delivery without any drugs. I knew I was strong enough and I made sure I kept the end result of having my baby in my arms in mind through the pain.

I really believe that every woman has the strength to have natural drug free labors . I respect that every woman has their own choice of how to birth their children and I'm not one to push my beliefs on others but I also highly recommend trying it!

Now because no baby post is complete without pictures here are some of my favorites.

Six more weeks!

In six more weeks I will have a beautiful baby! Unless of course they decide to show up late. The first part of this trimester has gone so fast I hardly believe it. We had a wonderful family shower last month which really helped us start getting things ready. The biggest thing left to do is pack a hospital bag which isn't really that big at all! Any moms who have advice in that catergory please let me know!

Also, I found out yesterday that my sister-in-law is having a boy! So come April I'll have a nephew! It is indeed exciting since the grand kids on my side of the family wil double with just four months.

Now, I just have to get through Thanksgiving, a dance performance, Finals, and Christmas and then we'll get to meet our Baby Dean!

The Clicking Experiment

This past Tuesday we had a great activity centered on positive thoughts and the clicking experiment. The clicking experiment started with the Mormon singer/songwriter and blogger, Hillary Weeks. She got a clicker that would count each time she clicked and at first clicked for ever negative thought she had. After not to long she realized that the negative thoughts in her life were outweighing the positive and decided to switch and count the positive thoughts instead. Now it has become a wide spread experiment with the goal of reaching one billion clicks.

Our young women and all the leaders were given clickers to track our positive thoughts.

Truthfully, my first day was not a great one. I missed my train, my salad exploded in my school bag and for a brief moment I thought I lost my clicker!
But I tried my hardest to think of the good things that came from these negative things.

The best thing that happened was the opportunity to go to an Institute class where for a little portion we talked about thoughts and what positive thoughts can do. In class alone I doubled my clicks for yesterday.

Today, starting new, I truly hope my positive thought will grow and I'll be able to remain positive even when I have days like yesterday.

If you want to know more about The Clicking Experiment check out Billionclicks.org and join the experiment!

Twenty Down Twenty to Go!

  That's right folks we are halfway to meeting Baby Dean! Yesterday I was exactly twenty weeks so we have twenty more to go! Though Baby measured big at my ultra sound on Tuesday we'll be sticking to December 28th until Doc officially changes the estimated delivery date. I've been told that babies grow at different rates in the second trimester so the original estimation done in the first trimester is more accurate. I think that the date will stay the same and I hope it does or else we could be rushing to the hospital after I take a final! We have so much going on in the coming weeks that I hope time flies and we soon hit December.

Our next big announcement is that we are moving! We got approved today for an apartment just around the corner from where we live that is huge! In reality it might just be so big because I'm so used to our little itty bitty studio that a lot of places look bigger. But! It has so many great things going for it that I'm super excited to move in. The one that we are moving into is not ready yet but will be ready by at least the end of the month which is when our lease here ends.

For now that is the extent of our big news. We are just trying to beat the heat of the summer and make it to our first days of school without melting!

The middle of Summer

We are into the fifth month! Or as medical professionals would say I'm on my 18th week. My doctor told me that they don't like using months to determine how long you have been preggo because it is less accurate so we are on week 18.

It's so crazy! I feel like this is going to feel like the longest time because I'm not going to school. I don't have a set schedule for anything so the days seem to go on forever. Hopefully, in September when I start up again I'll get so consumed in school work that December will come in no time!

A couple we are friends with are also expecting and their EDD is only 11 days before mine. They found out this week that they are having a boy! I know that I will love my baby for whatever it is but I really want a boy! Since we are not finding out what Baby Dean is I have to wait until December instead of at my next ultra sound appointment.

This summer has been jam packed already. In June, with my parents, we ventured north for my brothers birthday. We spent a weekend hanging out in San Fran/Berkeley and had a lot of fun seeing where my brother lives and meeting some of his friends. With Ryan's family we headed to Big Bear for a day and went hiking by the lake. the next weekend Ryan's sister, Lea, came to stay with us and we went to Santa Monica Pier and The Griffith Observatory. At the end of the month we went to Mormon Night at Dodgers Stadium and then to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery with some friends to see Labyrinth.

July, even though only partial over has been busy as well. At the beginning of the month Ryan broke our fridge and we went a week without one. During that week was the Fourth of July and we had fun at a breakfast with our ward and then a BBQ with some friends. Last week we spent some time with my family and it was very nice and relaxed. This weekend we are going up to Barstow to spend some time with Ryan's family. We are kinda trying to pack a whole bunch of family time into the next couple months because come October I will be limiting my travel to as far as school since I'll be in my third trimester.

Along with everything else going on this summer, we have been apartment searching and it's been disappointing.  Every where we go we find apartments that are out of our price range and priced high because it's apartment season for our college city. We have found a couple good leads that will maybe be our new home. We have our fingers crossed!

With all that we've already done you'd think school would be starting soon but we still have six weeks and so much more planned. Happy rest of summer everyone!

What a busy couple of months it's been! Girls camp, internships, bug spraying, my birthday, finals and a show next week! So much is happening!

At the beginning of April I went to camp with the girls from my stake and it was amazing! At first I was kinda weary about camp not being the same as my stake growing up but when I really got into it I had just as much fun as a leader at this new camp as I did when I was a young woman at my old camp.

Ryan got licensed to kill bugs in April as well. Which is great because he'll get more work starting next week since he finished finals/his semester today.

Tomorrow I start the longest week of the semester. And it's not even finals week! For the next week I'll be practically living at my college as we perform eight shows over five days. Craziness? Just a little but I'm zoo excited to make my debut as a choreographer!

Of course I left the biggest and best news for last! Come December 28th Ryan and I will have an addition to our family! We'll be parents and we are so excited. Baby Dean comes right after Christmas and my mom's birthday and is actually due on Ryan's uncle's birthday.

With our new family member will hopefully come all kinds of new changes to get ready for our biggest change!