4 years

June 1st marked 4 years of being married for us! My mom was still in town on our anniversary and was sweet enough to have baby duty for the evening. Going out was a very last minute decision so we just decided to head over to the San Tan area and figure out a place to eat from there. Once we were there we were both too tired to decide on a place to eat, so we just ate at Red Robin because it was right in front of us. It wasn't our most romantic anniversary date but it was definitely the cheapest so that was nice. haha. After our romantic meal we walked around the outdoor mall and then we just went home. It was nice to get out and chat about our last 4 years and what they have brought us. They really have flown by and there is no one else I would rather be spending eternity with. Love you Beejers!!!!!!!

First bath

Last week my mom and I gave Kate her first bath. She didn't love it but didn't cry as much as I thought she would.





I love me some of that yummy clean baby smell. Mmmhhhmmmm.

first 2 weeks

I can't believe its been almost 2 weeks since we had our little baby! It seems as if time is standing still for us. I want to remember every second of life right now, I don't want any of these little moments or memories to be forgotten. I want to document all of her faces, the feelings I feel, her coos, her everything. It seems overwhelming and then I realize 2 weeks has already passed! So I better get to documenting.


We just love our little Kate. She is adorable and makes the funniest, funniest faces all the time. Such serious faces that crack me up. Like these...


She has the hiccups a few times a day and they are so adorable but sometimes they are so loud I think they must hurt her. She had them all the time in my belly so it's funny to see her have them out here too. She makes these cute little grunts sometimes that I love.


I am tiiiiired. So very tired. She may have her days and nights confused but I am learning to deal with it for now. I plan on doing babywise with her and started a few days ago even though the book says to wait until 2 weeks. The day before my mom left she said that with each kid you realize how "baby" each baby really is. It really stuck with me and made me want to just enjoy this short baby baby phase with Kate. So for now I am doing as the book says and just focusing on getting full feedings every 3 hours but not worrying about the clock until a little later.


I look at her and wonder what life will be like for her and what her little personality will develop into. I love that she has her dads eyes. Since I look at her all day, when BJ comes home its weird to see the same eyes looking back at me.


I am not sure if its mommyhood or these pregnancy emotions but sheesh. I cried the other night when I read her that book "I'll love you forever". Every time in the book when the mom would sing the little song to the son I choked up and I most definitely couldn't finish at the end when he sang it to her. Who knew? Reading Virginias letters gets me choked up. When I am feeding her I can't help but realize how small and fragile she is. I think back to some of the things I learned this past semester about child abuse and I cry for little babies around the world who are not treated as they should be. It makes me sad to think into the future when Kates perfect innocence will fade and it breaks my heart to think of those children who have had theirs taken away before their time. It makes me so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel and the daily principals it teaches us and the way it molds our lives. I love that BJ and I will be able to teach Kate the gospel as she grows.

At Kates drs appt at 3 days old she was 20 inches instead of 21 inches long...a full inch shorter than at birth because her cone head went away. Pretty funny.

I didn't realize how busy and productive I was able to be before now. Having a baby ((and being majorly sleep deprived)) has forced me to slow down and its been more of an adjustment for me than I realized it would be. I am getting used to it though and its nice. I am so happy I get to stay home with little Kate and I know I will get more adjusted as time goes by. Today was our first solo outing. To be honest I have been slightly terrified to leave the house, especially alone. I could have to nurse, change a diaper, she could cry ...all of this at any given moment. I am a rookie so it was really very intimidating. I am happy to report it was not nearly as scary as I was anticipating. We only went to get some blood work done and BJ met us there, but still. Maybe next time Ill venture to the grocery store. haha. For now though, unless its a must, I am perfectly content not going anywhere until she not quite so new and little.


This morning BJ and I were so tired. Bj came into Kates room as I was nursing her and offered me a bite of his breakfast sandwich. I took a bite and the sandwich was still somewhat cold in the middle! It was one of those frozen microwave ones with egg, sausage and cheese on it. I told him that was disgusting and asked him why he was eating a not fully cooked sandwich. As he was going to lay on the floor he told me that the meat was precooked and that he was too tired to wait another minute until it was done cooking to eat it. haha. Too funny. Bj is a great dad. He is quiet about it but I know he is obsessed with her and it's pretty dang cute.


For now we are loving life as a family of 3 and are interested to see what the next few weeks bring us. Some sleep would be nice :-).

Kates newborns

My lifelong friend Heather (Coslett) Ferguson came down from Utah 5 days after Kate was born to take her pictures. Heather is pregnant with her first and was not feeling good at all; I was still recovering and having a hard time moving around too much. We were quite the team :-). Luckily my wonderful mom was in town to help run around, get props, make bows and give us her input. We had a lucky afternoon and miss Kate slept the entire time. Her pictures turned out amazing and I am so in love with them. If you are in the Utah area- look Heather up! She is so talented. Check out her website HERE.

Heather- thank you so much for capturing these precious moments, love you!

labor and at the hospital

On Thursday May 19th I woke up at 4am with contractions. Nothing painful, just distracting enough that I couldn't sleep through them. I started timing them and and they were about 10-12 minutes apart. Around 7am BJ woke up and I told him about it. He said "oh crap, we are having this baby. Feel, is my heart beating fast? Its yours? Is mine?" haha. I told him it was nothing to worry about yet and that after my doctors appt that morning I would call him. By the time my appt came around at 10:00am the contractions were about 7-9 minutes apart. He checked me and I was only at a 2 and 1/2 and he told me that consistency is the key with contractions so as soon as they were consistently 4-5 minutes apart or my water broke, then to go to the hospital. I was pretty disappointed that he did not seem too concerned but I left and went about my day. My contractions got closer and stronger as the day went on. That night I went to dinner with Marianne, Amber and Laurie. We timed them together and they were consistently 4-6 minutes apart and the contractions were strong enough that I couldn't really walk through them but I could talk through them. I did not want to get turned away at the hospital so I went to a movie with Marianne. Halfway through the movie my contractions were hurting pretty bad so I left and said I was going home but I really went to the hospital. I didn't want to be embarrassed if I got turned away so I didn't even call BJ until I was at the hospital going back to get checked. He came right over. The nurse checked and said I was still only at a 2 and 1/2. I told her I had been leaking a lot of fluid too but she said that was normal at the end and didn't do the test to see if my water had broken. She monitored my contractions for about an hour and when I hadn't made any progress she told me to come back when the contractions were stronger. I was in pain and so confused because I was having contractions that hurt AND they were consistently 4-5 minutes apart! Just like my doctor told me! I started crying out of frustration when she told me I was going home. She said she could give me a pain pill to help me sleep and to take Tylenol PM when I got home.

I did what she said but didn't get a second of sleep that night. By Friday morning my contractions were definitely hurting A LOT more but were further apart, about 7-8 minutes. I didn't want to get turned away AGAIN so I said I wasn't going in until they were where they were supposed to be. Around noon I was positive I had made progress so I called my doctors office to see if I could get checked but the doctors had already left for the day. I told the nurse what was going on and she said I should probably wait to go in to the hospital until my contractions were closer but that she would call me in a sleeping pill to help me get some rest that night. At around 3pm I took the sleeping pill hoping to get some rest. After a few hours of sleeping for 7 minutes and being jolted awake during a contraction, sleeping for 7 minutes, jolted awake...I gave up on sleep and got up. Bj and I decided that I was definitely in labor so we were going to try and get my water to break or my contractions closer. First I walked up and down my stairs for 30 minutes, which only resulted in me realizing out much I hadn't been working out during my pregnancy. Next we tried a long walk. I must have looked miserable because while we were walking people pulled over and text my sister in law to make sure I was okay. After that my contractions were about 6 minutes apart and hurting really bad. Around 8pm I was in enough pain that BJ decided we were going to the hospital regardless of how far apart they were.

Once we got there the nurse checked me and said it looked like my water had been leaking. She did the test and said it was my water and that it had probably been leaking for a few days. That meant I was there to stay. Hallelujah! I was so happy I started crying and could have kissed that blessed nurse if she had been standing closer to me.

We were taken back to labor and delivery around 9pm where I got hooked up to the ivs and junk. The nurse asked me if I wanted my epidural right then and I said YES yes and YES! After that I was out of pain and the sleeping pills I had taken earlier that day started to take affect. Laurie, Brad and Marianne came to visit and I fell asleep shortly after they got there. While I was sleeping I wasn't making much progress so the nurse put me on pitocin. Around midnight the she came in to flip me over and I told her I was feeling pressure. She checked me and told me I was at a 10 and ready to push. I was in shock a little and still pretty groggy so I tried to wake up and we started pushing around 12:15am. At first it was confusing because I really didn't know how to push but they brought a mirror out and it helped that I could see the progress I was making with each push. At 12:45am the nurse had me stop pushing to wait for my doctor to get there. We waited until around 1:00 and those 15 minutes were SO LONG. I knew what a good push felt like, I could see her head and had this huge desire to push. Once he got there, I pushed for a few more minutes and she was out.

They handed her to me and it was so unreal. I remember being so in the moment. Happy, confused, amazed, in love, exhausted and in aw that this little person we had been waiting 9 months for was finally in my arms. I watched BJ while they cleaned her up and he was snapping pictures looking like such a proud dad. It was definitely one of the best days of our lives and one we will never forget.

so happy to be admitted to the hospital

cleaning her up right after she was born
we did it!
holding our sweet baby girl
proud new daddy
in recovery holding our babe
sleeping soundly
both grandmas
going home

beautiful mess

Kate Olivia Young was born on Saturday May 21st at 1:14am. The past few days have been a whirlwind. A wonderful whirlwind but somewhat of a blur nonetheless. We are exhausted, happy, tired, emotional, more tired and so in love with this little girl. She is amazing and couldn't be more perfect. Life is good.

more to come.....

lets seeeeeeee....

I am determined to turn this blog into a book this year. Except that means I actually have to document all of the things I want to remember throughout the year. Which brings me to my next thought: how much info is too much info on this little blog? There are little details I want to be reminded of as I flip through this book in 10 years, yet they might be a little TMI for everyone else. Such as- how much (or how little really) I am effaced and dilated at my weekly appts. In 10 years when I am wondering how my pregnancies progressed at the end, it would be nice to not have to drag out the ol' journal for that year and find that date just to know. When I could otherwise simply open my nifty blogbook that I will have displayed in my house and say "aha! there is that useless info I was looking for, perfect". Decisions, decisions people. For now, I'll keep those tasty little morsels of information to myself. You should consider yourself lucky on that account because it IS 4:45am and I am blogging so who knows what could end up on here by the end of this post.

EASTER:
Was great. I made BJ an Easter basket and surprisingly he made me one too. I kept telling him we were going to exchange baskets this year, all the while thinking he would forget because it was kinda silly. he remembered though and it was kinda cute.

ta-da!

MATERNITY PICS:
I was really hesitant to take these at all. I knew I wanted to remember my first pregnancy buuuuutt at the same time, I'm pregnant and definitely look it. And who realllly wants to document a chubby, swollen stage in their adult life? hmm. Oh yea i forgot I'm working on a good attitude. I am glad I took these and in 10 years won't care that all my pregnancy weight went to my face. Hooray! Did I get that right??

Anyway, I decided to just have a "mini session" done by a friend in my ward. The day of I actually tried to cancel. I sent her a email telling her never mind and that I was sorry. An hour before the appt she text me and said she had the sitter lined up and would meet me at the fountain in our neighborhood at 6. wtc?! I checked my email and realized I spelled her last name wrong in the email that never made it to her. So I went and although I am not in love with myself in the pictures, I am glad i have it documented.

I guilt tripped BJ int taking these with me. He wan not planning on it at all and I was not going to make him. At the last minute I was chickening out and asked him to please meet me there too. I thought he was not going to show up because he thinks maternity pictures are pretty lame but he showed up!

Why am I faceless these? Because now that I have this little event documented on my blog, at the end of the year when I am putting together my book I will remember to go back and put the ones with my face in for the whole world NOT to see. And I will edit this whole little paragraph out. booya. I love technology!

TEMPLE with Virg:
My mom came up to finish getting Virg ready for her mission and to go through the temple with her for the first time. Virg, my mom, BJ and his dad were all there and I am so glad I got that experience with her.

VIRG goes to the MTC!
After going through the temple Virg and my mom flew to Texas for a few days and then Virg was off to Utah! Lucky for her, our wonderful friends ashley and heather were able to spend the last 2 days with her and take her into the MTC. They went to the temple, took her for a few "last meals", gave her advice and I am sure made her laugh a whooole lot. I wish I could have been there with them.

I is amazing how much I much miss her already. We have lived together the past year and it was a flashback of high school. you know, all of those really mature fights about taking your stuff and whose mess is whose? Yes, it was lovely. Sike ya out. We had days we loved it and laughed our heads off and others that we wanted to kill each other. Such is the relationship of sisters that live together, eh? In the end I am glad we had this experience and that I was able to see her so much before she left for a year and a half. I miss her and ton and love hearing from her. She has an amazing attitude all the time and I know she will be the best missionary to the people of Peru.

LIFE:
is good. I finished this semester of school and passed (we've lowered the bar these days) all the 19 hours I took, including MATH. nothing short of a miracle. Now that the semester is over and I have gone part time at work, I have to say being pregnant isn't so bad. Having time to relax and get ready for this baby makes a difference. Who would of thought. I think I may even kinda miss being pregnant. Don't hold me to that one though :-).

okay I am going to go mop my floors or something really cool since my husband is in there just sleeping away like a little angel. Lately when I tell him how much I can't sleep he proceeds to tell me how weird it is that he CAN sleep sooo great these days. Barf. I'll kill 'em. Or maybe just wake him up by doing a load of laundry right now. We shall see.