The First Few Months

I meant to post this months ago, but my newly acquired momma brain kept me forgetful. I would add a little every time and forget to post. But not this time!

For all my man readers (#yeahright) who have eagerly (again #yeahright) awaited the announcement of our baby girl - it's finally here!

I am oh-so pleased to announce the birth of our baby girl Harper Mae.  She was born September 20th at 11:45pm . . . only 15 minutes before her due date and an extra day in the hospital for mom.  At birth she weighed a total of 8lbs 14oz and measured 21.5 inches long.



She came out quiet after a stressful labor and eventually had her lungs aspirated, but other than that she was nice and healthy!  I say eventually because it seemed like forever, but in reality she was quiet for maybe 15 seconds before she started crying and coughing up fluid.  Silly girl didn't realize you're not supposed to try breathing before entering the world.

The first few months of being a mom has been crazy. . . crazy amazing that is!  No, but seriously.  While it has been hectic the sleepless nights, dietary changes, aching body, and hours of crying have been so worth it.  In all honesty, our sweet little baby girl has been pretty perfect.  I know I have a mother's bias, but she really is a good baby.  Now that we have her reflux under control she only cries when she's hungry, tired, has bad gas, or needs her diaper changed.  One day she'll be so embarrassed I've posted this.  But until then, I'll blog away!

 This is the face of someone whose had the pants scared off her because she's in labor for the first time ever.  This was a few minutes after being admitted to the hospital at 3:45am and I'm pretty sure I was thinking something along the lines of, It hurts this bad and I'm only how dilated?!  Dom thought it would be smart (which it was) to take pictures of my progress throughout the day.  Below you'll see a before and after of the epidural.  Guess which is which?  It's not too hard!

I then proceeded to get only a little rest.  For some reason I could only fall asleep on my right side, and I had to switch sides ever hour until I really got into it.  

Here is my two-cents on epidurals: they're wonderful things.  This being said, make sure you're really far enough along before you get one.  The extra hour or so of pain will be worth it in the long run.  And get a second opinion on your dilation before you call the anesthesiologist.  You don't want to be over 24 hours between meals and have to push a baby out, trust me! I was at a 3 and the nurse felt me at a 5, and said at that stage the epidural wouldn't slow down the process. But my 24 hours of laboring and 3 hours of pushing will drastically disagree with that. 

This is the last picture taken before that great and dreadful moment.  TMI?  Probably.

Aaaaand she was born.  Hooray!

 

And so now I'm a mom.  Crazy, right?  It's the best thing in the world though.  It's a lot easier, and yet harder than anyone tells you it will be.  She is my world.

I haven't done a very good job of updating this blog.  For pictures of Harper over the last few months, please see my photography blog www.meganfosson.blogspot.com

Thirst Quenched

I don't know what has come over me, perhaps it's the last and final pregnancy craving, or maybe the fact that we've entered the season of pumpkin flavored everything -- either way, this week I have been absolutely unable to get Starbucks off my mind.

I always loved coffee and coffee flavored things, but haven't indulged ever since I began avoiding caffeine and coffee.  Back in the day Starbucks was a special treat for me.  But it wasn't something I was ever addicted to so it wasn't hard to give up . . . Until now apparently!

Well anyway, I decided today while thinking about a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, that I wanted to find out what options they do have for LDS and other no coffee or caffeine drinkers.  No matter where I looked I couldn't find an exhaustive list, or one that was truly caffeine free.  So obviously, I decided to make one of my own!  And boy, oh boy did what I find excite me!!

Hot chocolates

- Traditional hot chocolate

- White hot chocolate

- Zebra hot chocolate

- Flavored hot chocolate

        - Pumpkin, peppermint, Nutella, hazelnut, salted caramel, vanilla, or any other syrup they have can be added to either the traditional or white hot chocolates

Frappuccinos

(I always assumed these were coffee or espresso based beverages...but it turns out I was wrong!)

- Cinnamon Dolce Crème

- Double Chocolatey Chip Crème

- Vanilla Bean Crème

- Strawberries and Crème

- Salted Caramel Mocha Crème

- Pumpkin Spice Crème
- Basically anything with the word Crème in it

Steamers/Other

- Steamed Apple Juice

- Caramel Apple Spice

- Steamed Milk

- Flavored Steamed Milk
        - Pumpkin, peppermint, Nutella, hazelnut, vanilla, raspberry or any other syrup they have can be added

- Vanilla Rooibos Tea Latte (iced or regular)

- Blended Strawberry Lemonade

I tried to to the best research I could to avoid anything black tea or coffee based. I even looked up the ingredients to the mocha sauce/syrup to ensure that was coffee free.  A lot of the lists I looked up included the chai and chocolate chai variations (which were my absolute favorite), but chai tea is traditionally black tea based.  Which, for word of wisdom followers or the rest of the no-caffeine population, is off limits.  That is of course, unless you find a rooibos chai, which is a red herbal tea and therefore ok.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the list!!  I've only tried a very select few, so recommendations/your favorites would be delightful.

Don't see your favorite?  Let me know!!  I'd be happy to add it to the list :)

Oh, Baby!

Well, time sure does fly when you're . . . pregnant?!

That's right - you heard me, pregnant.  And what an exciting surprise it was to find out 9 months ago that we were to expect our lives to forever change for the better.  We're both young, we're both still getting established in the "real world," but our little family just got a whole lot more real . . . and we couldn't be happier!

The Mr. and I consider ourselves to be incredibly lucky.  We are blessed with families that love and support us completely and are incredibly excited to welcome our precious little babe to the world.

As one could expect, it's been a crazy 9 months.  But not as crazy as I would have initially expected.  I've been blessed to have a complication free pregnancy!

Here are some of the highlights:

First Trimester (weeks 1 - 12)

• Our first ultrasound was probably one of the most special experiences of my life thus far.  Not only did we get to see our little bundle of joy for the first time, but we got to do it on Valentines Day!!  I'm pretty sure a girl can't get a better present than that!While most people are trapped with those morning-sickness blues, I was of the rare percent that missed it almost entirely!  Sure I had some nausea, but that's about as far as it went!  I most certainly wasn't controlled by it.  For that reason alone I consider myself to be incredibly lucky!
• One the down side, I ended up having to get a root canal basically the second we found out I was pregnant.  Which meant I got nothing to help relieve the pain - talk about ouch!!
• And perhaps the saddest part of my first trimester was our inevitable move from Southern California back "home."  After living somewhere for five years and finding the most amazing job ever, the move was almost devastating.  It was so sad to leave my friends and colleagues, but it was so exciting to turn the page to a new chapter and live in a place surrounded by family.

Second Trimester (weeks 13 - 27)

 

• This trimester was fun.  Any hint of morning sickness I did have was utterly washed away and I went from teeny-tiny flat-bellied me to what I thought was crazy gigantic!

• We got our "big" ultrasound that informed us that our precious little baby was 99% positively a girl!  From there oodles of shopping and crafting began.  It's basically impossible to walk past a baby aisle or into a baby store without melting over the cute little outfits!

• I felt movement for the first time . . . and I don't care what anyone says - it does NOT feel like butterflies.  It feels like someone is kicking you - hard - from the inside out haha

• We took a trip back east for a family reunion.  The plane rides were something else with the swelling and bathroom breaks, but it was so much fun and so worth it to see all my extended family . . . even if I wasn't allowed to wakeboard, kneeboard, or go tubing!
• Eventually I did really pop to basically my full-term size and learned the painful world of heartburn

 

Third Trimester (weeks 28 - 40)

Exactly 1 month till the due date

• More swelling
• More bathroom breaks
• More difficulty breathing
• More heartburn
• More trouble sleeping
• More contractions
• More kicks . . . harder kicks
• But it all prepares you for labor, delivery, and post-partum life!  Plus my crazy monthly weight gain tapered off completely and I've still yet to get stretch marks!! Lucky, lucky, lucky.
• Best part of the third trimester - her hiccups.  My Mr. gets so excited and giddy when she gets hiccups . . . which of course makes me beyond happy.

It's crazy how much you bond and how much closer you grow as a couple during this gestation period. Knowing you're soon going to be responsible for human life -- that you have created and are bringing into this world a tiny little person with wants, needs, emotions, and who is entirely dependent on you for survival is truly amazing.  The fact that your body can combine random gametes and turn these little cells into a living, breathing human being is breathtaking.

As scary and crazy as all of this is . . . and as much as I really don't want to have to give birth . . . I am incredibly excited.  It's going to be so fun to see her face and hear her voice!  With 2.5 weeks left, she could come any day now.  We have the nursery set up, the hospital bags packed, and are just waiting for the "time."

Knowing how terrible I am at blogging, you probably won't hear from me again until our little one is here with us.  But I'm beyond excited to show her off!  And hopefully her presence and my 6+ month leave of working will be enough motivation to get the weekly blogging habit engrained into me :)

One Year

June 22nd, 2012 was, until now, the best day of my life.  It was the day I married my sweet husband.  We have officially been married 1 year and I couldn't be happier!

Seeing as this was our first anniversary, I wanted to do something special.  But we're not millionaires, so I looked to Pinterest for inspiration on how to make this day as special, if not more so, than our actual wedding day.

Let's be honest - we all know I went over the top.  Because that's just kind of what I do!  I thought it would be fun to start the traditional anniversary gifts.  Thank heavens year one was paper!  I don't know what I would have done if it was the diamond anniversary!

Anyway, I found my pinspiration, and proceeded to craft away!  We've been staying with family the past few months to save some extra bucks.  The town we grew up in, where just about all of Mr.'s family lives is not an inexpensive area!!  Seeing as he wants to settle down here, we figured it was best to save up the money rather than rent so we can get that much closer to purchasing a home.  Back to the story -- I wanted to have an amazing romantic and fun anniversary, but couldn't quite figure out how to work that out . . . seeing as we live with family.  So I ended up renting a hotel room down the street to create the magical vision I had for our anniversary.

Step 1) Ambiance.
I gathered together some white Christmas lights to create romance without candles.  Plus, what's prettier than a bunch of twinkling lights?!

Step 2) Set Up.
So I wanted to do the cute little Balloon-Picture thing that's all over Pinterest.  I bought 12 balloons in our wedding colors and gathered 12 - 24 pictures of us over the past year and floated them over the bed.  I also got us each a "love journal," that I placed on the pillows.  Now before you get creeped, they're books I bought at Border's that give you ideas on how to journal about why you love your spouse, how you met, fun memories, etc.  Of course I got fancy sodas and a bottle of sparkling Martinelli's and put it in an ice bucket with some "classy" plastic champagne flutes.  I brought over our record player and some romantic records and a few items of wedding paraphernalia for memories, and last but not least, some nice chocolates and the top layer of our wedding cake for us to enjoy later.


Step 3) Surprise.
I didn't want him to know about ANY of my plans . . . so I was super sneaky and pulled it off as though I didn't really do, get, or make anything for our special day.  I woke him up with a box of doughnuts and said something along the lines of, "I'm sorry I couldn't really do anything special for us today.  I know you hate breakfast, but love doughnuts . . . so I got you these so we can have breakfast-in-bed."  The sweetheart he is thought I was adorable and said he didn't need anything else and this was perfect.  Meanwhile on the inside I'm squealing with excitement thinking I've fooled him.  I then excused myself because my mom "needed my help" and told him I had one other small thing for us, the time I would be home, and just to be in whatever is comfortable.  I left to set up . . . having sneakily already packed a bag of his clothes and toiletries.  Upon my return I convinced him to put on a blindfold as I drove to our destination and walked him through the halls of the hotel -- all the while he kept guessing and freaking out about what was going on (especially in the elevator).  When we got to the room I walked him in and told him it was ok to take of the blindfold, he was speechless.  I haven't seen the man cry since our wedding day.  He was so touched by everything, making all the effort worthwhile.

We had a super fun rest of our afternoon and got ready together at the hotel for our traditional anniversary dinner (from when we were dating) at The Melting Pot.  And I got to surprise him one last time with my final first anniversary gift to him -- a 52 Reasons Why I Love You deck of cards book.

When we got back full-bellied and exhausted, he played our first dance and we ended our celebration dancing in the moonlight from the balcony.

Needless to say, it was a great first anniversary.

G.G.'s 85th Birthday Party

Here are a few shots of my grandmother's 85th birthday at family reunion from back in July

Big Pimpin

The Beginning Middle of a New Year

So I promised myself in December that once I graduated I would actually start blogging again and I'd be good at it this time.  Turns out not only was I wrong, but I was INCREDIBLY wrong.  These last three months have been some of the busiest months I think I've ever had.

Why you ask?  Good question.  Here's the gist:

1.  We have some exciting news you should expect to hear about soon
2.  The hubs got a new job
3.  We're moving

Wha-BAM.  It's almost like life looked at me and said, "Take that for slowing down and relaxing!"  But in all honesty, these crazy busy months have been amazing.  We have a whole new adventure ahead of us and I'm beyond stoked to begin it.