Pictures As Promised...A Week Ago!

Washington DC Temple

We made it a point to stop in to take a few pictures and show Y the place where we got engaged and later married.  She loved seeing the temple and kept asking to see Jesus (in reference to the large Christus that is in the Visitor's Center).

This was our first trip back here since we were married here almost 6 years ago.

Y loved visiting the temple but especially loved the replica home that was inside the Visitor's Center.



 

 

Y sitting with me on the bench outside the temple where B proposed.

The Outer Banks

I am convinced that the closest place to Heaven on Earth are the Outer Banks of North Carolina!  If you've never been there for a visit then I insist that you do so.  Fortunately for us it's not a super long drive from my parent's house. Y LOVED it and it was undoubtedly her favorite part of the trip.

Coquina Beach, it's part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and right across the road is the Bodie Island Lighthouse that you can climb and tour. 

The walkway that takes you from the showers/changing rooms to the beach.

My mom, Y, and myself playing in the sand.  It was a perfect day - 85 degrees and a water temp of 72!

She's focused...she's got the Michael Jordan tongue going on.

Family & Temple (Again)

Here are a few pictures of us hanging out with my family as well as a final stop at the temple on the drive back home.

Y playing with her cousin, G who's 6 weeks older than her.

We drove back on a Monday so the temple was closed but the grounds were still open.  We had the whole place to ourselves until the couple who took our picture showed up - they were traveling as well.

Surprise!!

Several months ago we began discussing the possibility of taking a road trip to NC to visit family.  B only gets about 2 weeks worth of vacation and we knew we wanted him to have at least a week off once Baby Q arrives.  We thought of several vacation possibilities but since my dad has recently started dialysis and as a result hasn't been in the best physical or even mental state, we were strongly leaning towards that option.  I mentioned the possibility to my mom but swore her to secrecy, mostly because we had been hit with a lot of unexpected bills that can arise when you own a home and a car.  So we said that if we had one more large, unexpected bill then the trip was off.  I didn't want to leave a ton of people disappointed so we just made my mom keep the secret.  When the point came that we knew for sure that we'd be going I decided that it would be cool to have it remain a secret and so that is what we did.

We left our home on Saturday, May 28th at 8:45am and we arrived in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday.  It's about a 12 hour drive but between the bladder of a 7½ month pregnant woman and a newly potty trained 2 year old it became a 17 hour drive.  We really enjoyed the trip and were able to stop by the DC Temple for the first time since we were married there over 5½ years ago.  We split the driving pretty evenly between us and kept Y happy with candy, treats, and DVDs.  Just as we exited the highway to get to my parent's house all the candy came back to haunt us...she puked all over herself and her carseat.  After we reached my parent's house she puked some more but then she was completely fine.

We had an awesome week there and it was so nice to have our own car to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted without borrowing someone else's car.  We drove to see my grandma, to the Outer Banks, to visit various friends, etc.  It was awesome and we left Monday, June 6th to come back home.  We've had a pretty good couple days of rest and sadly B returns to work in the morning.  Now that I'm back I've started to focus on all that I have to do before Baby Q arrives and it feels a bit overwhelming to say the least.

I'm still not really fully recovered from all of the driving so I'll end this post here and come back later to post some of the pictures from our trip as well as an update from my doctor's appointment...stay tuned!

Total Slacker

I have no real excuse as to why I haven't blogged in such a long time, in fact this may be the longest absence I've taken from blogging since I started blogging. Honestly I've had every intention of coming to post an update but just never quite got around to it now. And honestly I'm probably doing it now because on Sunday we leave for Utah and it may be another two weeks before I get the opportunity to post again.

I do think I should update you on the rest of my trip in North Carolina though. The day after my last post we went to spend the day with my grandma and on the way home Y began vomiting - she only did it once but boy was there A LOT of it. Once we got back to my parent's house I peeled her out of her clothing, took apart her car seat (harnesses and all), and had to wash everything! I even had to clean the seat in my mom's van because some of the puke seeped through the holes where the harnesses come through at. I have never seen so much come out of someone so little! She really didn't eat much the remainder of the day but she did want to nurse and she had been able to keep that down. So I figured I would give her a bottle before bed because formula is more filling than breastmilk. Well she drank the entire bottle (4 oz) and half an hour later I was peeling her and myself out of clothing because she vomited again. Now a few other members of my family had been sick and it had passed within 24 hours and Y didn't have a fever so I wasn't panicked at all (B was though, and understandably so). But just as a precaution I called her pediatrician the next morning, Friday, and informed them I was out of state but Y was sick and they gave me some helpful advice. Y and I layed down for a nap and when we woke up she was burning with fever (it's about this time that I start to panic), I give her Tylenol and the fever eventually breaks, I call the doctor back and they recommend Children's Motrin. So I begin alternating Tylenol and Motrin and each time the fever would break and return after a few hours - This went on for 3 days. Finally on Monday morning before we were to leave for the airport to come home, the fever breaks but she is still very fatigued and sleeps pretty much all day (which wasn't a bad thing on the plane). On Tuesday morning I begin to notice a rash appearing and my thoughts instantly go to the infection she had before which caused a secondary rash to develop but I realized this rash was different from that one in many ways. So I turn to the trusty internet and start researching common rashes in infants and came across Roseola and found that to match her symptoms exactly, apparently it's fairly common but I had never heard of it. Thankfully it has passed, it lasted exactly a week from start to finish and I'm fairly certain that she would have contracted it on the plane because the incubation period is 10 days and that is exactly how long it took her to become sick.

Needless to say, we didn't have a whole lot of fun for the remainder of the trip and didn't get to see a lot of the people who were on my list to visit but we had an awesome time nonetheless. But I must say we were definitely glad to be back home with B. I'm pretty sure we missed him as much as he missed us!


As for pictures, I did take a few but unfortunately I had my camera on the wrong setting and most of them came out blurry and bad. But I will share this one, it is of one of my roomates from VT and her son - he and Y are 3 weeks apart with Y being the older of the two. It was great to see them in that I haven't seen her since our wedding almost 4 years ago!

Just Stopping In

I've been in NC for about a week and a half now and felt that I should stop in and say hello! I am loving being here with my family but hating being away from B. It was so very difficult for me to leave this time compared to the times when I've left in the past. I know that it was because I was taking Y away from B for 2 whole weeks. He loves his little girl and I am sure that every day she is away from him makes him sad. I totally believe that she misses her daddy and cannot wait to see him on Monday even though she cannot express it.

Her first few days here she was really happy and would let anyone hold her and play with her but after that she became a little more selective. She will allow people to play with her on the floor, but doesn't want them to pick her up and if they do she screams bloody murder. There is one way to win her over though, and that is to take her outside, as long as you have her outdoors she is your best friend! Many of you know that I have a niece who is 6 weeks older than Y. Well on Sunday she turned 1. At first Y did not like to interact with her at all but now she gets pretty excited and happy when she hears her in the morning and can't wait to get on the floor to play with her. She also really enjoyed playing with my Grandma's little dog, though I'm not sure the dog enjoyed it nearly as much.

I have been having an awesome time as well, getting to spend time with family and friends. Unfortunately my dad has been pretty sick for much of the time we have been here but seems to be doing better now and hopefully that will last throughout the rest of our trip. I have been struggling with watching a family member make some pretty destructive decisions and torn apart by my inability to change the situation. Honestly, in times like these I am very grateful that I live far away and do not have to face the realities of the situation on a daily basis. It also helps me to be more appreciative of B and all that he does for me and our family, for the wonderful person that he is. I am so grateful for the choices I have made in my life that have taken me down the path I am on. Not to say that everyday of my life is a fiesta but I have everything in the world to be happy about and thankful for.

There has been a tragic even to happen since I have been here. A brother who was our Home Teacher while I was in high school passed away. Apparently someone called in a bomb threat to the cable company. He made it his job to usher everyone out of the building and in the process collapsed and had a massive heart attack. I really was not close to him but I do have many memories of attending church and youth activities with 3 of his older children as well as he and his wife coming over for monthly visits. But somehow I cannot help but feel some hostility towards whatever person made that phone call. I'm not sure if they even realize how their immaturity has affected the lives of others.

To Grandmother's House We Go...

On Saturday, December 13, Y and I packed up our bags and headed to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at about 3pm. The day started out pretty smooth, we packed, left for the airport, said our goodbyes and made it through security without any problems. I will say that going through security with a 3 month old, a diaper bag and a carry-on, plus having to remove your coat and shoes is not a simple task. Luckily I had a very nice TSA agent help me move all of my stuff to an area where I could sit and take my time getting everything situated. So after getting all that straight I put Y in her BabyBjorn and we were off to find our gate. We were flying out of a brand new terminal at the airport so I was not familiar with it at all but boy was it pretty cozy. When I reached the gate I quickly realized that I was supposed to go to the bathroom before going through security so that B could hold Y while I went...so let's just say we had fun figuring that one out. But we did figure it out without making any mess at all! Anyway, our flight was about 25 minutes late leaving Detroit so when I made it to Chicago I had just enough time to change Y before boarding my plane for Raleigh. We arrived in Raleigh on time, however, when I turned my phone off airplane mode I had a text message from my brother saying that they had a flat tire before they even left the driveway (they had just bought new tires). He sent me another message saying he had borrowed my uncle's car and that they were on their way. So when I looked at the current time and the time that he sent the text message I figured that I at least had another half hour/45 minute wait before they made it to pick me up so I went to the bathroom and changed Y again because just as we were landed she left mommy a nasty little present. So while in the middle of changing Y I get another text from him saying that they are almost there and that they would meet me, they must've been flying to make it there that quickly. So then I begin to rush and I hurry to baggage claim where I see 2 of my 3 bags already off the carousel with a lady that works for Southwest standing beside them. So I walk up to her and she asks if those are my bags and I tell her yes but that one is missing. My luggage arrived, my pack and play arrived, my car seat (the most important item to me) did not arrive. I look at the lady and ask, "so my car seat is lost" and she looks at me and replies, "no, it's not lost it's just not on the plane, but we'll find it." Now correct me if I'm wrong, but last time I checked if you don't know where something is...then it's LOST!!! We go to the office and fill out all this paperwork and they give me this crappy "loaner" that I have no idea how to use, luckily my brother was able to figure it out. So anyway, I finally get my car seat back 36 hours later at 2am in the morning. As we're leaving the airport my mom gets really sick but we make it home safely. Apparently whatever my mom was sick with everyone else in the house had already had so by Wednesday it was my turn. Now Y had been going through a stage where she wanted no one but Mommy and then going to this far away place which is loud and has so many people that she has never seen before in her short life was probably a bit much for her. But it took my being sick for her to really open up to the rest of the family and from that point on she played with everyone and was great. Needless to say the week flew by for us and before we knew it, it was time for us to leave. Well thankfully for us we managed to make it to the airport safely but we were not excited to leave 60/70 degree weather for the frigid Michigan air. A couple days before the Midwest had been pounded by a huge snowstorm so when we got to the airport we found that my flight to Chicago had been delayed about an hour. This put me in a panic because I would barely have enough time to de-board my plane and board my other flight. That proved to be nothing to worry about because before I even left Raleigh my flight to Detroit from Chicago had been delayed two hours. We make it to Chicago and I find myself with 2 hours to burn, Y sleeps through all of this. Then they keep telling us that our plane is on it's way and will be here soon, blah blah blah. An hour later it finally arrives and we end up sitting on the plane for another 20 to 30 minutes going nowhere. We finally land in Detroit at 1:40am, I rush straight to baggage claim, wait at least 20 minutes for the carousel to start moving, collect 2 of my bags and find that the 3rd bag is nowhere to be found. They lost my car seat...AGAIN!!! I am royally ticked at this point, so we get in line to report it missing and there are about 40-50 people ahead of us. As it turns out, everyone on our plane that checked a car seat, their car seat was lost. I'm sorry, but how do you lose every car seat on a plane along with the luggage of 40 people when the plane was delayed 3 hours? They can't say that they didn't have time to get it on the plane...I think this is the case of lazy baggage-loading-people. But through it all I must say that I have an extremely patient husband who waited there until 4 or 5 in the morning knowing he had to get up at 6am and go to work. I also have an amazing baby because though it all, she never cried. I was horrified of flying with her because of the ear popping but she never cried once. She never needed the pacifier, the breast or the bottle, it just didn't bother her! So I guess my luck was balanced by my misfortune. We got our car seat back by noon but Southwest Airlines will definitely be hearing from me. That was a long story...here are some pictures from the trip.

100

This is post number 100, woohoo!!! Hard to believe that I've posted that many times in less than a year. I guess with the pregnancy I had quite a lot to say, not to mention I actually had time to say it all. Sometimes I miss having all that free time, or at least being able to dictate my own schedule. One day that will happen again, it'll probably just be many years down the road when we've had all of our kids and they've all started school. Anyway, now that that's out of the way, lets get down to the nitty gritty.

Y had therapy today and she is doing exceptionally well!!! Her therapist is pretty amazed at the progress she has made and kept talking to Y telling her that it is all due to mommy's hard work. As I thought about that tonight, I thought about how wrong that therapist really was. I mean, sure B and I do her stretches and exercises with her but we honestly can't take credit for her quick progression. There has been a higher power at work in all this. Before she started her physical therapy she was given a priesthood blessing by her dad, granddad and uncle. Many prays have been offered up, diligently, on her behalf. So as much as I would like to, I know that I can't really take the credit for this. Even in a minor case of torticollis it would take a minimum of 3 months to correct and we're looking at just one month of therapy when all is said and done. We've been at this for a couple weeks now and her therapist said today that she can't see Y showing any preference any more. She is able to move and support her neck on both sides pretty evenly. We're extremely grateful for this blessing.

As for other news...Y LOVES television, much to my dismay. I dunno, maybe I'm just weird, but I really don't want her to watch TV. I hadn't really noticed her watching it really until sometime late last week. I had her sitting on my lap facing forward and I picked her up to turn her around so that I could play with her and she kept her head turned toward the television. Whenever I would turn her so far around that she couldn't see it, she would get very upset. This gave us a good laugh for a little while I must admit. But we've noticed her watching it a lot since then. She also likes to look at this chime that I have hanging in the house, she also likes it when we make it move so she can hear the noise. She is talking and smiling all the time now and brings more joy to our lives than I ever thought possible. She's up to 6 pairs of shoes now (like mother like daughter). She has officially worn every piece of 0-3 month clothing that she owns, which for those of you who haven't seen her closet, is no small feat. I take her home to NC for the first time in 2½ weeks, and I am extremely nervous about traveling with her. I have a 1 hour 15 minute flight (30 minutes in the air) from Detroit to Chicago, then a 1 hour layover, a 1 hour 45 minute flight from Chicago to Raleigh and then a 1 to 1½ hour drive home from the airport. Hopefully she's a good traveler because I don't wanna deal with a screaming 3 month old. I am really looking forward to her meeting her PopPop as well as her uncle, aunt and cousins. In talking to my mom, I mentioned how different it would be for Y. She's really not accustomed to being surrounded by so many people, typically it's just me, her and B. Another huge difference will be the noise level. With only 3 people in our house, you can imagine that it's pretty quiet...well back home it's is completely the opposite. Always loud and something is always going on. Babies are resilient so I am sure she will adjust fairly quickly but it will still be very interesting nonetheless.

Well it's my bedtime so I will say goodnight and leave you with only one picture for now! Goodnight!

This is what they mean by, "Sleeping like a baby."

Introducing Gabrielle Alana-Mari:

Here's my new niece! Born Saturday, July 19th at 7:47pm. 7lbs 5½oz; 20 inches long

Welcome to the world, Gabby!


Big Brother & Lil' Sister



Mommy & Gabby


James (my Brother) & Gabby



Grandma & Gabby

Pictures from Home

Okay, so I'm finally unpacked and now I can blog again and boy do I have a lot to say. I have four different posts that I want to post but I'm not really sure that I'll do them all today, I don't wanna overwhelm you all at once with my random thoughts. So first things first, it's time to meet my family and friends (some of them anyways, the ones who actually let me take a decent picture of them).

This is the best picture I could get of my dad, haha.

This is my Brother.

Here you have my nieces and nephews .

This is J, she is the 2 year old that my mom watches. She is one of the sweetest and silliest little girls you'll ever meet.

This is my roommate from VT, LeAnn and Me at the baby shower.

This is LeAnn's mom, JeriAnn and Me at the baby shower

This is me and one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world, Tisha.

There ya have it, those are my closest family and friends with exception of my sister and my grandma!

My Catch 22

I love my husband more than anything. I also love my family very much. My husband is in Michigan, my family in North Carolina, my heart is in both places. As I prepare to leave North Carolina to return to Michigan tomorrow I find myself extremely sad and also very happy, but then again I have the same dilemma when I leave Michigan for North Carolina. On one hand, tomorrow I will be leaving my family yet again for several months, which naturally makes me sad. On the other hand, tomorrow I will be reunited with the love of my life, and that makes me happy. I always manage to adjust after a few days but the initial goodbyes really really suck!!! I remember when I first got married I thought it would get easier each time, at least that's what everyone told me. Well I lied to myself and everyone who said that lied to me, it doesn't ever get easier, we just grow to realize that it sucks and try to move on from there. Anyway, enough babbling from me, I'll post some pictures sometimes next week...I think.

Baby Shower #2

So today was a busy day, a hectic day, and a very good day! Today, my sister and I had our joint baby shower here in North Carolina. It was a really nice event with TONS of food. Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of pictures because I was running around town doing some other things and I arrived a bit late. But as for food we had: pasta salad, black forest ham, pork tenderloin, garden salad, cheese ball and crackers, watermelon, cantelope, red and green grapes, strawberries, fruit dip, 3 cheese & garlic breadsticks and I can't forget the adorable cake. I actually do have a picture of the cake but I didn't get to it fast enough so there are a couple of slices missing from it, so just use your imagination for those couple slices. We played a lot of games and just had fun socializing with everyone that attended. My old roommate from VT was able to attend because she was visiting her parents in Richmond for the week. I was able to spend time with her (LeAnn) as well as her mom (JeriAnn), husband (Jared) and their two children (Ella and Bryce). It was awesome to see them again, it's been about a year and a half since I've seen them. With the exception of Jared who I haven't seen since my and B's wedding almost 3 years ago.

If you're wondering what sort of presents we got, I'll try my best to list them all. And if I miss anything then you'll have to look at the pictures below, so here goes: sleepers, gowns, hooded towels, a memory kit (which includes: a porcaline heart-shaped box to hold her first tooth, another to hold her first curl, a picture frame, photo box and piggy bank), baby blankets, baby booties, a ceramic sign, socks, onesies, bibs, dresses, several outfits, baby wash, baby lotion, disposable washcloths (had never heard of those but seem really neat), washcloths, bath toys, a bath set, a grooming and healthcare kit, bath toy bag, tooth and gum cleanser, hats, diaper rash ointment, a gift card, a money order, dress shoes, diapers, wipes, rattles, bottles, headbands, a stuffed toy that plays music, mittens, q-tips, a baby bath bar and a tub that has a shower component. I think that's everything but I can never be too sure so you'll just have to take a look at the pictures below. Enjoy! (FYI: If you click on the picture you can see a larger version, just in case you didn't know).

Slightly Overdue

Okay, so I know this post is just slightly overdue, but I'm safely in North Carolina now (and have been since Saturday). This was actually my first time flying here on a direct flight and I must say I really liked it. The entire flight was only 1 hour 40 minutes gate-to-gate. So when my mom and sister came to pick me up we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch (one of many places on my list of places to eat while I'm here). Then instead of driving straight home we went to visit my grandma who lives about an hour from us. We stayed at her house for a while before leaving to head home. When we arrived I was greeted by my nieces (my nephew and brother were gone) needless to say they were extremely happy to see me, and I them. So we just spent the rest of the night relaxing and preparing for church on Sunday. It was really good to see a lot of the people that I've know since I joined the church almost 15 years ago. It's good to be home, my only complaint is the heat. I thought I'd beat the system by coming home in June but nope that didn't happen. I don't think it would be so bad if it hadn't been so unseasonably cool in Michigan which has left me completely unprepared for 90+ degree weather.

Other than that, I really miss B! We still talk and text each other all the time so at least we have that but it sucks to not be able to see him everyday or kiss him goodbye when he leaves for work, but at least it's only temporary. On a positive note we have our new apartment and will move in on July 19th. We had almost given up hope that we would get the one that we wanted but fortunately for us one became available. So whereas I'm really excited that we'll be moving and I can get Y's room ready, I'm not excited about the whole packing and cleaning process that comes with moving.

Well my laptop battery is dying and I really actually need to go and get some stuff done, so I'll talk to you all later!

Deals, Deals, Deals

Ok, so I told a falsity! I said the next time you heard from me I'd be in NC, well I'm not in NC yet (I leave tomorrow) and I'm still posting a message. I really couldn't resist though, I wanted to add pictures of the adorable clothes that we've bought recently. So here goes:

These were purchased at Old Navy and oldnavy.com. And yes the 2 dresses at the top are the same style but they're different sizes so when she outgrows one she'll have the other! As for the pants, I purchased a matching top for them but they were actually sold out so I didn't actually get the top, it was really cute and I was very disappointed. But I still love the pants!

These three came from Gymboree, I had never shopped there before but then again I never had a reason to. Anyways, I now have another place to stop when I'm at the mall!

Children's Place! Need I say more?!?!

These came from Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory. I didn't even know such a place existed until they mailed me a coupon. As for the rubber ducky and fish...those were all B's idea. I think he just wanted the rubber ducky for himself!

So, as you can probably see, we love to go shopping and buy Y's clothes! In fact I think I love shopping for her more than I love shopping for me, there are so many options. And with everything that we bought I don't even think that we spent $50! I love sales!

Anyway, I got a plane to catch tomorrow morning so I'd better get some rest. So ttyl!