Our little bundle of joy

285 days later, after much anticipation, hours of sleepless nights, 20+ pineapples eaten, loads of hormones flying everywhere......

she's finally here! 

Our little bundle of joy.

Ms. Mia Malu turned a week old today. I can't believe I have a baby, and I cannot believe it's been one full week. It went by so fast. My friend Brandi, asked me what has been my favorite part of being a mom the first week, an idea we both had seen from Sydney, one of my favorite bloggers. 

I had told told Brandi my one thing, which was when baby was put on me to nurse later in the day and while fidgeting a little bit, she found my finger and got a real strong grasp on it. I thought oh gosh, you know me! Thinking more on it I've decided that that experience is my second favorite. My number one was seeing Tyler with her the first 24 hours. It seriously melted my heart. He was so in love with our baby girl. They say that mother's often have that "pregnant glow" to them, but they leave out the "daddy glow" when babie's are born. He kept kissing her, and holding her, and just talking to her. When she cried for the first time he said something and she glanced around the room searching for her source of that familiar voice. I have loved being a mom this first week, and look forward to many more to come. It was a little tough at first, but I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in this world. Parenting doesn't come instantly, but I can truthfully say from experience that motherhood is an immediate feeling and gift. It has completely changed me. I love walking into the nursery and being able to just look at her peacefully sleeping. 

She's my miracle baby and I love everything about her.

ps: I'm working on our birth story trying to include every detail-feeling.

Missionary work

I love Mondays, when I get to email and hear from my little brother. He is currently serving a Spanish speaking mission in Las Vegas and has only a remaining 5 months to come home! I'm so proud of my brother, and his example. Before Tyler and I started dating I had plans to put in my mission papers on my 21st birthday... Obviously things changed and we got married instead. I wouldn't change my decision one bit, but we both look forward until the day were we'll serve as elderly couple.So my brother being out in the mission field is really special to me, because I kind of feel like I get to live through the experiences of him being out there serving as my own. So far he has baptized 20 members, and has sealed 3 families in the temple. I pray for his well being, and safety every night and asked him if I could share this latest experience he had with you guys..

"Anyways, let me tell you about an experience I had with my last companion Elder Sorenson a few weeks ago. We were riding back home and we (for some reason) didn't have with us either one of our bike lights. We were kind of late getting home. It was about 9:30 at night. We were going through our typical route cutting through the bike trail, which goes around the back of all the housing complexes and stuff, and its kind of closer to the desert where there's not really anything there. When we got close to where the train tracks were, we both just stopped riding our bikes. We sat there in a weird confusion as to why we has stopped biking. It was dark, so dark that I could barely see my companion standing right next to me. We both had a strong impression that we should stop. It was strange. I said to Elder Sorenson "Did you feel that?", and he said back "That we should stop? Yeah. I dont know why though." I didnt know why either, because we take this same route every day back home. So I tell him "Well, whatever, let's just go." to which he replied "No, we shouldnt. That was probably the spirit telling us to stop".

Logic and reason told me that A. we were super late getting home, and we needed to take this short cut or we were going to get in a mess of trouble. If we go around the other way, we would get home in an hour. B. I didnt see anything that could harm or prevent us from completing our path that we take almost daily.

So what did we do? We prayed and asked our Heavenly Father what to do, and we both felt okay to just get off our bikes and slowly walk through the path. We both felt very strongly, though, that we should be extremely quiet. I didnt understand that either, but I felt a strong prompting to. So my companion and I got off our bikes and carried them toward the train tracks. When we got to the train tracks, I felt a deep sinking feeling like something was wrong. I immediately looked at my companion, and he was fine. I looked to the right and saw out of nowhere two men. I couldnt see their faces. It was so dark, I couldnt even tell if they were black and white. They were talking, almost to a whisper about something. I couldnt understand them, but I knew then that's why we were to be as quiet as we possibly could be. Those two men for some reason didnt hear us. I dont know why, but I felt like we were not to be seen or heard from them. I knew they were trouble. After we were far enough, we started running away towards civilization where the streets and the houses were. I know that we were being protected that night. I cannot tell you the reprocussions had we not listened to the promptings of the spirit, but I can tell you this: I am grateful to know that I am being watched over. Im grateful for the Holy Ghost, and how much God and His Son care about me. Im grateful for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost; for the opportunity I had to be baptised by someone worthy enough to do so. I am happy. Im grateful for you and for my family! I learned from this experience that I have to rely on the spirit, not in myself, and that even though sometimes logic and reason are powerful, true power comes from the Holy Ghost and listening and obeying his promptings.  I LOVE MY FAMILY" 

I know things like this happen all the time in the mission field. Some missionaries are fortunate enough to not just listen to the promptings of the spirit, but actually obey them. BIG difference. I'm so proud of my little brother, and so glad that he is safe. I'm so lucky to have his example in my life, and I feel more than blessed to have this wonderful gospel, in my life. :)

Awkward & Awesome Friday LATE*

AWKWARD:

• Going to classes all week and each time I walk in the room hearing my professors and classmates say "Oh wow, you're still here huh?"  or "No baby?" Thanks for the concern pressure guys.
• Trying to start the car with my house keys. That's how much sleep I've been getting lately..
• When the person in the stall next to you is going number 2 and making it known. Very awkward.
• Doing yoga with my belly= not a pretty sight.
• Ordering dessert from another restaurant, while still eating my dinner at a current one. I've become that person.
• Totally ruining a show plot for Katie and Nick, because my big mouth can't help itself.
• Attempting to shave my legs..
• Explaining to my mom why she will most definitely not be in the delivery room with me..

AWESOME

• My hubby putting my socks and boots on for me, because I have no balance, or coordination.
• Getting to eat sushi last night. YUM.
• Christmas is in less than 45 days.
• Tyler hearing back from some med- school and getting some interviews. That hubby of mine is a genius. Cross your fingers he'll have his top choices to pick from.
• Condensed milk.. If my baby ends up weighing 9 lbs I'll know what to blame it on.
• The gorgeous scarf we made this week during craft night. (more on that soon)...
• Water. I can't get enough.

Time.

Sunday was day lights saving and although we had one WHOLE extra hour in the day, I still feel like I could have used a few more. It's strange but the clock plays such a ginormous impact in our lives. We often hear that saying "So much to do, so little time"
Most of us have a system. Alarms go off at a specif time, work starts at a certain hour, dinner needs to be on the table at another. I've been thinking a lot lately about how I manage my time, especially now that we're bringing a little one into the house. Do I do enough during the day? Is there too much procrastination on my part? How could I manage more in a smaller time frame?
I guess I've been thinking this because of  a conversation I had yesterday with Tyler. My hair is natually curly and it takes me anywhere between 35 minutes- 45 minutes to blow dry my hair. It's something I not only need to do but have to in order to control the frizz. I calculated how much time I spend a year doing that small thing, and thought holy cow I could be doing so much more with those precious minutes. I know it sounds ridiculous but this has honestly been troubling me.
At any given moment, I'm going to welcome a little girl into this crazybusy world. I know that Time doesn't stop for anyone, (one of my mother's favorite sayings), that's why we have to appreciate every minute we're given. Good or bad. It's a minute that we can never take back. So what do you do to make sure you're ahead of the clock, and not always dragging behind? Any thoughts or opinions on this ? Do you guys struggle with time management? And what do you do to work through it?

Baby's room & rocking chair revealed!!!

My mom is the type of person who always has a billion people over her house, or is always bringing leftovers to her neighbors. On one occasion where she was dropping off a meal to a friend from her old ward, this friend asked her if she knew anyone who needed a rocking chair. She immediately text me waiting to give a response. I had actually been dreaming over this rocking chair/ glider from Walmart. Tyler and I had been fortunate enough to get a crib for free, courtesy of my brother in law, so we figured the rocking chair would be our contribution to baby's room. BUT.. of course we went back and forth with the decision, because although the glider was absolutely gorgeous, the other one was free. We, I eventually gave in and said yes to bringing this bad boy home.

It has definitely seen it's days, and could use a little spruce me up. So I took it upon my self to work on this project!! At first I was a little intimidated. I mean the most sewing I did was with Katie, working on bags, and scarves. I was worried I was going to make the chair uglier, and maybe even ruin it. Luckily, I have an amazing visiting teacher who told me I could handle it and let me borrow her staple gun (for the foot rest). I've been working on the chair here and there trying to make it "just right".

Here it is....

Tyler trying it out! 

I'm so proud of how it turned out, and this way I can tell baby Mia that it was specially made for her.

                    The crib sheet I made thanks to this tutorial

 The pillow cube I made out of scrap fabric from the other projects. It didn't turn out too bad!

Little birdie

                                         

This doll was given from a darling friend from Boston.

The changing pad cover was made courtesy of this E's tutorial... The "M" frame was made by my sweet friend Megan for Mia's hair clips. Isn't it sweet?!

I found this cute blog, that had canvas' made of owls and birds, and since that was the theme in baby's room, I knew I had to have one done. 

I also found this owl from 2&thru and have been meaning to do some for the book shelf, that I'm hoping to put into the nursery. 

We are ready to welcome little miss Mia into our home. Our bags are packed, her room is done, all of her clothes, and blankies have been washed and put away. I can't wait to finally hold her and admire who see looks like. Will she have her daddy's eye's? Will she have chubby cheeks like her momma? What will her cries sound like? I can't wait to breathe it all in. We love our little munckin'  

Negativity

Tyler and I had our hopes up about this morning's checkup. Since they've become weekly we both have our fingers crossed as to what news the Doctor will give us. Will she be on time? Late? Are we healthy? Have I gained too much weight? It's such a treat that we get to hear her little heartbeat each week, and we really look forward to going into the office. At first we were a little apprehensive as to how they worked. Like we don't have one set doctor, instead they rotate us between 8 Doctors since we don't know which of them will be on call the day of the delivery. I didn't have a problem with that until today. Our appointment was at 8:45, and while we drove we talked about our plans and how surreal this has all become. Pretty soon we'll be bringing our bundle of joy home, and become parents!! We knew we wanted the Doctor to check my cervix to see if there was any improvement from last week. (Remember I was 1cm and 50% effaced)?.. There's a part of me that is hoping she'll be early, but we really just want to have a better idea of when to expect her. Tyler has some interviews for med-school lined up and we're just depending on when baby wants to make her appearance.

Anyways... Shortly after they signed us in, they called me back and did the same old routine, pee in a cup,  check my weight, and blood pressure. Then the Dr. comes in. We had never met today's Doctor, and I sure wish I never had to. She glanced over my chart and told me I was good, and then told me to lay back and checked my belly with her measuring tape. Then she let us hear the baby's heart beat, which is the cutest (138). She asked if we had participated in any birthing classes and when we said no, she seemed a little irritated kind of second guessing our ability to be parents if we didn't take the class. WHICH let me point out, is optional not mandatory. I also don't need to explain to anyone why or why not Tyler and I choose to do things. She then asked if I had any questions. Like I mentioned, I wanted to get checked and when I told her she said "We don't usually check until you're in your 39th week"  My thoughts were Uhmm I'm 38 weeks, and a few days, really? You're not gonna check, even though they checked me last week? I told her I really wanted to see if there was any changes and in a condescending voice she just said "I doubt it, there's no need to rush things". I could feel my blood start to boil at this point. Then Tyler asked for some guidance as to when it would be safe to schedule his med-school interviews. When she heard he was applying for med school, she said "Oh I wouldn't do that, these day's its not worth being a Doctor, you end up with more debt and most of the people who go into med-school don't even make it to their residency." Omygosh lady, seriously? I could feel my blood pressure and stress level raising. I was fuming. She then proceeded to tell us that her daughter wanted to be a plastic surgeon but she was like "Really? it's 4 years of school, 4 years of medical school, 2 years of residency, and 2 years of possibly traveling for your job. You should just become an engineer-er, it'll be easier".  All I kept thinking was what a great role model you are, telling your kids they can't achieve their dreams instead of encouraging and motivating them to be the best they can be.. 

 I hated this Doctor and definitely cursed at her. In less than 10 minutes she had denied me to be checked, (even though I'm pretty certain they have to if you ask.), had judged our parenting skills over a class, and had shot Tyler's dreams for a future. I came home crying, feeling defeated. I refuse to have that lady deliver my baby. I would rather have a midwife do it, have the baby in the car, then have her negativity be around us. Our drive home was not at all how we thought it would go.

I'm not sure why there are some nasty people in this world, but what upset me even more was how much I let her bug me. I mean she ruined my morning, but I need to have a better attitude. I can't let this bring me down. I've been so sensitive lately, I just want my little girl here and be done with all of this.

Hopefully next week will be better. :)