My Home is a Place of Peace and Comfort

While I loved being in Canada with my family, I find so much comfort and peace being back in my own home.

It has been very busy since we have been home, but Emily came back to Utah with me and spent the month with us. It was amazing having her here. Leaving my family was the hardest thing I have done in a while. They were such help and provided so much love and support while we were there in the summer.

Emily was here for the month of September, and while she was, she attended two institute classes, we took various hikes throughout the canyon, attended the USU rodeo, the demolition derby, watched Alex play soccer, shopped, floated the river in Lava, ID and just hung out! It was so fun, and I loved that she had that time to really connect with Brooklyn :) 

Emily is the most chill and sincere girl I know. She is low maintenance (minus her need for snacks, we've never had more food in our home then we did that month), and just goes with the flow. And Alex loved having someone here to tease, other than me. He loves having a younger sister, especially when he can try and place limits on her dating life!

We also had the opportunity of showing off Brooklyn to everyone here in Utah! Alex's family came to Logan to visit on a few occasions, and Brooklyn finally got to meet her American cousins! Cindy threw me a shower at her home to debut little Brooklyn and welcome her into the family :) Everyone loves her of course, and people started calling her "the china doll". Brooklyn has been very spoiled, especially from her Grandma Cindy. On a few occasions I have found outfits in her closet that Cindy has put in there haha 

 So at the end of September, my parents came down and babysat Brooklyn while Alex and I went to Tijuana, Mexico with Vivint Gives Back. During the summer, salesmen were given the opportunity to donate a certain number of sales in order to go to Tijuana and help build homes for people in need. We flew into San Diego, were able to go to the beach and enjoy the weather before we drove across the border the next day. We stayed in Tijuana in the LDS church building's gym haha Alex and I had the brilliant idea that we would share a sleeping bag... it sucked. However, the experience was amazing. 
We were able to build homes for three families. These families had built their homes out of scrap pieces of cardboard and whatever else they could find lying around. One of the daughters had commented that she is most grateful that she will no longer get wet inside her own home when it rains. We provided shelter, comfort and a sense of security for these families who had no means of achieving it on their own. It was such a rewarding experience to be able to forget about ourselves for three days and serve complete strangers. I have been on service trips before, but it was such a different experience being able to share that with Alex :) While we were there, they hosted a fiesta type night, we danced, were entertained by locals, and one of the best parts of the trip; having all our meals made by locals! SO good. 

The welcome home however, was not what we expected... Brooklyn was sleeping and so naturally I went and woke her up... Well she was not a happy girl after that. She was a bit weary with me and Alex claims he scratched her face with his whiskers and so the entire night she would burst out in tears whenever he looked at her. 

It was really sad! For about a day, she acted a bit strange, but then things were back to normal after that. Then I again had to say goodbye to my Mom, Dad and Emily as they headed back home the day after we got back. They loved having the week with Brooklyn and I loved them for coming to babysit. Although I would like to think that they made the trek just to babysit, I can’t. They had tickets to General Conference which was the weekend we were gone, so it worked out perfectly!

Alex was able to get his schedule worked out so he only had class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and one night class Wednesday. So we have been able to have a long weekend every weekend! It has been so nice to have Alex around so much. So when fall break came up he had five days off class, so us and the Huish's decided one night to pack up and leave to my parents place in AZ! We were literally sitting in our living room discussing the trip when we booked a hotel in Vegas, and left within the next couple hours haha love it. We had such a fun time. We stayed in Vegas the first night, then to Surprise AZ the next and even had the opportunity of going to visit Shane's sister just a couple hours away from my parents place. We stopped at Hoover Dam, played cards, laid out in the sun, swam, the boy’s hunted scorpions and geckos, and mostly just relaxed! It was so nice to get away somewhere warm. Oh, and the Huish's told us that they are expecting a baby! Her due date is May 28th! The same as mine, how fun! Some good times with good friends :)
 
It has been so fun to be back with our friends, going to the pumpkin walk, celebrating birthdays, USU basketball and hockey games!! Brooklyn loves the games haha It is way loud so we bought her ear protective muffs which are HUGE because I couldn’t find kid ones, but hey they work and she doesn’t mind :) She is such a content baby. She doesn't fuss when we are out and about, and falls asleep when she’s tired without whining haha 

Brooklyn has now experienced her first Halloween in which we dressed up as ballerina dolls, Alex's birthday, her first Fall, and her first snowfall! She absolutely loves being outside, and is even more intrigued by snow, it’s really fun to watch her as she stares out the windows. 

And of course as we all know, babies need their immunizations, so again lucky for us, Alex had a work meeting/year end party in Calgary so we were able to get Brooklyn's shots done. My family was able to come to Calgary and we went to the Telus Spark center. I had never been and it was so fun! So many cool things to explore and I loved seeing Emma, Crystal and Tanner. Ella is so big and so funny! Loved seeing them again. I honestly have the best siblings for being willing to drive two and a half hours in a snow storm to see us! I love them so much. 

And Brooklyn sits! She is 5 1/2 months and she squeals constantly, loves to play with her toys, and can sit up :) She is getting so big so fast... I can’t handle it! I still think she is the cutest thing alive and am excited to spend my days with her every morning. I am the biggest suck. 

But now, I am hoping we will be home for a while. I love my house so much and love that it is now snowing. My favorite thing is sitting inside a comfy and safe place, with my slippers and blankets cuddling and playing with my baby as the snow falls outside. I am so content and happy here. 

I could not be more grateful for my life, for my husband, for my faith, and for my daughter. I am so blessed and grateful for everything that I have and for everyone who has been placed in my life. 

Brooklyn Mae

We had a GIRL! Brooklyn Mae joined our family on May 26th at 1:17pm and we could not be happier! She is now 8 weeks old and I am finally getting around to writing her birth story :)

My due date was May 24th, and when that had come and gone I was definitely getting impatient and anxious. For the entire month I had been trying different means of bringing on labour such as bouncing on exercise balls, only taking the stairs, taking Hugo to the off leash park everyday, and doing lunges on a regular basis haha. However, Brooklyn was on her own time schedule and everything worked out for the best.

On the 22nd I was having a really hard time feeling her move, and so decided to go into the hospital for a stress test. When we got there, her heart rate was dropping down significantly and so they kept me there for a few more hours to monitor her and to try and determine what was causing the sudden drops. But after a few hours they let me go home but made an appointment for me to return the next morning for a follow up. At the follow up they determined all was well and I was good to go. I was really glad I had that experience because when it came time to deliver her I knew exactly how to check in, where I was going and what was going to happen. It made everything a lot easier and I was more calm about the prospect of going into labour for real.
So Saturday night (the 25th) came and at about 7pm I started feeling strong contractions that were about ten minutes apart. I was in my apartment by myself, and decided that if these were real contractions then I had better clean my apartment and get things ready, just in case. Then they started going down to 8 minutes apart, and then 5 minutes apart. So I called my sister in law (I didn't want to get my mom all excited if I was having false labour, so I decided Crystal would be the most calm about it) to ask if what was happening was real or not. I didn't know if I should call Alex yet and tell him to come home from work or if I should just wait it out for a few hours till he got home, or what I was to do. I was trying my best to appear calm but my mind was racing! After talking to Crystal I went next door to ask Michelle Forsyth what I should do and she suggested that I stay at her apartment and wait things out for a bit. So I did, but they kept getting more painful So I called Crystal back and she told me to call Alex. So I did and he decided to come home, that we should probably go to the hospital and if they sent me home, then that was okay. So that's exactly what we did! He got to the apartments about half an hour later and we left! We got to the hospital with my contractions 4 mins apart but I was only 2 cm dilated. So we waited at the hospital for a few hours to see how fast I was dilating and made it to 3 cm but was progressing slowly. So they gave me the option of staying or going home. We decided to go home. Back at the apartments I tried to sleep but was in too much pain, so I tried reading a book, sat in the bathtub for a long time, ate some food and by 5 am decided that I couldn't handle it anymore and that we needed to go back (ps. Alex thought I had slept the whole time...ya right!). So we checked back in and I was 6cm dilated. So they kept me :) We were in there for a couple hours and then I got moved into the delivery room where I got my epidural. The epidural was great by the way! I could still move my legs yet I couldn't feel the pain of the contractions. Oh, Mom, Dad and Emily were also at the hospital with us by this time. So we were all hanging out, having a good time. I felt great. I was pretty nervous and my whole body was shaking pretty hard, but I wasn't cold, it must have been from the adrenaline? So it seemed pretty quick from when I had the epidural to when the nurse said we were to start pushing. That was a scary thing to hear her say haha I had no idea what I was supposed to do or what was about to happen. Dad and Emily left the room and Mom sat patiently on the bench in the corner.

So I started pushing at noon, and it took me a while to get the hang of what I was doing haha I was getting so frustrated and by the end was bawling of course because I was so exhausted and just wanted my baby out! Alex was amazing through all of it. At first I was self conscious because I had told him he wasn't aloud to look and he was totally peeking! But I soon got over that and was able to figure things out. I was really glad in that moment that we didn't find out because it gave me the extra energy to get her out! And so she came out at 1:17, a baby girl :) She is definitely not what I expected, I was expecting a blonde boy, and out she came a head full of dark hair with girl parts haha I of course in the moment thought she was beautiful but the poor girl had the BIGGEST cone head, honestly it was probably 2 inches above where it should have been... so sad! But by the next morning it was completely down to normal haha So anyways, she came out and they handed her to me and then took her away to be cleaned and weighed and what not. But then the doctor called for the anesthesiologist and for Dr. Lee. The anesthesiologist put me under for a couple minutes and so this is where I tell the story from Alex's perspective. If you haven't yet had a baby or get grossed out easily, don't keep reading till the following paragraph. Alex said that they put me out and then this little Asian Doctor came in. I guess my cord had detached from the placenta and my doctor was quite a large lady, so this Dr. Lee had to come in and put her arm (up to her elbow!) inside of me to grab my placenta... Then as Alex is standing there, the doctor starts asking why I'm not waking up, and upon hearing that, Alex gets worried and scared, and doesn't know whether to be over with Brooklyn or me at that time. But they get the anesthesiologist back and tells them that he gave me a little bit of a higher dose just to make sure I didn't wake up while her arm was all up in me haha gross.

So after that was all cleared up, the doctor gave me nudge in the face and called my name and I instantly woke back up. I had no idea what had just happened, I was just happy because they were handing Brooklyn back over to me :)

 

 

Then before I knew it we were being escorted up to our postpartum room, which was super nice. It had a queen sized bed and a menu to choose what we wanted to eat from, with benches for family and lots of room for visitors. All of my siblings were there to welcome Brooklyn into the family. It was really nice to have everyone there and to have their support.

Then our nurses switched and I got a nurse that I did not have patience for. I had brought a soother to the hospital just in case. Well it turns out Brooklyn loves to suck and it calms her down very quickly. So I was using it, and the nurse walks in and says in a not so tactful tone, "oh I see your using a soother... we don't recommend that you use soothers" and goes on to say all the negative outcomes. I just want to emphasize that I had just had Brooklyn, and that she was speaking to me in a very condescending tone. Well I snapped back of course, defending my choices as a new mother and from then on I couldn't accept anything she said as being of any help haha  But anyways, soon after, everyone left and Alex and I had time to ourselves to just be together with our baby girl for the first time. It was amazing to say the least.
Then the following morning, Brooklyn had all her blood work taken and they told us that she was jaundice. So she spent that whole next day under the lights. I missed her soo much that day. The only time we were aloud to take her out was to feed her, and that wasn't the most pleasant of times haha But she loved it under those lights and slept the whole time, so Alex and I got our rest. Alex was a huge help and such a good Dad. He loves her so much and it definitely showed :)
so we got to finally go home on the morning of the 28th and we were definitely excited to be back in our own element. And when we got back Michelle had decorated our apartment with posters and balloons :) It was really cute and super sweet of her. Oh and a huge thanks to Eleni and Tim, and Jeisson for taking care of Hugo for us while we were gone... It was a HUGE help and made our lives a lot easier.

So now Brooklyn is 8 weeks and is so alert that it makes things really fun :) She is on a pretty good schedule and is honestly a pretty easy and calm baby so far. At only 6 days old we went to Emily's Grad, she had her first fathers day and went to her first rodeo! She had the cutest baby shower thanks to Crystal and Kelly for doing that for us :) And just this past week we went camping! She is very versatile, will go anywhere and to anyone (unless its nap time, then I think she calms down quicker with me), and smiles in response to people now! Its great! She was blessed on June 30th by her father. It was a beautiful blessing and she was beautiful in her dress and afghan made by my Nana :) We were lucky enough to have her Grandma Cindy there to witness it. Cindy was able to come for 8 days and get to know her newest granddaughter :) It was also the week I got my wisdom teeth out so I was more than grateful for her company and help while I was recovering from that. I am so lucky to have such loving in-laws who are so willing to help where they can. Brooklyn is very lucky.

 

 

 

 

 I keep thinking that I am going to become immune to how cute she is, but I don't think it will ever happen. I can not get enough of her and feel so blessed to be her Mom. It still seems so weird that I am a Mom... so far it hasn't been as hard as I imagined it would be. I am really surprised at how comfortable I am in this role. I thought the lack of sleep would kill me, but I honestly feel as though I am more happy now than I have ever been in my life. Of course some nights at 3 am I get impatient but then as she calms down, that overwhelming feeling of love comes over me and I cant help but laugh at how stupid I'm being. I love being a mom, and I love my little girl and my husband. Alex is an amazing father, and I am so glad to have started this journey with him. There honestly is nothing else I would rather do than be here with my little family. And I am so grateful for my mom and the love she has for me. My parents have shown amazing amounts of service for my family and I cannot thank them enough for all they do.

 

 

 

 

 

You Never Realize How Much You Miss Something or Somehwere Until You Come Back.

 
Alex and I have been so blessed lately and things are going along so well! We are both so excited that the semester is over, especially Alex haha so we packed up the car right after Alex's last final on the Tuesday and headed to Salt Lake for our immigration interview and then left from there Thursday morning to Edmonton :)

So our initial interview was awesome! We brought all our proof, but for some reason my fingerprints and what not were not on my file... The agent said that they were probably not linked properly and that we could go and he would just find them and approve our case. Well five minutes after leaving the building the agent called me and told me that they were missing and that he was able to get me back into the office to have them done right then! This is honestly amazing because normal protocol would be to just send me a letter requesting that I come in with a specific appointment date made later in the month. The problem with that is that I would have already been in Canada without a travel document to come back into the states with haha I was so grateful for his efforts in calling us back immediately and getting me an appointment right then! Such a great guy. So because of his efforts, my mother in law received my green card the other day!!! Such a huge stress off of our shoulders for now :)

So we are now mostly settled into our apartment, we only drove the Subaru up so we weren’t able to take much. Our apartment is quite spacious and so it feels super empty but it made moving in quite a bit easier and faster. We have two rooms, but only one bed so the other room is for all of our babies things, which isn’t much as of right now haha And we are on the third floor which makes things annoying because we have to take Hugo down stairs to pee every few hours. It’s not bad right now because I am trying to walk and what not as much as possible so this baby will come early but once we have the baby it will be super inconvenient. But that’s life. Alex and I were thinking of getting a shallow planting box with grass in it and putting it out on the balcony for Hugo to pee in...? We'll see.

But Alex has been enjoying the opportunity to be back selling and is doing well :) He had his first 3 day yesterday so he is getting back into the swing of things and it’s great!! It has been weird, definitely an adjustment, not having him around as much... It always takes some getting used to, but I’m sure he enjoys coming home to a very excited wife every night haha And I have been picking up a couple of my little sisters shifts at my older sisters Boutique in Sherwood Park so that helps pass the time. And of course having my family around has been great :) Had a family dinner on Sunday which was way nice. One of my cousins just had the cutest baby girl and my other cousin and aunt are expecting in July! Lots of babies!

As for our baby, everything is going well. I feel great and uncomfortable all at the same time haha I’ve started having more regular and intense contractions which are good signs. I will be 39 weeks along as of Monday so any day now the baby can come and we would be more than happy. Sooner than later would be great because I am definitely ready to move from being pregnant to full on mom! Crazy thought but I really don’t think Alex and I could be any more prepared... Not that we know what to expect at all, but from others experiences, I think we are as ready as we will ever be. Crystal and Tanner have been more than generous in letting us borrow their car seat, swing, bath tub and clothes!! It all became even more real driving around with a car seat installed and having my hospital bag at my side all the time haha I am a bit paranoid I’m sure, but I would rather be over prepared than not at all...

Oh and I’m 21 finally haha Thanks to Michelle Forsyth I woke up to my door all decorated with hearts! Then Alex took me to meet my parents, Ems, Crystal and Ella for Dim Sum downtown, my favorite! And then I went back to my parents while Alex went off to work and I just enjoyed the nice weather and then headed back to the apartments for a really fun dinner with the other Vivint wives. They are all so sweet, I can’t get over it! Then to end the night I met Alex after work and we went to the movie the Great Gatsby with my parents :) It was a great day and I am glad I made it to 21 before I had my baby haha Thank you to everyone who made my day so special!

And that’s our experience so far and we are loving it! It has been so nice to be here in Edmonton for the summer. You never realize how much you miss something or somewhere until you come back. That’s how I feel anyways. And sorry there aren't any pictures, I have been writing this post off of a computer without our pictures on it, so I might come back and edit with pictures, but for now, all our pictures are on facebook anyways!

The Past 5ish Months!

I am horrible at keeping up with this blog, and I apologize.
A lot has happened in the last couple months, I don't even know where to start...
I'll start with the biggest news... I am PREGNANT! This shouldnt be a huge surprise to anyone by now, but still very exciting! I am now 29 weeks along and have started to really enjoy it :) The first 17 weeks were pretty bad, and I ended up in the hospital once with severe dehydration. The baby was definitely taking me for all I was worth. But I would rather it do that than face complications. So the baby is growing right on schedule and should not come any earlier than the 20th of May. The past few months have been especially exciting as now I can feel the baby moving on a regular basis.It definitely become real for Alex being able to see and feel the evidence that a little human is growing inside of me! And for those who noticed, I do not refer to the baby as he or she because we are not finding out the sex... for those of you who know me, that would seem way out of character for me, and it is. But Alex doesn't want to know. If I were to find out on my own, I would end up spilling the beans and I would hate to ruin it for him. I am getting used to not knowing and am liking the idea of it being a surprise, crazy!
The next biggest news is that we bought a house! We are now homeowners and are loving it! We bought a bungalow with a walkout basement in Logan, Utah just a couple blocks away from the university. It has hard wood flooring throughout the main level, updated white kitchen cabinets, wood burning fireplaces on both levels, and sits on a quarter acre with apple, apricot, plum and cherry trees. We are hoping to turn this house into an investment property and build a kitchen into the basement to rent out. The basement has a perfect layout with a separate entry and a big empty room which used to be his shop where the kitchen would fit nicely. It has been so fun to move out of our 300sq ft. apartment into our 3800sq ft. home haha We can finally have our friends over! This past weekend Alex's best friend Brayden Tye got married to Kristen Brunson and they are now living in our basement :) His family owns a plumbing company and will be helping us to get that addition all set up and ready to go for us to install a kitchen at the end of the summer! We are glad to be able to have someone living in our place for the summer and having a company we can trust working on the kitchen downstairs is  a huge plus.
And as most of you know, we got a puppy! His name is Hugo and he is a Maltese-Poodle. He will be 4 months on the 21st and is about 5 pounds. He has been perfect for us! He is on a good schedule to where he goes to bed around 10:30-11 and wakes up at 7am to go to the bathroom, then just hangs out and sometimes sleeps along with us till we wake up for real haha He loves to cuddle and we have trained him to sit on command, to walk into his kennel on command (he loves his kennel), and is potty trained for the most part :) if he has an accident, its right at the back door haha
Another blessing has been that Alex's office has joined with the Edmonton South office and so instead of moving out to Victoria for the summer, we will be living in Edmonton!!!  Now Alex will be able to be there for the birth of our kid for sure! I will have the constant support of my family and friends back home, and we get to be part of one of the strongest offices in Vivint. That means we will be more competitive and everyone who knows Alex knows that he lives for competition! We are both confident that this will be one of his best summers yet and of course I will be way happy and everyone knows that a happy wife = a happy life :)
Alex and I have been able to take a couple trips together, one in Vegas for our one year anniversary, Alex won a cruise to Jamaica with some guys in his sales office, and then we just recently returned from Surprise AZ where Alex and a couple recruits were able to work and us wives could just enjoy the nice weather and relax! Alex went with the crew last sunday and I flew in and met them there wednesday because I had the opportunity to take Paige to the MTC!! We were able to attend a session at the Salt Lake temple, go shopping, and just talk about where we are now and how crazy it is!! Paige going on a mission and me having a baby... Who would have thought?! I am so glad I had that time with her, she is honestly going to be such a great missionary and I could not be more proud of her and what she is doing! The East coast is blessed to have her serving their area.
Well I think that is all haha Its hard to cover so much time... My procrastination definitely got the best of me this time, sorry!