October happiness!

HAPPY OCTOBER!!!!
I am so excited that it is FINALLY October. It is one of my favorite months. Maybe because September is just so long and borrring (thats why we chose to get married in September..it actually gives us something to look forward to). Or because it means that the holiday season is coming up! Either way, it just makes me happy. Here's some reasons why:
-conference!
-its 'supposed' to start cooling down. key word supposed
-i love fall colors
-baking season starts
-i can pull my sweatshirts out
-naps with the windows open
-all the halloween movies
-my mom starts decorating
-halloween at my moms is just plain awesome
-and I am so excited this year for the "thirteen days of HALLIEween" she'll be in a different halloween outfit every day so stay tuned :)
I just love all that fall brings!

With it being October, my mom is on her anual trip to California which means Im house sitting for her. I guess its a lot more than just housesitting. Four dogs, two cats, two brothers, the house, and a fussy baby are my responsibilities for the next week. Bleh. And it doesnt help that Tylers at drill. Hopefully he'll be able to share the load when he gets back. With Tyler being gone, I went over to Jessica and Skyler's to watch conference. I'd be amazed if they even heard any of it..its kinda hard with a screaming baby. All four years Tyler has been in the military, he has ALWAYS had drill on conference weekends. I swear its intentional. I just wish that one day i'll be able to lay around with my husband and watch it together as a family. I recorded it, so maybe we can have our own conference session next weekend.
Also with Tyler being gone, that meant it was just me and Hallie last night (plus brothers, dogs, cats, etc.) for the first time. I was quite nervous, even though Im the one majorily that gets up with her at night anyways. But she was so good! I gave her a bath and fed her at 8, then we crawled into bed and snuggled up together. Next thing I knew it was 6 am! She had only waken up to eat once for ten minutes. YAY! She also has been a happier baby lately. She LOVES the apple juice, and I think it has really made a difference. I get lots of smiles in the mornings (thats when shes happiest) and they light up my world! She may be quite a handful, but boy do I love her!!
Now its time to clean the house, make some treats, and relax as my little one naps away (thank goodness)

Tyler

I realized that my "1 year anniversary" post yesterday, quickly turned into a "all about Hallie" post, like it usually does (she's just so dang cute), and I didn't give Tyler the credit he deserves, for surviving a whole year of being married to me. So this is a shoutout to the wonderful man I love, and a few things I love about him.
-his sense of humor..I may not understand half of what he thinks is funny, but I appreciate his ability to see the funny side of just about everything and to laugh when he see's fit
-how family oriented he is..no matter how inconvenient it may be, Tyler will bend over backwards for any family member. I respect how loyal and reliable he is. It makes him such a good husband
-he is my BEST friend. I have seen this quality in him for many, many years and I love having someone like him to talk and vent to (even when the problem is him)
-his work ethics..he is the hardest worker I know. He truely wants to earn everything we are given, and he works so hard to support our family
-we are DIFFERENT..in so many ways..but he is my strength for every weakness I have, and us being different gives our relationship an edge that we wouldn't have otherwise
-he gave me Hallie..need I say more?
-he let's me be ME. This is so easy to take for granted because it has never been an issue. He allows me to be who I am, and loves me for it..even at my worst
-no flowers, or jewelry, or presents can compare to the way I feel when he just says that he's proud of me. Because that's all I want in life..to make him proud, because he deserves the best me that I can be

I love my husband, and I can't wait to make our 'family is forever' a reality. I am so thankful for all he does for me, and I couldn't ask to be loved more than I am

Happy 1 year!

Tyler and I celebrated our first anniversary last Sunday. I cant believe it's already been a year. Or, I can't believe its ONLY been one year with how much has changed in our lives. It's crazy that we already have Hallie..there are times when I find myself wishing we had enjoyed married life together longer, but I would never change having her here with us. I know she was sent to us for a reason, and although sometimes Im not sure why or how, I know she will bring us many blessings having her this early. At least Tyler and I have now been together three years, so we have had our time to be just us, and to learn about eachother..because there is no time for that now! Please dont get me wrong though, I do NOT regret having Hallie, I love her more than life itself!

We celebrated our anniversary on Saturday. We slept in, played with Hallie, and got the house cleaned! Then my mom came over and watched Hallie so we could go out. We first went to Cantina Laredo at the San Tan Mall. We split a steak and chicken fajita platter. It was very filling, but I was saving room for dessert. MEXICAN BROWNIE! If you have not tried this, you need to! A huge chcolate brownie with pecans and walnuts comes out on one of the fajita platters so its nice and hot. Then they scoop vanilla ice cream on top and then pour a vanilla creme sauce over it so it sizzles and carmalizes the brownie. Sooo good.

After dinner we went to the pet store to of course look at all the cute boxers that we wish we could have, but definitely could not handle. Then we went into Helzberg, just to see if they had my ring. The San Tan store was the place I first saw my ring two years ago, and I have never seen it since. I love that Ive never seen anything close to it, because that means its unique! After we were bamboozled to buy everything we saw, we headed over to the Disney Store just for fun. We were actually just killing time.

I have been asking, no begging, Tyler to go ice skating for a few years, and Ive always been told no. He broke his wrist once roller blading, and has been scared to try ice skating ever since. I have never been ice skating as a couple, and Ive always wanted to because I think ice skating holding hands is just so cute. I finally talked him into it, and then we found out we get in free being military! Score! Tyler was a little nervous, but as soon as he got onto the ice, I realized that my vision of us skating off into the distance wasn't much of a reality. I have gone ice skating about five times, and I still have to hold on to the wall for the first few rounds. Not Tyler I guess. He got on the ice and skated off! He was a pro at it! But we had so much fun, and Im glad he liked it.After ice skating, we went to Blockbuster and got some movies. Then we came home, and we snuggled with this little one

Speaking of little one, she is two months old this week! We went to the doctors, and she's now 10 lb 10 oz. 24 inches long! Her jaundice is gone, and she's looking good. For her stomach issues, the dr. suggested that we give her apple juice. I was so excited that she gets juice! I was telling the dr. that hallie is always upset and crying. She was asking if she smiles on command, and just after I told her Ive only seen her smile in her sleep, SHE SMILES at the Dr!!! I was so frustrated! I didnt get the first smile! The person that was soon going to give her shots got the first smile! And I havent seen her smile since...So the dr. thinks her communication skills are slow, but not a worry until she's four months. But she thinks she'll catch up soon. Her gross motor skills are beyond what they should be at her age, since when she's on her tummy she can push her chest up and look around, and grab something when its in front of her. So she's doing good, I just hope that she starts getting happy soon. She did so good getting her shots, and afterwards she slept the whole day snuggled up next to me. I want to give her shots more often, because she was such a peaceful happy baby...which I never would of thought.

Sigh...

Well, Hallie is now 8 weeks this week. I love her sooo much, but I wish so badly that she was more of a happy baby. The only time she's happy is when she's dreaming, and Im starting to get discouraged without any sign of happiness from her. Now that she's almost 2 months, she's supposed to be alert more and sleep less throughout the day. Ya..Im seeing that..but instead of a happy alert baby when she's awake..we get nothing but screams. She has this ear peircing scream that makes it sound like she's in pain. She does it when she's put down, when she drops her pacifier, when she's wet...it just goes on all day long. Its getting so overwhelming to have this unhappy baby just screaming at me all day long. I feel so bad for her..because I dont want her to be unhappy, but I have absolutely NO idea what she wants. She even cries when she's held. I was not very good at following the no dairy rule, just because I had such a strong feeling that it wasnt the dairy that was causing her problems..but now Im rethinking that. Or she might just be a crying baby. Tyler had cholic until he was 6 months, and Ive heard the chances of a baby getting it if one of the parents had it is pretty high, so Im not sure. Her 2 month appointment is next week (like shots will help to this crying madness) so we'll talk to the doctor then and see what we can do. I would give anything to have a happy Hallie. I want to see my baby smile!

Other than that (which pretty much consumes our lives), things are going good. Tyler is really liking his new job at the apartment complex, and is so glad to be done at UPS. And we'll be enjoying the higher paychecks once they start coming in regularly. Our 1 year anniversary is this next week, and weve been racking our brains figuring out what to do and gifts to give and all of that. All we know is Hallie is going to my moms for a much needed break!

One Month!!

HAPPY ONE MONTH HALLIE BUG!! We finally made it thru the first month. Im not sure if I should say its gone by fast or slow. It feels like forever that shes been home with us, yet I feel like we were just in the hospital! We are so in love with this little girl, and it overwhelms me how much people adore her. Its been eventful getting used to having a baby in the household. But right now shes doing good, sleeping 4-5 hours at a time during the night. We do have a hard time with her tummy problems, she gets really bad gas. So at her one month doctors appointment I was asked to cut out all dairy to see if its effecting her sensitive tummy. NO DAIRY?! Ugh! The sacrifices of being a mom. She was also sent right away to the lab after her appointment for blood draws to check her jaundice levels cuz the doctor thinks its back and in full force. Were still waiting for results. I still cant believe we made such a beautiful baby tho! I cant wait to get her newborn pictures back! My good friend Jess took some, and did AMAZING! Seriously..if you havent checked her out..http://www.jrousselphoto.com/index2.php#/home/ heres a preview

Shes so perfect! We also got the opportunity to have her photographed for modeling headbands. My moms best friend works for a online boutique and she has SO many headbands that I am so in love with. If you want some cute headbands, check out Banner Boutique on Facebook or Etsy. So Hallie was able to go model for their new website. Here's one:

AHH! So excited to have her decorated all throughout my house!

Also in the last month:

-I turned 22!

-Tyler got invited to test with the Gila River Police Department, he missed the written test by 3% but I am still so proud of him, and I think its great practice for testing with future departments. Hes sending in his application to Mesa this week, so we'll see if he gets a call

-I became ADDICTED to Pinterest

And ya..were just living life right now and I cant think of anything else :)

Before I forget!

The last week has all seemed to blur by now, and so I figured I should write this sooner than later so I don't forget (maybe I'm trying to??)

Sunday, we woke up early and figured we would give our new ward a try. I made it through Sacrament and then wasn't feeling up to sitting for two more hours so we went home. An hour or two later, I thought my water broke. I called my mom and she just said if I would feel better knowing if this was it or not, just to go in. Of course I was so anxious for her to be here that I knew the only way my nerves would be calmed was to go in and check.

We went in and got checked into triage around 1:30 that afternoon. They checked the fluid, and couldnt read any of the results, so they had me walk around for 30 minutes and then they planned on getting more fluid to test. Just before they tried taking more fluid, they said they found the fern pattern on the last slide, and that it was indeed amniotic fluid. We were admitted. And sooo excited knowing that soon we would have our little baby in our arms. Plus, this was the 24th, and my family and I had a pool going on the date she would come and I just so happened to pick the 25th!

So we were moved to labor and delivery and I started walking. My mom came soon and met with us, and then we had a few other visitors. I was hooked up to two different kinds of antiobiotics for my heart and me being GBS+. I was put on the monitor, and they said that I was having steady and strong contractions so they wernt able to give me anything to speed up labor. I was still dilated to a 1 at this time. Around 10 they came in and said nothing was going to happen for a while so they gave me some sleeping meds and I was out for the night. They started me on pitocin at 3 the next morning. When I woke up well rested, they started upping my dosage every few hours. I was up to a 22 ML/MIN drip. But I still wasnt having any pain, so that was good. Hours and hours passed and I still hadnt dilated. The doctor FINALLY came in and I got to meet him (my doctor was of course out of town all this week) and he found that my water still hadnt broken all the way so they did it again. He also started talking about the possibility of a c-section because I just wasnt progressing at any rate. I started having some painful contractions, and I knew because my water was broken now they would continue to get worse..so I gave in and got an epidural around 6 that night. It was heavenly not knowing the difference between my legs and the pillows :)


Around midnight, I was just barely dilated to a 4...I was starting to give up and had started freaking myself out. Tylers grandpa came and gave me a blessing. Within the next two hours I had dilated to an 8..and 15 minutes after that I knew it was time to push. With Tyler and my mom being the best support team I could have asked for..I pushed for 30 minutes. I finally had my baby girl here at 3:32 am on Tuesday, July 26th. I was 3 hours off of my guess, but the other part of the pool was guessing the weight, and I had guessed 8 lb 2 oz and thats what she measured! Cha-Ching! She was also 21 inches long and beautiful. We decided to change Hallie's middle name from Kate to Rene at the last minute. Partly for it being my middle name, and also because our favorite nurse was named Renee, and she had so much to do with getting Hallie here that we will forever be grateful to her.

We were moved to the postpartum room and the visitors just started piling in. It is crazy and a little overwhelming to see how much this little girl is loved by all of our family and friends. We barely got any rest the first day, and unfortunately felt the affects later that night when Hallie refused to sleep if one of us wasnt holding her.

Wednesday Hallie was tested and they found her jaundice levels high. She was eating very well and having lots of dirty diapers, so we figured it would pass soon. She was tested again early this morning and they were still too high. Although I was supposed to be discharged today, they told us Hallie still had to stay overnight. It was sooo hard for me dropping her off at the nursery and knowing other people are taking care of her now. I just am so beyond ready to take her home and have her be ours. But the hospital has been great and Im feeling much better. They are slow tonight so they let us stay in our room for another night even though Im technically not a patient anymore, and they're letting us take her off the lights every 3 hours for 30 minutes to feed her. I cant begin to explain how much I enjoy going over there to feed and hold her. I miss her being next to me all the time, and we constantly have a prayer in our hearts that she will be able to pass this today and be able to come home with us tomorrow morning.

Thank you to all of those who have offered services, or who have sent kind words and thoughts are way or have come to see us. Tyler and I are so grateful for the support from our family and friends, and we know how much our little girl is loved. She is a beautiful and sweet spirit, and I cant wait to see how she will grow and what she will become in this life. I feel so honored and blessed that she was given to us, and I cant wait to have her at home and start our little family!

Last Minute Trip!!

Well, it is finally that time. Tyler is in Colorado for annual training with the army, and things have already been crazy. He left early Saturday morning, and the poor thing had a 22 hour bus ride. But Im so glad he arrived safely and he's enjoying the nice weather. Saturday I pretty much slept all day again. I was supposed to get packing done since we were moving the next morning, but I was having a lazy day and didnt get anything done that I was supposed to. I swear when Tyler leaves he takes my motivation with him. Thats another reason why I know it was a good idea marrying him, he pushes me to not procrastinate and to get things done. I need that! Saturday night I went to the movies with my dad and brothers and then picked up the keys to the new house! It started storming on my way home. Of course the first night with Tyler being gone and its a huge storm including power glitches and no cable! I was already ready to give up and quit. Things get so bad without him..it never fails. Sunday morning I woke up to an EXTREMELY humid day. I took the girls over to the new house, Lacey was in love at first sight and acted like she had lived there all her life. Chloe, stood by my side shaking..she really doesnt like moving and the poor thing is confused now that Tyler left and were in a new house. But theyre getting used to the idea of a backyard and warming up good. I had my family come help me move and we got it done in a few hours. It was so nice being able to rely on their help! I got some things put away and then we went and cleaned out the apartment. My dad invited me to come to Cali with him and the boys for the week. I told him if things worked out I would. So this morning, after my doctors appointment, I dropped the girls off at Grandma and Grandpas (thank you for watching them!), did the final walk thru on our apartment to be DONE, and left boxes and boxes full of crap in the house to join my family on what will be my last vacation without a baby for a while. We left around noon and now were in Ocean Beach, my absolute favorite. My mom is real nervous about me being away and being due so soon, she doesnt want me to go into labor and her to miss something if she doesnt get here in time. The doctor checked me this morning and said I wasnt dilated at all but I had almost thinned out all the way. I asked him what he thought about me going and he said chances were very small anything would happen this week so it would be fine. He said just stay near a city in case my water breaks. So who knows. I feel great, but I am nervous. It is absolutely crazy to have waited this long and have the doctor say "probly not this week, but maybe next week". Its finally hitting me. I could have a baby next week?! We have so much to do still, so lets hope she takes her time for a little bit longer. But now that Im wishing that instead of wanting her here right away, karma says she'll come. So were playing by her schedule, and we'll see how it goes. Most of all, I just want Tyler to be there. He deserves it with how much he's done for me during this pregnancy. He's been the absolute best support person and I could never have asked anything more from him. So as for now, Im just going to relax on the beach like a beached whale and see how everything goes!