Babies, Moving, and Chaos

It has been so chaotic, I haven't posted in forever! So much has happened, and now that Lil is about 8 weeks old, I figure I better write her birth story down before I forget any more of it... But here's what's been going on in a nutshell, then I'll share her story...

So we stayed with my in-laws for about 3 months, had Lil there, and decided it was time to move into an apartment close to where we're planning on building in the spring, which meant Layton, UT. Now we've been in our apartment about a month and even though it's small, has had multiple floods, and has pest issues, we love it. We like living simplistically in this 750 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment with Josh and I, our two kids, and our two cats haha. Shortly after we moved we had to get a new car- the Civic bit the bullet and needed a new engine, therefore we are proud owners of a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback. And even though we had to pay an additional $750 to fix an really bad oil leak to pass emissions, we love the car and it fits our family so much better!  Alright, now on to Lil...

I was so angry. It was my due date and I still hadn't had the baby. This was my second child, only 18 months after my first, I'd had 2 false labors, and my bloody show almost a week ago. All signs pointed to the fact that I should have already had her. I was having annoying contractions all the time but they weren't doing anything. My mom and step-dad came up from California in hopes I'd have the baby this week, and my midwife told my that if I didn't have her in a few more days we'd resort to castor oil. I was on the clock now. As the evening came I was sick of everyone asking me if I was having contractions. I felt like everyone was just watching me, waiting for my water to break or something- my patience was running out.

That evening I made a huge dinner for Josh's family and my visiting one, it was delicious. A contraction here, a contraction there... these were more painful, but after 2 false labors I wasn't getting my hopes up for fear of a third. We put Jax to bed around 7 and Josh wanted to watch Pacific Rim, but as we watched the movie my contractions were definitely painful now, and worth not ignoring. We started counting contractions at 8:57 pm. They were really consistent and pretty painful (i.e. I made Josh pause the movie every contraction so I could focus on breathing) so we called the midwife about 10 pm. She took her time, which I told her to, and she arrived about 11:30 to check me. Less than a week ago I was not progressed at all, now I was a 3 and pretty well effaced. This was happening for real now. Nancy, the midwife's assistant, helped push on my knees during the contractions and between her and Josh helping me, I basically sat in a comfy chair and breathed through the labor without incident, I wasn't making very much sound, just sitting and breathing as they got closer together. Finally things were really painful and I thought I reached my threshold when they checked me and told me I was at an 8. They broke my water and shortly after I was on the birth stool and they were telling my I could push when I was ready. I was literally in transition for maybe 7 contractions... thank goodness. I was hesitant to give my all while pushing, since, you know, I could feel everything... Josh was ready to catch her, I bore down with everything I had and out she went! He literally had to catch her. Lilian Eve Prieto was born at 2:37am October 23rd. Less than three hours after my due date (which is funny becuase Jax was born 3 hours before my due date). She was very petite, 6lb 7oz and 19 inches long. All of her features are petite and perfect. She's a doll, and a cuddle bug. Jax love to give her kisses. Since about 6 weeks she's only been waking up once a night, which I'm grateful for. Unfortunately I've been having a pretty hard time with postpartum depression this time around. It's hit and miss, some days are great and other days are horrible, but Josh and my mom help a lot. Josh is really sensitive to how I'm feeling, especially if I'm down and always tries to reassure me that I'm doing a good job with our kids. I love being a family of four and can't wait to take her down to California to see my family for Christmas!

Three Days, A Little Helper, and Cherished Moments

I am now officially three days out from my due date, and needless to say I'm a little anxious to get things going. I had Jaxton 1 day before his due date, but this is my second and they'll only be 18 months apart so all logic says I should have this little bundle before Monday, which would be equivalent to when I had Jax. However, things aren't always logical. I'm doing really well physically considering, though my feet get tired quick. I'm having this baby at home with a midwife and couldn't be more excited. I had Jax at the hospital with an OB and well... the experience was not fabulous. Each morning now I pray to go into labor that day, but each night I pray for labor to wait until morning. My poor mom and stepdad constantly await a call from me telling them it's time to get into the car and come up here. Hopefully I can make that call soon.

In the past month or so, Jaxton has become my little helper. He helps put shoes away in the shoe rack. He "helps" unload and close up the dish washer. He helps clean up his toys. He helps get himself dressed. He helps me assemble IKEA furniture.  He helps me get a walk every day. He helps me smile throughout the day. Mainly he helps me stay sane and keeps my mind off of labor and awaiting the arrival of his little sister.

The past month awaiting Lilian I've made sure to cherish special moments with Jaxton. This is the last month it's just going to be us two during the day. He's going to be a big brother. I'm going to be the mom of childREN. We're both growing up. It's crazy exciting but it also makes you slow down a bit. I've been trying to pay extra attention to our bonding moments and his developments. Not saying I won't do that later too but it will never be easier than now. Slowing down and appreciating those moments really make me appreciate my life and that fact that I'm so involved in this amazing little boy's life. I'm so blessed to be given the opportunity to be his mother, and so grateful to bear the responsibility of bringing his little sister into the world.

I Am SO Over It

So you know that really awkward last stage of pregnancy? Well I'm in it. You know, where none of your maternity clothes fit, but you don't buy more because you'll only be this huge for another few weeks. You oh-so-carefully roll over in bed for fear of pulling a ligament in your giant abdomen.  Every time there's stormy weather in the forecast you think, "Hey maybe I'll go into labor!" You barely manage to bend down, which makes life tricky when you also have a toddler or other kids running around. Every time you have a contraction you pray it's progressing you. Ya, you know what I'm talking about. That's where I'm at, and I'm over it.

On Monday I'll be 38 weeks along. Jax and Lilian are going to be about 18 months apart. Also we believe I have an irritable uterus this time around (tons of fun contractions that do NOTHING). I've been pretty active this pregnancy so all the factors point to me not going to my due date. Though at the beginning of pregnancy I was still expecting to go to due date because I had Jax 3 hours before his due date and both of my grandmothers basically had all their children on their due dates. I was totally fine with it until I finished my crazy sewing projects... and then got to this awkward stage... blah.

Last Saturday I had a false labor because of the combination between my irritable uterus (isn't that such a great term lol) and the cervix softener my midwife put me on. After we realized it was false labor I've been doing my darndest to NOT think about labor or when the baby will come. Sure, I got a calling at church that I feel WAY under-qualified for and therefore have to dedicate a bunch of time to everyday (Relief Society pianist), and that helps, but I still keep thinking, "Hey it's getting close to the weekend, which would be great if I went into labor now because Josh wouldn't need to take time off work!" I guess I'll just try to be patient (never one of my strong points, need I mention) and keep trying to distract myself... Any suggestions?

35 weeks, Braxton Hicks, and Hot Chocolate

I'm now officially 35 weeks and a day along in this pregnancy, and it's turning  out to be WAY different than my first pregnancy. Last time around I didn't really get any contractions or Braxton Hicks until I went into labor... Now I have Braxton Hicks ALL THE TIME and intermittent contractions. In fact this morning while I was walking with Jax I had one long Braxton Hicks through the entire walk, talk about uncomfortable! I don't know if that means that I'm going to go into labor early or what, but before all this... activity... I fully expected to go until my due date like I did with Jax, but now I have no idea.

Also, I have a really hard time sleeping now. Last pregnancy I just needed to sleep a lot, but now I wake up around 3 am and can't go back to sleep. Luckily I've found that getting up and taking a shower helps me get back to sleep... except this morning... which was lame. I read an article about sleeping during the last trimester and they recommended drinking a hot drink before bed, so I've been on a strict regimen of drinking a mug of hot cocoa before bed :D. Now that I think about it I didn't have any last night, which may be why I had a hard time this morning. Well I'll definitely have to get back into my regimen tonight and see if it helps.

I've still been nesting like crazy, which of course is taken out on sewing... And I must say I'm pretty impressed with myself, I'm getting to the point where I can wing it pretty well. Here are some pictures of the things I finished last week!

Of course I only saw the light was wacky after I got it loaded on my computer : / Anyways this is everything from last week, 2 dresses, 4 pairs booties, 2 skirts, a pair of boots and a jacket. 

 Here are the dresses, I found a tutorial online and adjusted the sizing. I decided most of the things I was sewing were for spring/summer weather (which doesn't fly in Utah) so these are supposed to be more for the winter...

This is the jacket and pair of boots, the jacket I made without a pattern and it's lined in fuzzy cream fabric. The boots I made by altering the pattern I have for the booties and winging it. They're also lined with the fuzzy cream fabric... Again, I'm aiming for winter.

This dress I made the week before, but couldn't take a picture of it to share, but it's one of my favorites! It was a more complicated pattern than I was normally doing but I'm so pleased with how it turned out!!!

Ya, besides chasing my insane toddler around, this is how I've been filling my time. I have so many more ideas but I'm also needing to make Christmas presents and a quiet book for Jax. It's so hard to divide up my time for these last few weeks before the new baby, but at least it's all fun stuff :) 

Projectaholic

I have a confession, I am a projectaholic. I honestly am only complete when working on some hair-brained project. This past week I've been busy making Christmas presents (which I hope to go into more detail about later) and dresses for the anticipated princess due Oct 22nd! For the sake of brevity (my toddler just woke up), here are the pictures of the dresses I just completed!

This one I made from a maternity top and the orange is from our old pillow shams.

The above two I made from fabric remnants and a 

pattern given to me by a friend.

And for the sake of giggles, here's my toddler thinking he's hilarious when he does the splits :)

Yay projects!

Frantic Nesting

Well as of right now, I'm 31 1/2 weeks along in this pregnancy, and all the sudden I want it to DRASTICALLY slow down. I had my midwife appointment on Monday and she gave me the list of birthing supplies, which I'm now accumulating, and set up our next appointment at the house so she can get a lay of the land. . . Because I'm going to have this baby in like two months... WACK. I guess you could say I'm nesting, but it's more like, "Crap! I have so many dresses to make! And I need to make the Christmas presents for this year before she gets here because after she comes I will have NO time to do so! Where the heck is my thread holder for my sewing machine?!?! Graaaahhhh!!!" Yeah, that's basically it. In lieu of sewing my darling baby girl's clothes (I'm still missing a sewing box from the move that has important things in it... like the thread holder... and bobbins... and my thread...) I am focusing my efforts on completing the non-sewing crafts at this time.

Some family friend's daughters are pregnant and having a joint baby shower next month and I made them these amazing... well I guess in case they read this I shouldn't say... Anyways it took like a week but it was so worth it... So now I'm moving onto Christmas projects, which, I know, is ridiculous... But again, I'm afflicted with crazy nesting, and since we don't live in our own place to decorate right now, I'm focusing my efforts on preparing for Christmas. I've always wanted to just make my own presents for Christmas, and this year I feel like I really have a chance to do so. I have everything mapped out and organized, so I should be alright.

Well I'm off to clean the shower and make a $1, 10 minute Christmas present for my wonderful husband... I can't wait to figure out our camera situation so I can post more pictures :( In the mean time, I hope everyone is not as frantically nesting as I am!

Back in Action

We're back from our vacation in California! It was pretty insane to think that I hadn't been back home for a year and a half, and half of my family hadn't even met Jax yet!

The week before we left Josh had his finals, which basically meant we didn't see him the whole week. While we were in California we stayed at my mom and step-dad's new house so they got to spend a lot of time with Jax. If you'll notice, I'm not posting any pictures because I WASHED MY CAMERA :(((((( I have this wonderful luck with getting camera's wet... Really, it's awesome. Anyways, now that we're back I'm super loaded with projects to do before Lilian comes and, believe it or not, before Christmas comes.I have so many things planned, I hope I can get them all done in the midst of dealing with my crazy toddler!

Moving Craziness!

Well I haven't posted in a while because we've been a little... busy. We ended up moving into my inlaws' house for the time being while we plan to build next summer. Right now we're trying to finish prepping our old house for the new lease tenants. Hopefully we'll have all that figured out soon so I can start planning for the trip we're going on next week- home to California! And MAYBE when I get back from the trip I can start focusing on having this baby... I am in my third trimester now and all.

Needless to say moving takes a toll on pregnant women, and I've been feeling all the craziness. It doesn't help that even though Jax had a few days of his normal 3 hour nap, ever since he's had HORRIBLE naps. I know one of his molars is coming in, and with the changing environment... I don't know, it really wears me out. Sorry this post is so short, my kid just woke up from ANOTHER horribly short nap. ://///

Emily

Us Crazy Hippies

So remember how our plan was to pick up and move to San Francisco? Well after much prayer and research, and entertaining NUMEROUS scenarios, we've decided to build a house, probably in Summit County. This way Josh can attend either BYU or the U of U, and we can be in a permanent situation. Here's the kicker, we're building our home out of earthbags...

<source>

Basically it's an extremely sustainable, durable, and efficient natural building method used all over the world. It's becoming more popular in the U.S. as building codes consider sustainable buildings.

<source>

So we're moving in to my in-laws in two weeks and will be preparing ourselves to build this home ourselves next summer! Here's the plans we've decided on.

<source>

The great thing about this plan is that it's designed to be extremely energy efficient. It utilizes passive solar energy and is extremely insulated. It's also geared to be totally ideal to convert to a completely solar house. Oh, did I mention these things are extremely cheap to build? And they're more stable, insulated, and weather resistant than traditional stick built homes. Awesome, right? Oh, and it takes a very low skill level to build these, which is great because we're doing it ourselves. Our friends and family may receive invitations to help next summer, we do have a building window before the snow comes... So right now I'm doing all kinds of research and budgeting, I figure the more I know the better. Some days I get really overwhelmed with it, but last night I felt a lot of reassurance from Heavenly Father. Hey, if He can help Nephi build a ship to cross the ocean, He can help Josh and I build an earthbag house in a summer, right? Right.

Footprints and Footsteps

I love baby feet, particularly my baby's feet.

When Jax was in my tummy, I would wake up with bruised ribs because he'd kick me in the night, so excited to get out.

When he was out, he'd kick his feet to show his excitement for living.

When he learned to crawl, his feet would paddle like a bike and he'd crawl like a charging baby rhinoceros.

Now that he walks, his feet show him the world one step at a time.

I know now I'm supposed to say something profound about footsteps for his future... But I guess all I can say is I hope he studies ours and makes his own.  I know his footsteps will be fleeting and I need to cherish every one.

Wheat Waffles and Waffle Wheels

We are a waffle-eating family. We never eat pancakes. Part of that is because during our last move my griddle got separated from its cord long enough to assume it was gone forever, and of course right after that got thrown our we found the cord! Isn't that always how that works? Anyways, I make a lot of waffles. In fact Jax eats a half of a Belgian Waffle EVERY morning for breakfast, with a half of fruit.

I love to make waffles, but not every day. So what I do is make a batch of Money Saving Mom's Freezer Friendly Waffles (I use her recipe exactly, though with all whole wheat flour), and keep frozen ones on hand. I LOVE these waffles! They're also great with whatever additions you'd add to waffles or pancakes.

On another note, when I was feeling the first trimester blues with this baby, I was pretty lazy with making Jax snacks, so I bought them... Yes I am ashamed my laziness was taken out on my child's nutrition... Anywho, I bought these Gerber Waffle Wheels...

Only to find out they were HUGE!!!

So I'm thinking - How am I going to fit these into Jax's mouth, much less by NOT shredding his gums to bits!?

Well he's big enough now that he can fit them in his mouth, without closing it... Which means that while he wanders around the house trying to soften the wheels enough to swallow, he's got waffle drool leaking from his partially opened mouth. I hate these Wheels. But Jax does look pretty funny eating them :)

And that's my waffle rant for today haha. 

The Good, the Bad, and the Scrum-diddly-umptious

This is Jax. He's 14 months old. He eats like a 10 year old.

Partly because he eats so much, I have a complex about giving him the processed, nil nutrition, completely artificial, "toddler snacks." I MUCH prefer to make all his food. However, it's quite exhausting spending so much time going through recipe after recipe and trying to find things that he likes. So I guess this post is devoted to those other moms who like to make food for their toddlers...

I love to cook. I'd love to cook even more if I had a dishwasher... Slowly but surely I've been adding recipes to my repertoire, mostly through trial in error. I go through cooking phases, for example right now I love to cook anything from Pioneer Woman  because everything I've cooked from her has been stellar. However recently I've been trying to cook more for Jax so I've been going through recipes from Weelicious. The thing is, so far the recipes from Weelicious have been either total hits or total misses, without anything in between. One of my friends has the cookbook and has been having the same issues, so we make sure to share the good ones and ones to avoid in an effort to cut out the bad trial in errors. That's kind of what I'm going to post about today. Here's my hits and misses!

1) Animal Crackers - AWESOME!
Yes I realize the picture below has star-shaped cookies, not animal shapes, but that's the smallest cookie cutter I had. These are so good though! We demolished a whole recipe in like two days. The good thing is, they're not too sweet, but sweet enough. And they're incredibly addicting. But they're the perfect "sweet" snack for toddlers, and Jax loved them.

2) Chocolate Zucchini Bread - Not so awesome...

My mom has a killer chocolate zucchini bread recipe but I really wanted to try this one because it's part whole wheat. Not great. It's way bitter and only like an inch tall. However, after making it I read the comments, and all of them were recommending to add a bunch of sugar and chocolate chips, which I just really don't want to add for Jax. I'll stick to the zucchini muffins.

3) Zucchini muffins - AWESOME!

I am always trying to find a way to get more veggies into Jax and this muffin recipe is a great solution.

4) Parmesan Zucchini Cakes - AWESOME!

Another great veggie alternative. All of us loved these.

5) Veggie Pancakes - Yuck.

Yup, that's all I have to say about them.

6) Sweet Potato Muffins - Meh.

Yup, that's all I have to say about them. 

7) Apple Banana Muffins - AWESOME!

These have now replaced my previously awesome banana muffin recipe.

8) Carrot Snack Sticks - Pretty good.

We actually really liked these, especially because of all the grated carrot in them!

These are the ones off the top of my head that I experimented with. I'm really grateful for the ones that came out good, more healthy snacks for Jax to choose from! Hope this helps those looking for healthy snack food for your family!

Emily

Second Chances and Big Changes

This is my second attempt at blogging. This first time around, I felt a little handicapped with the structure and vision Josh and I had created, since it was supposed to be "our blog," but I decided that I need a low-maintenance, purely "me" blog if it's going to go anywhere. Right now there's a bunch of changes in progress and I feel a need to document those changes somehow, in a semi-informal manner. And so here we go!

Random picture. This is Jax. I'm still in awe I have a little boy, not just a baby now. Proud mom moment lol!

So these big changes I'm talking all came about within the past few weeks, for the most part, and will get sorted our in the next few months, to change our lives for at least the next few years... Confused yet? Me too. Here's what's goin' on...

1) We're having our second baby!
This change came about... oh.... five months ago? But I only have a few more months 'til our little Lilian Eve is here, and I'm super scared for the 1 to 2 kid transition as a mom. She's due Oct 22nd so I have about 4 more months. With Jax I did the normal OB and hospital bit... But this time I'm having a midwife and a home birth. Crazy right? I'm so excited though! I'm going to give birth at my in-laws' house, actually, which is kinda weird but I think it'll work out nicely (and they agreed to it haha). In an effort to NOT spend a fortune on a little girl (though nearly impossible), I've gotten some material scraps and have been sewing little jumpers with matching head bows to fit over Jaxton's old onsies. That way I can basically use all the clothes we already have! So far I'm made two sets, though with the other HUGE changes going on (as you will see) I've slowed down being so productive in this arena.

This is the first dress/head thingy set I made.

2) We're moving!
This is the big change that hasn't quite figured itself out yet... So Josh and I have a house that we've lived in for just about 2 years now. We intended to stay in this house until we had too many kids to fit in it (there's 4 bedrooms so it'd be a while). However, after much prayer, Josh announced that he wanted to go get his Master's degree after he finishes up his Bachelor's in August... and that may include moving out of state. This wouldn't be a permanent move, and as soon as he'd be done with that degree we'd come back to Utah. Well so a couple of friend's in our ward have a contract at the local apartment complex that is expiring the beginning of August... So we decided that they can lease out our house while we're gone. The husband's going to go to grad school/medical school in 3 to 4 years to ideally the timing would work out with us being gone to get Josh's degree. So anywho, we're moving out of our house in about 3 weeks now. The issue is where we're moving then. For the time being, we're going to stay with Josh's parents, who live in the area, until we figure out where to go to school. Here's the hang up though, Josh's Master's is going to be in a different field of study than his Bachelor's, so he needs to complete prereqs, and out of state tuition is really expensive. So basically the plan is to apply to a ton of Property Manager positions around the country (near cities with school opportunities for Josh), accept the first acceptable position, move there, work for a year while Josh does prereqs and we get residency in that state, he'll apply for and attend grad school, then we're come back and Josh'll start his educational software company. Did you catch all that? So basically right now everything's on hold. And don't forget that I'm having a baby! So IDEALLY we'll find something local so I can continue with my midwife here and we can cut out that extra year for getting residency, OR Josh moves first and Jax and I follow after I have Lilian... Crazy right? I know. Needless to say we're praying a lot right now. But we know Heavenly Father wants us to do this move, we're just waiting for him to show us the next step in the plan...

Josh, on our way to his commencement ceremony.

3) ...

Ok well I guess there are actually only 2 major changes in the mix right now, but #2 is a really huge and complicated one! So I guess I feel like my life is only certain for 3 more weeks, then who knows. But I guess life is always like that to some extent. For me it's better if I just don't think about it and focus on things I can control... Like making banana muffins today for Jax... Or keeping my house clean... Best to just do that for now, the big stuff will figure itself out.