Happily Married

It was 35 years ago today that it happened.  These two little lovebirds went up to Canada to be married to each other for forever.  She was beautiful, and he was handsome.  They were in love.

He's taking her out on a date tonight.  You two are still cute as ever. 

Just you two, and then one at a time, each of us joined you.  Mom, you once joked with someone about how mormons have a lot of kids and said, "It's not like I'm going to have ten kids or anything!"  Well that joke must have been really good, because by then we started walking out on our own. Hopefully we haven't made these 35 years seem like too long! I don't know how 10 kids is done, but it sure is amazing that we turned out so well!  I love to take vacations, but I think the best vacations are just hanging out with the family you two have put together.  As silly and crazy as we are (thanks Dad), I love that we can just sit and talk and relax (thanks Mom) for hours.  I wouldn't want us any other way. 

I think you two deserve this special night out.  A night without worring about making/cleaning up dinner.  A night for just the two of you.

Happy 35th Anniversary Mom and Dad.  We love you!

Disney Villians Please Don't Come To My Rescue

I was at the DMV with my sister-in-law last week.  We were waiting for her number to be called so she could get her license.  Just waiting.  Katelyn waited with me.  She filled her diaper. . . very full.  It leaked out the top it was so full.  Gross, I know.  She got fussy, which I have learned means she is done filling it and would like a new diaper.  I was sitting in the back row of chairs and decided to change the diaper on the floor.  Her diapers don't stink regardless of how nasty they look.  I still only breathe out of my mouth because it is gross, so I am pretty sure they don't stink.  I know she didn't smell bad before the diaper change.  So I was changing the diaper and had to change her clothes too because of the overflow.  It was a very cute outfit, and the new one wasn't as cute so that is why she probably started crying.  Her flower headband wasn't going to match her new outfit so I took that off.  I think she really wanted to wear it anyways and so she told me that by crying louder. :)  The lady sitting in front of us turned around and told me, "Don't worry, her crying is a lot louder for you than it is for the rest of us.  Most people don't mind and know it is more embarrassing for you as a mom and we are all just thinking back to the days when we had a little baby to love and take care of.  You really are the lucky one.  Let me know if I can help you with anything."
She was really nice, and I would not have minded asking her for help, but I felt just fine changing her diaper and her clothes.  I didn't ask for her help.
Not more than a minute later I now had a baby with a clean diaper and no clothes . . .and still crying.  I had just put the new outfit over Katelyn's head and was starting to put her arms through the sleeves.  A lady with a wild hair do which I was not sure if it was real or not, comes back and kneels down next to us and says, "I'm a grandma to four kiddos, I'll dress your baby."  She picked up Katelyn off the ground and dressed her.  I was not very happy.  Not because Katelyn was still crying.  Who was this lady?  I couldn't stop looking at her.  She reminded me of the lady from The Rescuers, Madame Medusa, except she had platinum blonde hair.

Not even kidding. . . this is too close of a match.  After she dressed Katelyn, well she had one of the three buttons done up, I reached out and grabbed Katelyn back.  As I was pulling her back, this lady continued to wrap the blanket around Katelyn which meant she awkwardly was situating the blanket between Katelyn and I.  As I was holding Katelyn and snuggling her up to me and attempting to calm her down, the lady said, "my grandbabies called me and said 'Gromma, I'm hongray!' and your little girl sure is 'hongray'" (I spelled these words how they sounded, so just sound out the words and say them with teeth stained coffee breath and make up and hands like Madame Medusa and you will be surprised how weird this was. Promise.) The situation probably looked very close to the picture above. . . I was holding Katelyn turning her away from the real life Disney villian who felt the need to invade our personal space.  My face probably looked identical to Penny's.  I couldn't believe it.
I said, "Thanks for your help, could you throw this away?" and I handed her the soiled diaper. Luckily, that was all it took to get this lady to go away.
I stood there in the back of all the rows of seats at the DMV swaying back and forth, and Katelyn snuggled up safe and sound stopped crying.  She was happy now.  The nice lady sitting in front of me, turned around and looked very concerned and asked, "Are you okay?"  I wasn't sure if I really was, but I said yes.
I stood there and rocked my baby to sleep.  It didn't take long.  She wasn't "hongray" she was just tired and uncomfortable with the mess she made.  I would be too if I had a mess in my pants like that.
I stood there and realized there are lots of people different people out there.  I encountered two very different ones that day.  One of them felt that by telling me she was a grandma, that made me feel comfortable with her grabbing my baby.  She was wrong about that one.  I wouldn't have felt comfortable if she was a grandma to 100, she wasn't my baby's grandma, and I had no clue who she was.  The other lady cared.  She let me do my thing as the mom, and offered her assistance, if I wanted it, and checked up on me after the craziness was settled.  Thinking of these two people made me tear up.  First at how crazy that Madame Medusa lady was, and second for how caring the other lady was.  I am honestly thankful for the latter.  
So for all the grandmas out there, you are not entitled to handle every baby simply because you are a grandma.  It doesn't work that way.  Not for me and my baby, sorry.  I know babies are cute, and mine is no exception. But I can dress her.  

Let the Real Competition Begin

I had my 6 week appointment. . . can you believe that over 6 weeks ago I had that little baby in my belly? . . . anyways it went well.  Nothing too crazy.
I was weighed at the one month appointment and weighed again at this 6 week one. . . . nothing changed.  So I am hoping that by publishing this that I will have all the more motivation to work extra hard.  Don't be mean, but if you have something nice to say I'll take it :)
Before I got pregnant I weighed 145ish (plus or minus a pound or two depending on a fast sunday dinner, Christmas brunch, Christmas dinner, Turkey dinner, Day-after-Thanksgiving pie and roll eating day, or any other occasion to eat more food than usual :)  The Monday before I had Katelyn I weighed 184 meaning I gained about 40 pounds.  At both of the before mentioned weigh ins, I am proud to say that I now weigh 155.  I am excited that 30 pounds really were "baby weight" or "extra water weight." I was a little worried honestly, but I am glad that so much has come off since I really haven't exercised one bit unless you count washing dishes, taking out the garbage, showering, or any of the regular daily (hopefully) tasks.
So here is my before picture. . .

But I would like to give everyone a fair chance so I am willing to restart this competition.  Chad didn't seem to get the memo of when the last one started. . . likely excuse. . . so this is for you Chad :)  This competition starts today, October 13, and we will see how we've done on Christmas 2010 (Chad that is on December 25th if you didn't know) before dinner :)
I really hesitated to put this picture up, or to even take this picture, so once again, be nice :)

This is for motivation.  No this is not a pregnancy picture. . . I wish it was. . . no I don't wish I were pregnant again, I wish I could blame the belly on being pregnant, but I can't.  This is me at 155 pounds.  I am hoping to lose 10 pounds, and hopefully an extra 5 to get back to 140.  I have cropped out my face because it is red and sweaty due to my first run! (you are lucky my armpits didn't get too sweaty)  The doc said I am free to start my physical activities of all kinds.  I am serious about losing this nice flotation device I have so nicely around me.  I'm a big girl now and I don't need floaties, so it has to go. . . . and the pool is closed for the winter so there is no more swimming.
Good luck to you all!  We will see who the real biggest loser is.

Blessing Blowout or Party Pooper. . . take your pick

 Last weekend we had a lot of family come into town for a special occasion.  Nobody came to see David, or me.  Okay, maybe they wanted to see us a little bit (probably to see what kind of contenders they were up against for the weight loss competition. . . or weight gain, for Ben and Katelyn)  We were not at all offended by this.  I promise.  We knew going into it that they were excited to see the baby.  We were excited for them to see the baby too.

Friday night the excitement began.  David's dad flew in and he came ready to chat.  Katelyn didn't seem to mind.  Chad and family came in a little later.  Edison and Emelia were excited to see their newest cousin.  They brought some gifts for Katelyn.  She got some cute new clothes and flowers for her headbands so people know she's a girl.  The girls helped pick out some of the gifts.  Edison picked out a blanket.  It happened to be the same one that Katelyn had wrapped around her.  Edison had a very excited face that looked like she had just found a match playing Memory, and she began to sing, "I picked out the same one."  You know that song right?!  Amber reminded Edison that it isn't very cool to give a gift to someone when they already have it.  Edison didn't get it and was still proud of her match :)

Emelia liked holding Baby Katelyn.  Sometimes she was a little rough with her.  She liked giving her hugs and making Katelyn do silly faces.  She would also give Katelyn her pacifier...whether she wanted it or not.  When Katelyn was sleeping, sometimes Emme liked to suck on the pacifier.  I think she thought it would be fun to be a baby again.

She tried to sit in the car seat, but she had arms and legs hanging out of it in all directions.  She's not so little anymore. Sometimes I would mention that it was time for Katelyn to eat.   Emme wanted to share her snacks with Katelyn too.  Katelyn doesn't like goldfish, rolls, or cheetohs :)  Edison and Emme watched me feed Katelyn.  I'm glad Tracie sent me this nursing cover.  It made it just in time for the weekend!

They would peek under the cover to find out what she's eating.  They weren't quite sure about the whole secret eating thing :)  Katelyn can be a noisy eater, but when she wasn't being noisy, the girls checked up on her to make sure she was still eating.  They asked me how she eats. . . she doesn't even have teeth.  Very curious and concerned for Katelyn.
Saturday Chad and family swam and we enjoyed a picnic in the wet grass.

(good thing Emme's raft was yellow ;) )

This is her serious face with her squirt gun:)

The rest of the family came that night.  Ben must be fighting with his wife again, he came alone. Or she could be pregnant and is trying to hide the belly from us.  Or the reason Ben gave us, she went to the blessing of her brother's baby. . . likely story :)
We watched the Boise State game, ate pizza, passed the baby around, talked and enjoyed everyone's company!  Katelyn didn't seem to mind the attention and let anyone know when she was hungry.  Sometimes she will bob her head with her mouth wide open in search for food on your arm or chest. She hasn't quite figured out who is who, or who has her food and who doesn't.

Katelyn kind of moved around and nearly ended up on the floor. . . just trying to snuggle I guess.

Abby is "sleeping" with Katelyn.  Nice try.

Ben showed up with two big bags of Coco Dino Bites in hopes that we can show Katelyn what breakfast is really about and get her hooked young, even if they have to go through me first to get to her.

Ben holding a fake baby. . . or a headless one. . . or just a blanket :)

Dad couldn't wait to his turn.

Sunday was the day we had all been waiting for.  Mom had been working off and on on this dress for a while now and spent the two nights before working hard to finish it up.  Abby said that she hadn't seen mom in a while, and had no dinner for the week either.  Poor Abby.  We got to church early and I had her fed so she would be happy.  We put the dress on her and it was beautiful.  Katelyn was still a little fussy so David and I were working hard to keep her quiet.  David was also trying to remember what he wanted to say.  Katelyn had other plans.  David and the men in the family stode in the circle as David gave her blessing.  It was so neat listening as MY husband blessed MY daughter.  Still unreal to me that I am so lucky to have these two in my life.  The blessing was great and very sweet.  Katelyn only fussed a bit.  As all the men sat down, David stood there a bit so he could show her off.  He had a smile similar to this one. . .

This smile is reserved for things that make David extra happy.  While Oreos, Cookies and Cream ice cream, and spider man stickers bring out this smile, the one he did as he held Katelyn up for everyone to see seemed a little bit bigger than the rest.  I sure was a proud Mom and wife!
Within seconds of sitting down and wrapping Katelyn up in her blanket, the bomb went off.  Katelyn's fussing was explained.  She created one huge mess in her diaper.  That mess quickly made it's way out of the diaper and all over the back of her dress. . . .the dress that is supposed to be passed down from generation to generation as a family keepsake.  Not only did it make it through the dress, but through her pink soft and fluffy blanket, and on to David's shirt AND pants.  David just said, "I think she needs her diaper changed." and we were singing the sacrament song and I figured she'd be fine if we changed her diaper after the sacrament was over not knowing how bad the mess was.  David had an idea it might be bad, but he didn't really know either.  He gave me that look telling me he needed to go now, so I handed him a diaper and some wipes quick and sent them on their way.  I got a little nervous about the dress hoping she didn't get any poop on it. . . little did I know.  After the sacrament I looked out into the hall.  David was standing there with our baby.  He motioned for me to come and had a scared/worried/urgent face on.  Oh boy!  I walked out there and saw the damage.  I never knew that sweet little baby of mine could ever have so much in her!  We weren't sure what to do.  We didn't know how we would ever get the dress off of her without getting the mess all over her.  and would it come out of the dress?  Could we wash the dress since it has little beads, ribbons, and since it is homemade?  I didn't want to ruin it!  Luckily I had another little dress that I brought for her, so after carefully taking off her dress, I wiped down her whole body and dressed her.  David took the dress and blanket home to wash.  He washed his clothes too and came back with good news, that the dress wasn't stained.  Mom said she would remake the dress, but I didn't want her to have to do that.
So no pictures of this great event and I am sure you are all glad.  I now know that in exchange for her being such a great eater, she is also a great pooper!
She was good as ever for the rest of church and snuggled up with Chad and Mom.  I think Chad wanted to take Will to the bathroom so he could come and steal Katelyn before anyone else got the chance :)  We loved having everyone here.

Our tiny apartment sure does fill up fast with just a few bodies!  Dad played Uno with Will and Emme and I think he's peeking at Emme's cards.  Will probably won because he has since he was born.  Luke looks like he is 10 times too big for the couch. . . he probably is because he's huge and cool like that.
I think there was a total of 16 of us here and it was great!

A nice family picture with the three little Bares. . . .cute.
Here's the crowd. . . there were 5 of the 10 Bares and Ken.  Quite the party!  I promise Katelyn is in there. . . her legs are dangling and her belly is showing a bit.

One month ago. . .

I can't believe I have a one month old baby!  It is still unreal to me.  I hold her and love her like crazy, but I still can't really believe she's our baby.  We aren't just babysitting.  What is even weirder is calling her my daughter.  I have a daughter!  I am a mom. . . can't be.
Those last couple months of pregnancy seemed to last forever as we were waiting for Katelyn's arrival, and now since she's been here, it honestly seems like yesterday I was sitting in the hospital with my epidural calmly waiting for her all day.  Time has flown by so quick!
Here she is with a newborn sized outfit on.  Amber found it this weekend and it was so new and still had the tags on it.  It was too cute and deserved to be worn so we put it on anyways.

Her legs stretch all the way to the little footies, and her little belly peeks out a little.  Cute :)  With a full diaper, those pants sag a little more than usual :)

These pants also have cute ruffles on the bottom which make them extra cute!  She just had to wear them.

For her one month birthday celebration she had a bath!  That sounds gross, like she hasn't had one before, but she has had plenty.  So this bath isn't that exciting really.  

Oh, she didn't cry one bit during this bath, so I guess that is what made this bath so special!

I got to shower today too, so it must be a good day!

Katelyn often looks annoyed.  Maybe she's mad at how immodest she is. . . but she's a cute naked baby :) 

Katelyn has had a little extra chub since she's been born.  I love that I have to wash inside all her rolls and folds.  I especially like this one on her wrist.

 If you look closely (sorry if this is too gross) you can see all the lint from those darn pants with footies.

Don't worry.  I cleaned those cute little toes.

 

She got to wear an outfit that really fits her.  I love this face she has here too. . . a little worried about something :)

After eating and a bath, she started to get sleepy.  This is a tough life right? Yawns are cute too, sorry.

A few snuggles, hugs, kisses and lovin' it is time to sleep!

She gives me these little smirks as she doses off. . . cute again!

 A few more naps and some full diapers filled up her day though I thought I would spare everyone those pictures.  David and I ate cupcakes to celebrate.  I am sure she wouldn't want any.  We went shopping which was great except Katelyn does not like riding in the car.  We are still trying to figure her out on that one.
We did find out that she sleeps mighty fine on her side. I am still getting up with her every 2-4 hours.  Last night there was a 5 hour period. . . loved it!  But she doesn't have to sleep on us and we can sleep while she does.  Hooray!
For my record. . . at a 4 week appointment last week she weighed 10 pounds 9 ounces. . . that's my big baby!

Life has been a little bit good

 (You can click on the picture to see it a little bigger.)

We have definitely been enjoying Katelyn.  We get a kick out of all the faces she can make.  We have found that hours can pass without us even realizing it.. . .seriously!  We can sit and watch her so much!  She is a good snuggler and an ok sleeper.  She sleeps great when we are snuggling with her, but once we lay (or is it lie, I never did figure that one out) her down, she wakes up and wonders where her warm body to snuggle with went.  We wouldn't dare put her to sleep on her belly, and she NEVER sleeps on her back, so we have learned how to prop her up a bit on her side and off to sleep she goes!  Let's just say that last week was a little rough!  The first two weeks were manageable because I had the nurses help and then mom was here helping and I think I had extra energy that wasn't being used to haul her around in my belly or something.  But after Mom left, my energy to wake up to that cute little cry wasn't so plentiful anymore.  I didn't want to bother David's sleep since he had to work early in the morning, so I tried to manage her on my own, but I was exhausted!  David has been very helpful and gives me a good nap each day that I request.  I cannot complain about him!  He has been great and probably saved my sanity!
The sleep issue was one thing we had to deal with.  That week we also ran out of fresh peaches.  This was pretty sad for me.  David didn't care for him which seemed like a crime, but I think I ate enough peaches to make up for his foolishness.

This is one beauty of a peach.  This is a smaller one, I promise.  The biggest ones really are nearly the size of Katelyn's head,  and her head is almost 15 cm around.  They are always so juicy!  A napkin is not enough. . . they either need to be eaten over a garbage can, outside, or over the sink.   I wouldn't mind if peaches came grew on the trees again and Mom brought another three boxes.  She cut and froze some for me, so one day I though it would be a genius idea to blend it up with ice cream to make peach ice cream.  I was so bummed that my ice cream didn't taste like pure peaches and I put it all back in the freezer not eating any of it.  I wanted to take the ice cream flavor out.  Maybe someday I will eat it.
When Mom was here she went to town cooking for me.  We seriously had to tape our freezer closed so that it wouldn't open randomly on its own.  Any time we opened it we had to be ready to catch anything that fell out.  We have eaten enough of the food out of there that we were able to take the tape off a couple days ago.  It is tough being so spoiled!  Thanks Mom!
So we figured out how to get Katelyn to sleep in her bassinet so we have all been able to sleep a lot better.  She has been fun during the days and is a very active baby.  Her arms and legs seem to go nonstop when she's awake.
She is growing great!  At her 2 week appointment, she weighed 9 pounds 13 ounces which means she has gained over a pound so far since she started at 8 pounds 10 ounces.  She is still a little porker!  Started out big and is staying big!  She eats VERY well and nursing has gone VERY well thanks to having the lactation consultants at the hospital. 
My life goes in 2-3 hour times slots now which is strange still.  I am still trying to figure out when to eat, sleep, shower, clean, do laundry, and all the regular life stuff.  It is trickier than I thought it would be.  I still blame Katelyn for somehow making so that only one leg got shaved for church last Sunday. . . it must have been her fault :)
I can't wait until I get to go exercise again!  My doctor wants to make sure I am all healed up before I get moving too much, so I am just going to have to wait it out.
At the last doctor's appointment, we were sitting waiting for the nurse to call us back, and a stranger that looked and smelled like a HEAVY smoker very nicely with a scary smile asked, "Do you mind if people hold your baby?"  I was caught a little off guard, but I am so glad that I said, "Yes, I do mind."  And returned a nice smile back.  I am pretty sure that I could have lost my baby that day. Luckily, having a baby means that in awkward situations you can just stare at your baby and not look up until it all goes away.  I stared at Katelyn until I was called back to see our doctor and Katelyn didn't seem to mind.
It has been strange lately as anything remotely sad or extra happy has been making me tear up.  Like having one leg shaved at church or the ice cream in my peaches.  One extra happy thing that happened here for us was that David got a new job! This great news definitely brought on the tears!  He starts this coming Monday at a CPA firm doing government auditing and we are thrilled!  We have been grateful for the job he has had since we've been here, but it is so unreliable as each day could have been his last.  The project they were working on luckily kept giving them more work, but we were told that the job would go through July so we have been on edge wondering if he would be working the next week or not.  Definitely an answer to a lot of our prayers.  He even wore a wrinkly unmatching outfit to the interview.  Oh well, whatever works right!  I am sure that is going to be his interviewing outfit of choice for any future interviews since it worked for this one.  We are both so relieved and so happy to be done job hunting! David is thrilled to have a real job with benefits and everything.  He's a grown up now right?
So we are happier than ever with this cute chubby baby and a new job for David.  We get to go celebrate tonight since he doesn't have class.  He also gets to bless Katelyn this Sunday and I can't wait to see the dress my mom is making. . .  and my mom and family coming!  So much goodness. . . minus the peaches and scary people wanting my baby.

It's Nice

Lately:

• I have loved not being pregnant.  I can move and sleep again!
• I love seeing Katelyn when she first wakes up, every time
• We love not being at the hospital
• I feel great and didn't have a reason not to go to church.
• David had Monday off and we loved having him home
• We love having a rocking chair!
• Katelyn makes cute faces making good use of her eyebrows
• Mom or people from the ward have been preparing all my meals
• Nursing is going really well and doesn't hurt anymore
• My belly is a ton smaller but because I am nursing, I still can't see my feet :)
• And today's favorite, Katelyn attempted to pee on both of us during her diaper changing. . . David caught it with a diaper and I was just letting her enjoy her freedom when she tried to get me :)

Mom is leaving us tomorrow and we will miss her.  Apparently I have not been in enough pain and miserable enough for her to really pamper me, but I have loved having her here.  She's got a magic soothing touch with Katelyn and I now have a freezer full of food ready for dinners all month!  She spoiled David too and he has had oreos and cookies and cream ice cream all week.  I can't wait to see the blessing dress she finishes off for the blessing coming up.

I think I forgot to mention. . . As of Sunday August 29th at 7 am, anyone and everyone  has been entered into a weight loss competition.  I have a feeling that I might lose the most weight and I dare all of you to try and beat me :)  This will be the true test to see who gets the Blizzard and dad's two bits.