Is it worth the discount!?

So back in the beginning of October I started a job at Old Navy.  It seemed like an ideal job because they were willing to work with my schedule.  I basically go in to work 5 times a week from 6am-8am to clean the store.  When I first started everything was fine, but now the longer I do it the more sleep deprived I am becoming.  Norah wakes up every 2-4 hrs which would be fine if I could sleep until 9am with her.  Instead I have to wake up at 5:30 to feed her before I go to work, and then I get home at 8:20, feed her again and then she is awake.  On top of being sleep deprived cleaning isn't very fun either.  And I just keep thinking I got a college degree so I could take out trash, mop floors, and scrub toilets!? This job is also the reason I didn't get to go visit my family for the holidays, I had to work a black friday shift from 5am-3pm.  The only reason I've stayed as long as I have is for the discount! I get 25% off at Old Navy and 50% off at Gap and Banana Republic!  This has been nice since I have a little bit of a shopping addiction, especially with buying clothes for Norah. So my question is, is it all worth the discount?

Thank you

I just want to take a moment and shout a huge THANK YOU to the inventors of this....

Norah used to not sleep unless I was holding her and it made life very difficult.  Now all I have to do is set her in this and she falls right asleep and stays asleep!! It is the best thing ever!!!

Flying with a Newborn

Well Norah just had her first flying experience.  I’ll admit I was a little nervous at first but it ended up turning out just fine.  However I learned a lot and I hope to help anyone else who may be traveling with a newborn in the near future.

Things to know when flying with a newborn

• You will need the birth certificate for identification
• The security guards will be extra friendly to you and your baby
• If you have a car seat put it upside down to go through the X-ray machine
• Using a diaper bag that can be worn like a back pack makes things really nice.
• You can take milk through security but you will have to make it available for them to test
• TSA.gov says that if the baby is in a sling you can leave her in when you go through security, 
• I didn’t try it but it seems like it would work nicely so you don’t have to lug a car seat around
• If the flight isn’t full they will let you just carry on your car seat and you will have to set it in the window seat, otherwise you can check it at the gate
• Carrying the baby in a sling is really convenient; the only thing is they will make you take the baby out during takeoff and landing which can be frustrating if your baby has just fallen asleep.
• Go ahead, ask for two drinks because you deserve it and the flight attendant is not likely to turn you down.
• If the baby gets squirmy from the air pressure give her a bottle or a pacifier.  Bottles work best because they make the baby swallow which is what will pop her ears.
• Don’t sit in the emergency exit seat, and don’t sit in the seats directly behind the emergency exit seat they will make you move which is not an easy thing to do when you have a baby a car seat a laptop and a diaper bag.  (FYI the first seat I sat in was the emergency exit seat.  Then a nice gentleman informed me that I couldn’t do that, so for convenience I moved to the seats directly behind the emergency exit.  Then the flight attendant told me I would have to move. Well the seats behind me were taken so I decided to move to the seats next to me.  Bad move, I obviously had to move again.  It was a mess!)

 Overall Norah enjoyed the plane ride :)

 

Nuevo Mexico

I spent all last week in New Mexico with family.  It started when my parents and brother and sister-in-law decided to come up for the BYU vs UofU football game.  I thought it would be fun to drive back to New Mexico with them and then fly back to Utah a week later.  So that is what happened.  I had to leave Jordan behind so he could do the school thing, but I was kind enough to make him meals to feed him while I was gone.  Norah and I took the 10 hour drive to New Mexico and she did amazing, she really only cried once thank goodness! When we got to Albuquerque I go to see lots of family and one friend.  The sad part is that I woke up on Tuesday feeling really sick and by Thursday I was in the urgent care being told I had a kidney infection.  I continued to be pretty sick until Saturday afternoon and then I left on Monday.  So I didn't get to do anything really, but I was around family which was so awesome.  I was so grateful to have extra hands to help with Norah while I sat around being sick. Here are some pictures...

Norah and Matea meet for the first time (cousins)

Grandad and his two newest grandchildren

Sonora, Norah's cousin, and the cutest 2 year old I have ever seen!!

Hagan, Norah's cousin

Norah got really attached to her grandad

Four cousins, missing three others

Matching!!

attempted faux hawk 

On my mind...

I have a BIG, beautilful, stubborn, demanding, darling baby that I love so much.
Losing weight is fun, I've lost about 45 lbs and I have about 20 lbs to go.
Residents of apartment complexes can be down right mean.  If you are a renter give your landlord a break, and realize that you are not the only one with problems.
Schedules get complicated when you add a baby to the mix
Baby K'tan carriers are the best thing ever and are a lifesaver for the mothers of babies who won't sleep unless they are being held.

Our friend Rachel Brinkerhoff is a very talented photographer and was kind enough to take some pictures for us...enjoy...

6 Weeks

Well tomorrow will be the six week mark since Norah's birth.  I can't believe it, its gone by so fast.  Things started out pretty hard but let me tell you, they just keep getting better and better.  For one thing I can finally sit comfortably, something that I will never take for granted again. and I'm exercising again which has been much needed!!  I've adjusted to having my sleep interrupted, it doesn't even phase me anymore.  My emotions have evened out and I can now think rationally.  And Norah just keeps getting cuter and cuter.  Today I got good footage of her talking and smiling.  Enjoy...( i can't figure out how to get the video to work, but you can check it out on facebook)

One week old!!

Well baby Norah is a week old today, I can't believe it!! She has been such a blessing in our home, and such a challenge! Wow those first few nights having her home were impossible, definitely the hardest thing I've ever done.  The first night home she only slept a few hours and wouldn't nurse.  I spent the whole night worried that I was starving my baby to death. So at 8am the next morning we headed over to WIC to see a lactation consultant.  Getting in the car and going out in public was the last thing I wanted to do, after all I had only gotten about 2 hrs of sleep, and I could barely walk from being so sore.  Nonetheless we made it to WIC.  We were unable to get her to nurse but WIC did provide us with a pump so I could be sure to get her some food.  The 2nd night home was a nightmare, Norah slept maybe a total of 2 hrs, and I slept a total of 30 min.  Norah just screamed and screamed and once again I thought I was starving my poor baby, I've never felt so helpless.  After a lot of prayers and a blessing from my sweet husband the Lord began to bless us.  He didn't make Norah nurse, or make me less emotional, but he sent tons of helping hands! Family came over and held the baby so we could sleep, they also came over and cleaned and made us food, members of the ward also provided us with food.  My mom and sister are now in town and I couldn't be more grateful. It really does take a village raise a child, or at least to take care of a newborn.  I'm so grateful for the blessing the Lord has provided our sweet little family with.  He continues to bless us daily.  And just an hour ago I finally got Norah to nurse!! I know we probably have a lot more work to do with it, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel!! :)

My Birth Story

The months leading up to my delivery of Norah I could not get enough other peoples' birth stories, and I found them very helpful. So here is mine...

My pregnancy with Norah was somewhat average, morning sickness in the 1st trimester, felt awesome in the 2nd trimester, had hundreds of aches and pains in the 3rd trimester.  Jordan and I anxiously awaited the day that we  would finally meet our daughter.

Before we got pregnant Jordan and I had done some research and decided that we wanted to go natural with our birth.  When I found out I was pregnant we started searching for midwives and found a birthing center that fit our needs perfectly.  And I was super excited to experience a natural child birth.

When I was about 36 weeks pregnant I was having very high blood pressure and had some protein in my urine, which are signs of preclampsia.  After finding that out I started taking things easy to try to keep my blood pressure low, I spent most of my days in the swimming pool relaxing and trying to reduce swelling.  I was so uncomfortable all the time and I was just hoping and praying that Norah would come soon.  At about 37 weeks I started having tons of braxton hicks contractions. I found these to be very annoying and I kept hoping they would bring on labor.

On July 11th I started having contractions that were definitely not braxton hicks contractions, they were about 15 min apart and kept me up all night.  I even woke up my hubby to tell him that I was pretty sure I was in labor.  At about 8am the contractions stopped completely! I was so frustrated and I couldn't believe I had gotten my hopes up.  I spent the day making up for lost sleep and cleaning the house.  Luckily that evening (July 12th) the contractions started again.  However, I wasn't about to get my hopes up again and I did a pretty good job at sleeping between the contractions.  By 4 am the contractions had become much more regular and stronger so me and my hubby timed them. They were about 2-3 min apart and lasted about 30sec-1min.  But I still wasn't convinced I was in labor. I called my sister to see what she thought.. She gave me some advice and at the end of the conversation she said, "Katy you are in labor."  I still didn't believe it! Jordan and I went to Jamba juice at 7am because I didn't have an appetite for anything else.  This is when my contractions got much stronger, so we called my midwife.  She told us to meet her at the birthing center in an hour, 8:30 am.  7:30-8:30 felt like the longest hour of my life.  We got back from Jamba juice and I was in too much discomfort to walk up the stairs to our apt.  so we just walked around the apt property.  I was moaning and groaning and hanging on to Jordan for dear life, I just kept hoping that no one would walk by I was pretty self conscious.  The time finally came and we got in the car to go to the birthing center.  My contractions were super close together and wasn't really having any breaks, but the car ride was still doable.  When we got to the birthing center they checked me and I was 6 cm I was so happy!! I thought for sure they were going to tell me that I wasn't in labor. I proceeded to get right into the birthing tub which was absolutely awesome.  Jordan sat outside the tub and comforted me, holding my hands and stroking my head, he was awesome!  The midwife checked me again at about 10:40 and I was 9 cm, once again I was super happy! My water still hadn't broke so we decided to have the midwife break it at 11 am.  At about 12 pm I started pushing.  Up until this point I really thought labor wasn't that bad, just really uncomfortable, but not painful.  When I started pushing that was pain for sure.  I wasn't getting comfortable in the tub so the midwife had me get on a birthing stool, I regretted this later, I think pushing would have been better in the water.  Jordan sat behind me and I grasped onto his legs for dear life.  I never knew I could scream so loud!! I thought for sure I was going to make my midwife deaf.  I felt like my bottom area was going to completely rip apart, and it pretty much did.  Every time I pushed I could feel my tissues tearing a little more.  I kept thinking that pushing was never going to end.  Much to my surprise after 37 min of pushing out came baby, thank heaven!! She was 10 lbs 3 oz, and 22 in. They put here right into my arms and I just kept thinking, wow she is big! They told me to try nursing but I was getting really dizzy and light headed to they helped me onto the floor so I wouldn't pass out.  I was laying on the floor and that is where I delivered the placenta.  I had Norah in my arms but I was just so exhausted to try to nurse or do anything else.  Jordan cut the cord and then I slowly crawled to the bed where I demanded that I get some food.  I really wished I had felt good enough to just hold Norah and work on breast feeding but I was just so exhausted.  After I got some food the midwives came in to stitch me up, I had torn in 3 different places, OUCH!! The stitches were almost worse than the pushing.  When they finished the stitching I yelled "Thank God!"  The only time I swore during the whole process and I don't even consider it swearing, because I really was thanking God that it was over.

We are now home with our baby girl and man is it hard!  She still hasn't successfully breast fed so I spend most of my time pumping and then spoon feeding Norah the milk.  Man it takes lots of patience!  I just keep hoping it will get a little easier and I'll eventually get to sleep.

All in all the only thing I would change about this process is that I would have pushed in the tub (I think this would have prevented some tearing) and that I would have focused more on breast feeding right after delivery.  There was never any point in the process when I wished I had pain relief, there is a certain amount of power knowing that your body is totally capable of delivering a child.  Even though I am so extremely tired right now I couldn't be happier about our new little family.  We love our little girl!

Thoughts on Pregnancy

Well I've been pregnant for about 33 weeks now and I have a few thoughts.  First of all I want to say that Jordan and I are so freaking excited to be parents and to meet our little girl.  I say this so you understand that everything I am about to complain about will be so worth it in the end :)

Lets be honest, pregnancy is no walk in the park. I will say that its not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it definitely has its days.

Reasons pregnancy stinks....

Every day I inevitably get fatter, which means every day my clothes get a little bit tighter, which means every day I have NOTHING to wear!

My ankles and hands are now constantly swollen, which means I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring since April, and the only shoes I can wear are flip flops, which wouldn't be too bad but sometimes a girl just needs to wear high heels!

I have a chronic case of hives, which are super uncomfortable

Heart burn is a daily/nightly occurrence

I'm constantly getting kicks/punches to my ribs and bladder, which leaves me randomly yelping out in pain looking like an idiot

From the hot flashes to the lack of mobility sleeping has never been more uncomfortable

Reasons why its ok that pregnancy stinks....

People are so willing to do nice things for me, like opening doors, and offering to carry things, and telling me I should sit down and rest

Jordan is so sensitive to my needs and is always there for me when I have my emotional break downs

My hair stopped falling out and my fingernails grow super fast

I get to buy new clothes all the time

I can use an excuse like "my midwife told me I need to rest" to get out of going to work

Last, but not least, I get a baby out of it!!!

Another thing about pregnancy is that you get a whole bunch of comments from complete strangers.  In any other situation it would not be appropriate for a complete stranger to make a random comment about your body, but for some reason people feel like they can say anything to a pregnant lady.

Things I don't want to hear...

Whoa you're HUGE!!

(This is NEVER ok to say, in any situation)

It's Coming!!  

(Spoken by a random Asian at the mall as he pointed to my belly, wish I could include his facial expression)

You look like your about to pop! 

(Once again spoken by a random person at the mall.  How is this ever ok to say?  I don't want to know that I look like I'm ready to pop, especially when I have 7 weeks left!)

You're still pregnant!?

 (Obviously not spoken by a complete stranger, but still not ok to say)

How much longer do you have left?

(first of all, none of your business! second of all, I don't need to be reminded!)

There I've gotten all my ranting out of the way, for now.  I'm sure I'll have much more to say in a few weeks.

Bored!

So growing up me and my siblings were never allowed to say that we were "bored"  or my mom would find some horrible chore for us to do. And I really think that was a great teaching method, it made me realize that there is always something to do.  But right now I have to go against this and flat out say I'm bored!! I'm sitting here at the Branbury clubhouse for a 5pm-11pm shift. Jordan is at work so I'm all alone.....I completed all the filing....since I'm done with school I don't have any homework....I finished choreographing the dances for my classes' end of the year recital....since our ward was dissolved I don't have a calling to magnify....really all that is left to do is surf the web and blog.  So I decided to search for the most awesome videos and add them to this post.  I'll be doing a service to myself and anyone else out there who happens to be bored and needs something to do, ENJOY!

I hope I can dance like this when I'm a grandma.

This is how Jordan reacted when he got his first kiss from me ;)

This kids definitely has guts.

I have a feeling this kid is going to go far

Well thats all the videos I could find before I got bored of looking for videos, it wasn't as entertaining as I though it would be.....

Babymoon!

So Jordan and I decided to take the advice of going on a babymoon.  Apparently you are supposed to take a last vacation in your 2nd trimester before you are forever tied down with bottles and diapers.  I'm so glad we did, it was so much fun!!  We started with spending a day and two nights in Vegas.  While in vegas we saw cirque du soleil, mystere.  It was really awesome, although I'm not sure it was worth the price, 60 bucks a ticket! and that was 30% off!  While we were walking for hours up and down the strip I started to really feel the much talked about symptoms of pregnancy.  By the  end of the day I was completely exhausted and my feet and hands were so swollen! After vegas we headed to Oceanside, CA.  We've decided its our favorite place to visit.  1st off because I get to spend time with my sister and her family, 2nd off because the weather is perfect, 3rd off because the Ocean is awesome!!  Jordan and I loved taking in the scenery of the ocean.  We considered doing some fun activity and then decided that we were completely content with just hanging out on the beach all day.  We did go to La Jolla where an extremely unfortunate event happened.  As I was standing on a ledge overlooking all the sea lions when a huge wave came and soaked me, Jordan and my nephew.  The water damaged my camera and I couldn't take any pictures for the rest of the trip which was a complete bummer.  All in all the vacation was so nice! We were said to come back to the cold Utah weather.

Ghiradeli brown and ice cream Jordan ate all of his and then finished  mine!

The beautiful, freezing, ocean

Our five dollar shades that we'll probably never wear again

My oh so handsome nephews

La Jolla

I was standing on the edge of that thing when I got struck with the wave!

Seals!!

 

Disabilities

Here is an update of the last month or so...
I did absolutely nothing for the whole month of January, it was awesome
I made banana bread, sugar cookies, and brownies all in one night
We discovered our favorite game, its called dominion
Jordan learned 4 new songs on the guitar
We've developed an addiction for pickles

Jordan continues to work hard at school

We had Indian food on Valentine's day

I got a job at a disability law firm
I can no longer button my jeans
The baby now can kick
I sewed some pillows
Yeah, I know, life hasn't been very eventful.  Don't get me wrong I've been loving every minute of being out of school and having time to spend with Jordan, but there just hasn't been anything exciting enough to blog about.  However, I thought I would share a little bit about my new job.  I spend all day talking to people who need help applying for social security disability.  Man have I talked to some strange people.  There are definitely those people who really need help and have legitimate disabilities, but then there are those who I just have to laugh at.  For example, the moms who call in wanting to get money from the government because their child has ADD. Or there are the ones who haven't had a job in 20 years and now want to go on disability because they are missing a finger or a toe.  I think the best one was the guy who claimed his disability was that he had been in jail for 20 years and also that he was a minority.  Being at this job has made me realize how hard people will try to get out of work.  Nonetheless, it  has also made me grateful for everything that I have...
supportive parents. an education. a loving husband.  a healthy mind.  and the gospel....these are all things that most of the people I talk to don't have.  I have most importantly realized how lucky I am to have completed high school and also been able to receive a bachelor's degree.  Education is really the gift that keeps on giving.   I've talked to many people who never completed high school, in fact I would say that 95% of the people I talk to haven't completed high school.  It is evident how their lack of education has negatively affected their lives.  My thought is that the government should take the chunks of money they are contributing to welfare and disability and put it towards programs to allow everyone to receive a proper education.

Christmas!

Well Jordan and I had an absolutely amazing Christmas break!  We started out with a 10 hour drive to ABQ.  The drive was awful for the first 3 hours, we had to drive to soldiers summit with roads that had not been plowed.  We drove about 10 mph for the whole stretch of the canyon.  At one point we even did a 180 in the car, it scared the crap out of me but luckily there weren't other cars on the road and we were ok!  We also didn't mind that the drive took longer than normal because we were listening to Harry Potter #7, and enjoying it very much.  We spent a week in ABQ at my parents and on Christmas day we all flew to San Francisco were we met up with my sister and my brother.  San Francisco was awesome, it was my first time.  We did a lot of fun stuff and just enjoyed spending time with each other.  I also got to meet my new niece, Matea, who was still in the hospital because she was born about 3 months early.  She was darling and such a little trooper.  We flew back to ABQ on New Years day.  And then the next day we made our trip back to Provo.  We once again hit icy conditions, but this time in Colorado.  At one point we slid across the opposite lane and right into a snow bank, where we got stuck.   Jordan and I got out of the car to use out shoes to dig our tires out of the snow, and about a 5 minutes later a saint came.  Some lady who lived really close by offered us help and had her husband get a tractor to pull us out.  We just kept think how lucky we were!  We finally made it safely to provo and finished listening to Harry Potter! It was an awesome vacation.

This is what ABQ looks like on Christmas Eve.  Theres a whole neighborhood who lines their streets with thousands of luminaries. 

Christmas morning opening our stockings (my favorite part)

The Fam (minus Jeremiah, Camella, Mike, Anodyne, Hagan, and Sonora) sitting on a pier in San Fran

Getting ready to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

Me my dad and my sister

This is  how windy it was! 

Matea with here little feeding tube.  So Cute!

Trying to push a stroller with two toddlers up the steep hills of San Fran, it took three people!

At the Cable car Museum.  Jordan is wearing a chinese shirt because we were going to China Town next and he wanted to make conversation with people, it didn't work.

Jordan wen surfing in the freezing weather!