California knows how to party!

We actually took a vacation and went to California! We stayed with Michael's cousin Heidi, her husband Ben and their 4 kids. It was tons of fun hanging out with them!! I didn't really take any pictures which stinks, but here are the ones I did take.

My parents came to say hi!

The day after we got there it was Heidi's birthday so we went out to eat at a place called Slater's 50/50. They are famous for their 50% hamburger/50% bacon burger. Ben and Heidi both enjoyed one while Michael and I had a veggie burger. It was pretty delicious. Then for Heidi's birthday they gave her this huge piece of cake with ice cream for free! Woo woo!

The next day was Thanksgiving. This was Heidi's 1st time making a Thanksgiving meal and she nailed it! My favorite part was the cornbread stuffing. Yum!!

That night Heidi and I went Black 'Friday' shopping. It was pretty crazy but kind of fun.

Friday Michael's mom came into town to meet her granddaughter for the very 1st time! Lorelai had no problem getting comfortable with Grandma :)

We all went shopping for fun and wound up getting some cool things: makeup, 5 seasons of The Big Bang Theory, The Office season 7, a beautiful dress for Lorelai, a cupcake hat for Lorelai, a book, a Garmin watch, and a 1 TB portable hard drive! Whew...good times.

The rest of the time we just hung out. It was so much fun! Lorelai found her feet while we were there...

Heidi gave me all of her baby girl clothes up to 2T to take home. It was quite challenging shoving all of these things into our 3 suitcases. In fact, we had to rearrange our bags at the airport because two of them were over the weight limit! Luckily we were there early so we had time to do this. Otherwise we would have had to throw stuff away or pay $50 extra for each bag, which it wasn't worth it. This is not even all the clothes she gave us. I forgot to take a picture before I put away all the ones she can wear now.

Thanks for letting us come hang out Ben and Heidi! We love you!

30 Days of Thanks

Ok so for some reason I am a weirdo and feel weird publicly giving thanks. Since I have missed 7 days I decided to post my thanks on my blog. Because why is it a bad thing to state what I'm thankful for? It's not! So here they are:

1. I'm thankful for my loving Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. Without them, I would not be here, nor would anyone for that matter :) I'm thankful I'm able to communicate with them through prayer and that when the time is right my prayers are answered. I would not have Lorelai were this not true.

2. I'm thankful for family! My husband, daughter, father, mother, siblings, their spouses, my nieces, my nephews, in-laws, cousins and Tippy! They are all different but all amazing people. I hope they know how much I love them and want them to be happy.

3. I'm thankful for Michael. I know I already did a family one but my husband is different. He is my best friend, a hard worker, a jokester, a smarty pants, handsome, gentlemanly, helpful, loving, kind, and sleepy :) What other husband takes 2 weeks off work when I have a baby and literally does every single thing around the house so I only have to worry about feeding Lorelai, and maybe showering. He is amazing and I love him!!

4. I'm thankful for food. Food makes me happy when I'm grumpy, energized when I'm tired, and gives me something to do during the day. I'm thankful for those who harvest the food that I can so easily purchase. One day I will have my own garden and hopefully find joy in tending to it.

5. I'm thankful for my washer and dryer. Honestly, I could live without my dryer if I had a backyard. I've always wanted to hang dry my clothes on a line with clothes pins. I know it would be irritating after awhile but it would be cool for a little bit. Plus I live where it snows now and it would be harder to not have a dryer...anyway, I'm thankful for how easy it is to clean my clothes in my own home.

6. I'm thankful for friends. I'm so glad I have friends that keep in touch even though I moved away (and those who suck at keeping in touch, I still love you). I'm glad I have people who know me and care about me and help me when I need it most.

7. I'm thankful for living in a country where I typically feel safe. I'm free to go to church, talk about anything, go where I want, etc. I feel terrible for those who do not have these simple luxuries.

8. I'm thankful for a roof over my head, a comfortable bed (though I think we need a new one soon), lots of clothes in my closet (even though I don't shop, where did they come from?), a TV to watch netflix, a super comfy couch, books to read, games to play, etc.

9. I'm thankful for hot water. My goodness how wonderful it is when my hands are freezing to just be able to run my hands under hot water to warm up. Or when it's freezing in my house and I'm able to take a nice hot shower to warm up. Or when I'm doing dishes I can use hot water to help clean the dishes off better.

10. I'm thankful for moving to Chicago. We were guided by Heavenly Father to move here and we weren't sure why. We found out that our insurance paid for infertility treatment 100% so we were able to have Lorelai. Michael also got a promotion to move here, then just recently transferred to a different position within the church that is a promotion too! I really don't think this would have happened as easily had we not moved.

11. I'm thankful for pinterest. Sometimes I am not even looking for anything in particular, and all the people I follow pin such awesome things that actually come in handy down the road. Example: I found ideas for activity days for church, vegan recipes that are simple, craft ideas that are simple and awesome, and lots of other things that will be/or are helpful.

12. I'm thankful for my car. We bought it in 2007 and paid it off in 3 1/2 years. We've definitely had a few issues with it, but it never stopped working. It's awesome that Michael is able to do many of the things on it so we can save some money too!

13. I'm thankful for being a cheap skate. Lately I feel like I've been spending extra money on things at Hobby Lobby or food but it's never super expensive. I hate shopping for clothes so that is never tempting to do. I really feel like this has helped us to pay off credit cards and other things because I am not a shopaholic.

14. I'm thankful for being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church has taught me how to speak in public, how to lead people, how to teach people, how to be more loving, more charitable, more kind, more appreciative of others, more family oriented, more everything really. I know this church is true and I will never ever forget it.

15. I'm thankful for Apple products. My MacBook is the best laptop I've ever had. My iphone is the best cell phone I've ever had. It gets great reception, they both have long lasting batteries, they both can get beat up and continue working, they both have awesome gadgets that make them fun to play with. I'm thankful for the smart people who are able to make such cool technology.

16. I'm thankful for my health. I very rarely get sick and when I do it's just a cold. Granted I hate colds because they can last up to 2 weeks but still, I'll take that over the flu any day. The last time I had the flu was in 2nd grade. Just this year I got a flu shot because I was pregnant and the doctor told me I should get one. Hopefully I will continue this wonderful path of not getting sick.

17. I'm thankful for flannel sheets. They are already warm when I get into them at night, unlike regular sheets that are freezing when I get into them at night.

18. I'm thankful for a baby who sleeps through the night. This really helps since she doesn't really take naps. For example: Yesterday we went to Hobby Lobby. It is appx 4 miles away. She fell asleep on the way there. Stayed awake the whole time we were there. Then fell asleep on the way home and woke up when we got home. She was rubbing her eyes all day because she was tired but refused to take a nap. So it's really nice when she falls asleep no later than 9:30 and wakes up at 6:30.

19. I'm thankful for holiday decorations. It's really fun to dress up the house for different holidays. I think it helps me feel happier and I'm able to be more charitable during those times.

20. I'm thankful for our treadmill. How nice it is to be able to work out whenever I want. It's so cold outside I don't want to take Lorelai with me so it's awesome to be able to work out at home. Then I don't have to worry about slipping in ice or running in the snow.

21. I'm thankful for garage door openers. I couldn't imagine opening the garage to leave, getting out of the car to close the garage then repeating when I get home. It's nice to just open and close it and stay warm or cool in my car all that much longer.

22. I'm thankful for the temple. I love being able to go there and not think about anything besides what I'm doing there. I feel rejuvenated, peaceful and ready to conquer the world after I visit.

23. I'm thankful for music. I love music! I often give answers from song lyrics. I love to pretend I can dance in front of Lorelai. She just laughs at me (probably because I'm not a great dancer) but it'll be so fun to dance with her when she gets old enough. Songs help me calm down, get motivated, feel like crying, and make me happy :)

24. I'm thankful for crafts. I'm excited when I think about something, try to make it, and it turns out perfect! It's typically cheaper to make things and relaxing (sometimes) but so much fun! It gives me something to do when I'm bored and makes me feel accomplished when it turns out pretty!

25. I'm thankful for vacations! It's awesome that Michael gets a lot of vacation time from work so he can take off days to help him wind down from work. I'm also thankful for planes. What would be a 28 hour car drive to California is only a  5 hour plane ride! 9 days until we leave!!

26. I'm thankful for weather changes. I would hate to live somewhere that is hot all the time, but would also hate living somewhere that's cold all the time. Las Vegas was hot most of the time but it did get colder for a few months. Chicago has drastic weather changes and I love it! The fall leaves are beautiful and the weather is gorgeous for a few months. Even when it's cold it's not terrible every day. It's just the wind that gets daunting.

27. I'm thankful for Netflix. I'm stuck to the couch every 2 hours for an hour because Lorelai eats forever. So it's really nice to have something to watch other than just staring at the wall. It'll be nice if my milk came out faster so she could be done eating sooner, but I'm still able to do things and that's all that matters!

28. I'm thankful for cleaning supplies. I love having a clean home. It makes me happy when I can easily clean bathrooms, the kitchen, the floors, etc. We take our vacuum in to get a tune up once a year and they said it will take 4-6 weeks!!! WTHeck am I going to do without a vacuum?? I do have a handheld but with a dog I need a regular vacuum to clean at least once a week! Hopefully one of my wonderful friends will let me borrow theirs :)

29. I'm thankful for Costco! I love getting food that we eat on a regular basis in bulk. It makes things easier and more fun. Who doesn't like to sample food while shopping? Their supplies change every so often (which sometimes stinks if you were waiting to buy something and then it's gone) to something better (usually)! Hooray for Costco!

30. I'm thankful for Lorelai. We tried for 5 1/2 years to have a baby. Through those years we were approved to adopt and had failed attempts. We didn't think we'd ever have kids. Lorelai is such a beautiful, funny, happy baby. She loves me (maybe only because she loves to eat). She loves to run errands with me! She truly is a blessing for our family!!

Kansas City here we come...

I was born just outside of Kansas City, MO and lived there until I was 5 so when Michael found out he had to go there for work I decided to tag along. It was the most fun I've had on a work trip with Michael because 1) we actually got to hang out, 2) we got to see some church history stuff, 3) I met a new friend and hung out with her and her twin girls while Michael was working, and 4) we hung out with some fun people.

So Tuesday was the most boring day of all. I literally hung out at the hotel all day. At night we went to Fiorella's Flap Jack BBQ with some of Michael's colleagues. Michael and I don't really eat meat so I got a spinach salad and he got veggie kabobs. They were both tasty. This is where I met Lacey, Sam's wife. They have twin girls who are a few months older than Lorelai.

Wednesday we all piled into cars and went to Adam-ondi-Ahman. This is the place where the prophet Joseph Smith said Adam and Eve were sent to when they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. That's pretty awesome! The area was enormous and beautiful! 

This was the overlook of the valley.

Same overlook.

This is called Tower Hill/Spring Hill. 

 Once we were done here, we went to Far West. The pioneers encountered so much persecution that they were not in Missouri for very long. They were going to build a temple here but only were able to lay 4 cornerstones and then had to leave Far West.

Inside the fence contains the 4 cornerstones, which would be the whole site of the temple.

This is one cornerstone.

This is a monument with information about the unfinished temple.

Here is another cornerstone (we only took pics of 2).

And here's a picture of how big the temple would have been. 

From here we headed to Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman White, Parley P. Pratt and George Robinson were imprisoned there for about 5 months. I honestly don't know how they survived that long. They were there during the coldest recorded winter of all time, they ate moldy food everyday, they were in a tiny basement, the ceiling was only 6 feet high so most of them could not stand upright, and they had a tiny window to look outside. 

 This is a great picture of the unescapable thick rock and wood walls. The only way into the jail basement was through a hole in the floor. An inmate and his family lived upstairs, unable to get out unless someone opened the front door for them.

This shows how small the 2 rooms were.

Lorelai did so well on the trip. It took us 111/2 hours to get there because we had to stop to feed her and change her, but only took 7 hours to get home. She was passed out! She is super excited to be home.

Or is she....?

She is!

Tippy stayed at a pet hotel and is so happy to be home! She thinks she gets a treat every 5 minutes, lol!

One month already

I always laugh when people say "I can't believe my baby is 1 year old already!" Well, I can't believe my baby is 1 month old already. Time really does fly!

I tried taking cute pictures of Lorelai myself only to have her crying. So I dressed her up in what I wanted her to have on and got her to fall asleep in the position I wanted her in, lol! It was a little hard so the pictures are not the best, but some of them are cute!

 I thought this was so cute! She wears cloth diapers and right now they are huge on her!

This is the sign Michael and I made for Lorelai.

She was not happy with me but I still think this picture is cute!

I think this is the perfect pose with this outfit!

What are your favorite ones??

Baby News

Many people are interested in my labor and delivery story because they know I have a high tolerance for pain. So here it is:

When I was 35 weeks I got my 1st pelvic exam and was told I was dilated to 1 1/2 cm and had lost my plug already. I don't think we asked any other questions because the doctor seemed so shocked that this was happening already.

At 36 weeks I was dilated to 3 cm and was 75% effaced. My doctor was out of town this week so we were seen by the nurse practitioner. She told me I was progressing evenly with my numbers and she thought I'd have a smooth delivery. Well that's good news!

At 37 weeks I was dilated to 4 cm, 80% effaced, and she dropped between a 0 and -1 station. My doctor finally realized at this appointment that I must have a high pain tolerance because when he did the exam I made no facial movements of it hurting. Also, I haven't really felt any pain the whole time I've been dilating. He told me I would probably have a pretty smooth and quick delivery. He said he hoped we'd get to the hospital before the head started coming out, lol! So now I'm a little nervous wondering if I'm even going to be able to tell I'm in labor or not. So I start tracking my contractions just in case, which is hard because most of the time I can't tell if I'm having one or not...

Week 38 I was the exact same. Boo! At this appointment my doctor said "How would you like to have a baby on Saturday?" To which we said "Ok." So it was set to have them break my water.

Saturday, June 30, 2012 we get to the hospital at 8 am. They show us to our room and have me get into a gown. Then we sit there for about an hour until the RN finally comes back. Then she tells me I was set to get plutosin and I said no! It's not my due date and I'd rather wait for her to come on her own than get that crappy medicine. I say crappy because I hate medicine :) So she calls the doctor and he says he's on his way to break my water. In the meantime we called our RN friend Allison and she came to the hospital to help Michael and I. 10:30 am rolls around and my water finally gets broken. Nothing happens...so we play Guillotine (thanks Allison)!

Finally Allison asks if I can walk around and the RN said for 20 minutes. So we start walking. About 2 minutes later I start getting contractions. Lucky me, I have back labor contractions. So every few minutes I get contractions, we stop in the hallway and my coaches help me breath. It still hurts. I feel like my contractions are every 3 or 4 minutes. I start second guessing myself thinking I'm not going to be able to do this naturally. What if I'm only at a 5 and my contractions are this close and painful? I won't have the energy to push her out! So I tell them I'm done walking because it wasn't helping my pain.

We go back to the room and I try the workout ball. That was a big fat no. That hurt worse. They check my progress and I'm at an 8! I get renewed energy thinking that I WILL be able to do this. Michael starts massaging my lower back through my contractions and yells in my face keeping me on track with breathing. If he didn't do this, I would have lost it!

I get through many more contractions and start feeling a very strange feeling. I realize this is probably a feeling of needing to push. I tell the nurse and she calls the doctor. She checked me in there somewhere and told me I was at 9 cm. Holy cow! The doctor comes in and tells me I can push when I feel the need. Thank goodness!! So I push and push for about 45 minutes. The actual pushing was not painful but the doctor's hands up my vagina the whole time was pretty uncomfortable. I did 3 or 4 pushes in a row for 10 seconds each. The 1st two pushes were the easiest and then the next ones were harder. I guess I was pushing with my face but I couldn't figure out how to ease that tension so now I have broken capillaries all over my face.

The doctor said she's having a hard time coming out and needs a little help. Do I want an episiotomy or the vacuum? Allison said I wanted the episiotomy so I said ok. 2 pushes later at 4:53 pm Lorelai May Oliver was born! She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz, was 20" long, and had a full head of hair!

Allison said she was sucking already so she wanted me to try breastfeeding. Lorelai hooked right on! How exciting! She is super strong already lifting her head and shoving her hands in her mouth so you have to pull hard to get them out. My mom said I was the same way.

Welcome to the world and our family Lorelai!!

Random Naturalistic Things

I've been thinking recently about all the random naturalistic things I've learned about and thought I'd share.

1. Vicks Vapor Rub (I don't know if this counts as naturalistic, but it's better than taking pills, right?): cures nail fungus. Apply at least every other night with a Q-tip onto base of nails until nails have grown out. Also for coughs, rub onto feet and wear socks.

2. Onions: cures ear infections (and helps drain when you have a cold, sinus infection, etc.). Take a white or yellow onion, cut in half, microwave in wet paper towels for approximately 1 min. Replace paper towels with new ones. Place each half of onion on an ear and wait about 5 minutes.

3. Garlic: cures athletes foot and helps prevent colds. To cure athletes foot: boil garlic in water for 2 minutes. Wait for water to cool then soak your foot in water for 5-10 minutes. Repeat as often as necessary.
                To prevent colds: microwave 2 cloves for up to 1 minute. Peel off skin and eat. This actually does not taste disgusting. It does make your breath smell like garlic though. You can do this every day. (garlic is an immune booster)

4. Vinegar: what doesn't it do? Use it in your dishwasher instead of detergent. It not only cleans your dishes but prevents your dishwasher from collecting calcium buildup.
                   Use it to clean any surface in your home: toilets, counters, etc.
                   Spray some onto your cutting board before cutting onions to help prevent you from crying.
                   Mix it with baking soda to make a stain remover for your clothes.

5. Baking Soda: is a deodorizer. Sprinkle onto your carpet, let sit a few minutes and then vacuum it up.
                           Mix with Hydrogen peroxide to create a stainless steel cleaner.
                           Use to brighten your teeth when brushing.
                           Sprinkle some onto your armpits to use as a deodorant.
                           Put 1/2 - 1 Cup into your laundry to freshen and deodorize your clothes.

6. Apple Cider Vinegar: cures heart burn and acts as a fruit fly repellent. Drink 1-2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar every day to cure heart burn.
                           Put vinegar in a container and wait for flies to collect around it.

I don't know if this next bit is "naturalistic" but these are random food things I've learned.

7. Beans: beans can actually replace oil or butter in baking recipes. Whole mashed beans replace butter and pureed beans replace oil. Use the same amount of beans as the recipe wants butter or oil.

8. Ground Flax Seed: Mix 1 tbsp flax seed with 3-4 tbsp water and wisk. This replaces eggs in baking recipes.

9. Blending frozen bananas turns it into an ice cream texture but is just banana! Blend with peanut butter or chocolate for a frozen treat!

That might be all I can think of for right now. Hope you find this information as exciting as I do :)




                   

Activity Days Recognition Night

Upon looking for an activity to do for activity days, I came across the part where twice a year they are supposed to have a recognition night. Seeing as I've been doing AD for over a year and have never done a recognition night, I thought, oops! So I started planning. Here's what I came up with!

Family Olympics

We had 4 olympic events: Javelin Throw
                                          Balloon Ring Toss
                                          Relay Race
                                          Long Jump

When people walked in they needed to "register" which just required taking a pre-made necklace that had 4 sections, one for each event. Once they completed an event, a number or a sticker would be put into a square.

Then each team took about 5-10 minutes to come up with a name and make a team banner. We taped these up onto the side of the stage.

The Javelin Throw was made with poster boards. I cut the shapes of a circle, square and triangle. The circle was worth 10 points, the square 5, and the triangle 15. The javelin was a pool noodle. They had to throw their javelin through one of the shapes to get points.

Balloon Ring Toss had 5 balloons filled with helium. Each balloon was worth a different amount of points. Their rings were small hula hoops. They had to throw the hula hoop and get it around one of the balloons. (I forgot to take a picture.)

The Relay Race was the easiest. Everyone on the team had to run a lap around the gym carrying a light-up stick then pass it to the next person on their team. When they were done they got a sticker. (I forgot to take a picture.)

The Long Jump was marked with tape. The jumping distance started at 3' and went up to 12' in 1/2' increments. (I forgot to take a picture.)

Once the olympians were done, we had our award ceremony. They stood on a step stool in front of the torch, got a gold medal, and were spotlighted for what they have accomplished.

Then we enjoyed some fruit, pretzels, and tootsie pops for our refreshments! This activity was a success and the whole family sure had fun!