Evelyn's Blessing Day

Evelyn was blessed on December 4th. It was a great day! Jarom gave her a beautiful blessing and we were surrounded by so many people who love and support us! I don't remember much of what Jarom said, I was crying (good cry) and worried that any minute Evelyn would start crying or something. Luckily Jarom's Mom wrote everything down. Thank you! Evelyn was perfect during the blessing and the rest of sacrament meeting! And she didn't poop in her dress! yay! She wore the dress that my Mom made for me to be blessed in! I love it! It's so pretty and has extra special meaning! After the blessing we had a lunch get together with all the people who made it to the blessing at Court and John's house (our place is just way too small for a large gathering). After Church we took a couple of pictures of the people that were still there (a lot of people had to leave early). We went home to change and get ready to head out to Court's and then things got a little interesting! People had been telling me how good and skinny I looked so when I got home I thought "hmmm I am getting skinnier, maybe my wedding ring will fit now." So I slipped it on and IT FIT! YES!! It felt so good to be wearing it again! After about a minute of wearing it, my finger started to swell! YIKES! I started to get worried so I tried to take it off! IT WOULDN'T COME OFF!!! I was really panicking now! I tried running it under cold water, soap, lotion, olive oil, ice pack...everything! Jarom tried taking it off-NOTHING! We couldn't think of anything. We call Jarom's Dad to see if he had any advice and they were already at Courteny's house so Jarom was talking to everyone about what to do and eventually we just decided to go to the E.R. I was terrified! My finger was turning purple and I was loosing feeling in my ring finger AND my pinky! I knew that wasn't good! As we are on our way to the hospital, Courtenay calls and tells us to go to their house and they will cut it off for me (that's all they would do at the hospital) I'm scared that my finger is going to fall off (hahaha) and now I'm scared that they are going to cut my finger while trying to cut the ring off and SO sad that my wedding ring was going to be cut! I felt SO stupid! Jarom was so sweet and supportive the whole time! So thankful for him and his calmness! We show up and everyone is already there for the party and ready to cut my ring! Jarom's Uncle Matt is apparently a pro at this kind of stuff so I knew I was in good hands! It doesn't make it any less scary though! They tried to wrap floss around my finger to get the blood back down my finger but the ring was already too tight, it wasn't going anywhere! So they get out the Dremel saw! AHH!! (Side not: John got the saw for Courtenay for Christmas and had to break it out to cut off my ring! Thanks John for sacrificing your Christmas surprise for Court! And really sorry we had to ruin the surprise!) They slipped a tiny piece of metal between my finger and the ring and started sawing. It got really hot and was burning my finger so Someone had to spray water while they were sawing it. IT WAS SO SCARY!!!! There was a whole team of people helping out. It was a sight to see, that's for sure! The ring came off and the rest of the day was great!
So over all it was a happy day! We really enjoyed the company of everyone. We missed my parents but when my Mom was here, we put Evelyn in her dress so I was glad that she got to see her in her dress at least! We love our Evelyn and feel so blessed to have her in our family! She get's cuter and cuter everyday! It seems impossible that I could love her more everyday but everyday, I am amazed at how much I can love her!

And here's the ring! I didn't get a picture of it when it was on my finger but it was not pretty! Luckily we got it fixed (and re-sized) and it's sittin nice and pretty on my finger!

Ha ha this in not a joke! This is for real! ha ha It cracks me up every time! It's like she's saying "Ha ha, i'm ruining your picture!" Too funny!

These picture were taken when she was 2 and a half weeks old.

Enjoying life with a newborn

We LOVE Evelyn!

It has taken a while to get used to everything with her here (we're still getting used to it) but particularly keeping my house clean! I can't stand living in a dirty, cluttered, messy home! And with a baby, it can get pretty messy! There's just baby stuff everywhere! So much laundry to do with all the poop and spit up! so much to do and so little time! So for the first couple of weeks I was just trying to stay on top of things (Which didn't happen, even with all the effort I put into it) I just couldn't do it! Every time I turned around there was another mess to clean up or the sink was full of dishes again or it was time to do the laundry again and I need to feed the baby and change her and play with her and take care of myself and... ahhhhhh!!! Plus I was TIRED! So one Sunday I was talking to this lady in the Mother's room at Church about it and she just said the house work can wait, your baby will grow up so fast and will only be this little for so long. Enjoy your baby! So I thought "DUH!" What was I thinking! I know that it is still good to have a clean home but have now made a chore chart and everyday I will pick up the little things and do one big chore everyday like fold all the laundry or sweep and mop the floors or clean the bathroom etc. That way I don't get so overwhelmed with a messy home and keeping it clean and I get to enjoy my Baby more! It's a win win for all of us! Now this hasn't happened everyday! There are those days that Evelyn might need extra attention or something which might keep me from getting my "big" chore for the day done but for the most part it has worked out! So far. Most importantly, I have been able to really enjoy Evelyn instead of just surviving with her! haha Of course I have always loved her and having her in our family has been such a blessing but it was hard to get the hang of things at first and i didn't really feel like I was balancing everything very well. I love her more and more everyday! She just keeps getting cuter and cuter and smiling more and getting bigger and sleeping better! She has been sleeping through the night and making life MUCH better, for sure! I think I might be addicted to taking naps with her! We are loving all of this Holiday fun and festivities! We put up the tree and Evelyn LOVE is! I lay her by it and she just stares at it and smiles! It's very cute! We went to Temple Square with Jarom's family to the see the lights! They came to visit for Evelyn's Blessing. I will post about that day another time! Anyway, enough ramblings, here are some (lots of) pictures! :)

Christmas tree! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Enjoying the Christmas tree

I can't get enough of her CUTE smiles!!!

Smiling at the Christmas tree!

Lights at Temple Square

We went to Trafalga and played Laser tag with Jarom's family! While we were waiting to play, we played an arcade game and won these mustaches. Classy!

Hey everybody!

Best little nap Buddy!

Sleeping under the tree! Love!

First time to Church

Today was Evelyn's first time to church! We barely made it! We were 30 minutes late for sacrament meeting! I don't know what it is about Sunday's but we had planned on going to church last Sunday and we were up with her all night! She was so fussy and so we didn't make it to church. Well this week comes around and she has been so good at night lately! Sleeping well and eating well and going right back to sleep so we have been feeling pretty good but Sunday comes around and she's up all night again! UGH! So we didn't get much sleep but we were determined to go to church! We woke up late, almost didn't go but we wanted to. And needed to! It felt like We hadn't been to church in a long time! So we got all ready to go and Evelyn decides she's hungry. So I feed her and Jarom straps her in to her car seat and we hear a big squirt! She pooped! Awww man! Luckily she didn't get it on her cute outfit! So we wait a while to make sure that she is done with her business and Jarom changes her and gets her all set in her car seat again and another SQUIRT! ahhhh!! So we ended up being a half hour late to church but we made it! It felt nice to be back and have Evelyn with us! I have been waiting and dreaming about this day for a lonnnng time! I would always look at people with their baby's at church and want that so bad! And now we have her and it was really fun! Not how I expected it would be, being late and tired and all! Oh well!

Evelyn will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! I just can't believe how fast time is flying! She has changed so much! She is more alert and awake more and she is really fun but she's just growing up too fast! We love her so much! Jarom is still just the cutest dad ever! I can't get over it! I love watching him with her! We are so in love with our little Evelyn!

Anyway, here are some pictures of her first day of church outfit. Aunt Courtenay made it for her and I love it!!

She was NOT happy about me taking so many pictures of her! ha ha

Adjusting and grandma comes to visit!

We are slowly adjusting to this new life with our little Evelyn! Adjusting to no sleep, SO many diapers, ALWAYS feeding her, the crying, scheduling, getting to know her and getting used to what she likes and doesn't like. Everything! I swear she thinks i'm starving her! Or at least i'm sure that is what people would think if they heard her hungry cry! Nights are never the same. I can't wait to get her on a schedule! Some nights she will sleep all the way through the night and others, she is up almost every 2 hours! I feed her, change her, rock her and rock her and rock her and finally she falls asleep so I take her back to her bed, climb into my bed and she wakes up again and I have to start ALL OVER! FRUSTRATING! She makes little noises all night long, so that makes it hard to sleep! Luckily she takes a bottle so I can pump and Jarom can feed her sometimes or whatever. It makes our little outings easier, too! But I feel like I am either pumping or nursing all day long! AH! We haven't figured out a schedule yet but I am excited to hopefully figure one out soon. Right now we are still in survival mode. Sleep when I can, eat when I can and take a shower when I can. I keep thinking that I should be able to get more done in a day but Evelyn is taking up most of my time. When she's asleep I have to pick and choose what I want to get done. Should I take a shower? Or eat? Or sleep? Or do the dishes? Or Laundry? I have never felt so exhausted in my life and I can honestly say I have never felt so happy, either! Even though all of those things are hard and it's hard to adjust to this very different life, I wouldn't have it any other way! Even though I can't sleep when she makes all those cute little noises, I love them! I love our little family so much! At night, when Jarom is home, I just soak up all the happiness! I could sit there and look at them all day! We are so blessed to have such a sweet baby in our home!

3 weeks old! She is getting so big and time is flying!! SLOW DOWN!
Just hangin out in Mom and Dad's bed!
Her first duck game! And we WON! Cutest Duck fan EVER!!
This is their favorite thing to do! Cutest little snuggle buddies!

Last week my Mom came to help out and to visit and snuggle her newest grand baby! It was SO nice to have her here! She took Evelyn every night! I pumped bottles for her so she didn't have to wake me up when she was hungry. We slept all the way through the night! What a blessing! We sure enjoyed the much needed sleep! She cooked and cleaned and took care of all 3 of us! We shopped and she spoiled us everywhere we went! She stocked us up on new towels and wash cloth's and grocery's and clothes and Diapers for Evelyn! Seriously, everything! Mom's are the BEST! Especially mine!!! She gave me advice and it was so nice to have her there when I had questions or I was worried about something. It was comforting to have her there all day and night and know that I would always have help! I was starting to feel better and recover so it was nice to be able to go out and have fun with her! Court and Everett also came and spent a couple of nights with us! We stayed up late playing games and laughing and having fun! We also put Evelyn in her blessing dress (the dress I was blessed in that my Mom made) and Courtenay took pictures of her and some with me and my Mom! Since my parents won't be able to make it to the blessing, I wanted my Mom to see her in her dress! So sad she won't be able to be there but at least she got to see her in our special dress! I will post those pictures later. We sure do miss her and are so grateful for all she did for us!Thanks for everything, Mom! I can't wait to have another Baby so we can do it again! Ok, I guess I can wait to have another baby. But I can't wait for Christmas, to see you again! Love you SOOO much!!!

I was HORRIBLE at taking pictures while my Mom was here! We were too busy having fun! These are pretty much the only ones that I got! Love ya Mama!

I love this picture of both of them! SO cute!!

feeding the babe. She eats so much for such a tiny little body!

Little bit of eye candy

Courtenay took these beautiful pictures of our little Evelyn on Friday and I am in LOVE with them! I can't stop looking at them! She did such a good job and Evelyn was such a trooper while we dressed her and undressed her and posed her, oh so many times! She is already 1 week old and I feel like she has already changed so much! Why can't they just stay this little and cuddly?! I am excited for other stages of her life but there is just something so special about a newborn! She has her first Dr.'s appointment tomorrow! Hope it goes well! She is such a good little baby and we love her so much! Enjoy these pictures! :)

The Quilt I made her

This is the back of the quilt that Aunt Jenni made her

Aunt Courtenay made her all these cute headbands!

One of my favorites! I can't just choose one favorite!

Hee hee! This one always makes me giggle! SO cute!!

The background is part of her nursery! Still need to post about that!

We are so in love with this little baby girl!

Family of 3!

Our sweet little Evelyn Hope joined our happy family on Monday!! We cannot believe how beautiful and perfect she is! I still look at her and can't believe she is mine! I never knew I was capable of loving this much! Our hearts are full of love and gratitude and just pure Joy! Jarom is the cutest dad EVER! Seriously, it warms my heart to see him look at her with so much love! He is a natural at everything and adjusting to this new lifestyle (so far) very well! I am too, it's just more fun to watch him be with her! He can't stop telling her how beautiful and perfect she is and how grateful he is to have her and how blessed we are! TENDER! I love my family SO much! I feel like I am in a dream and we are just playing "house" with this perfect little doll! It truly is a dream come true! We have waited so long for this! She is a perfect little eater and sleeper and pooper :) All the doctors and nurses are impressed with how well she is doing and how beautiful and pink her skin is! We got to bring her home today and we are feeling complete and absolute bliss! Everything I ever hoped for or imagined has come true! I could sit and watch Jarom hold her all day! He is Super Dad! And Super Husband! Anyway, Here are some pictures of our beauty and the birth story!

On Monday morning I woke up with a couple of painful contractions. They weren't frequent and didn't last for very long so I didn't think much of it. I got up and took a shower and got ready for the day. At about 9:30 I noticed that they were getting stronger and pretty painful so I decided to time them for an hour before I told Jarom. I didn't want to make him worry or get his hopes up, just in case it wasn't time. They were about 3-5 minutes apart, lasting about 50 seconds to a minute long. I called Jarom and told him that I was pretty sure I was in labor but I wasn't positive and didn't want to be wrong. So I called the Doctor and they gave me the go ahead to go to Labor and Delivery. I called Jarom and told him the big news and he rushed right home. We got everything together and packed up and said "when we come home, we will be a family of 3!" CRAZY! When we checked in to the Hospital I still wasn't sure if I was in labor or if they would keep us there. The nurse checked me and I was already at a 4.5 to 5 Cm Dilated! Saweeeet! So they let us stay. They got the IV in and checked me again an hour later and I was at a 6! Pretty fast! We were excited but thought that we would still have a while to wait. The contractions got pretty intense so I asked for an epidural when I was about 7 Cm. They got that in and taken care of and the nurse came in to check me shortly after and found that my water had broken! AWESOME! We were very pleased at my progress! A little while later ( and I really mean a LITTLE while) I could feel my contractions as if I didn't have an epidural or any pain medication, for that matter. YOWSA!!! So I told the nurse and she said "let me check you. Sometimes when you start to feel contractions with an epidural in means that you are fully dilated." I thought WOA! That's crazy! I don't think we will be that lucky. Sure enough, I was at a TEN!! WHAAAAAT?!?!?!! Are you serious? I felt like we had JUST gotten there! The anesthesiologist then came in to give me another dose of the epidural before I had to start pushing! The nurse went to tell my Doctor that I was ready to push. He said that for first time mom's he usually wants them to wait a little while and rest once they hit a 10 because they can usually be pushing for quite a while. The doctor came in to check on me right after that and the baby's head was pretty much right there and her heart rate was going down with every contraction so he said "this baby is not going to wait for us!" Seconds later, a big team of nurses and doctors came in and got everything ready for her to come out. They told me to start pushing and I pushed through 2 contractions and she was HERE!!! I still can't believe how fast everything went! We got to the hospital at about 12:30 Pm and she was born at 4:19 Pm! I feel incredibly blessed!!! She weighed 8 lbs (well technically she weighed 7 lbs 15 oz. but they just rounded up) and is 20 in. long and perfect in every single way! She is a champ at nursing and latched on with hardly any struggle! I am amazed at how perfect this little baby is! We love her more than words can explain! I am so grateful that things have been going so well and just hope that they continue to do so! Evelyn is doing great! I am realllllllly sore and tired but other than that, doing great! Jarom is just a champ all around! Taking care of both his girls! We are so lucky! Here are LOTS of pictures! They are all way out of order. Oh well.

This is one of his favorite things to do! Such a cute little Daddy!

Heaven!

Our first family picture!

My first time holding here (besides right after she was born and they put her on my belly)

Brand new!

About to get ready to start pushing!

Ready to go home! Great Grandma Lance made that blanket for her! We love it!

Cute!

Everett wasn't sure what to think of her! He'll warm up to her soon!

Getting some love from Aunt Jenni!

CUTE hat from Aunt Whitney!

Aunt Courtenay LOVES snuggle time with Evelyn! Who wouldn't!