our time in Midway megapost

I have definitely been absent on the blog. I feel like I have been absent from life! As I mentioned before, we have been out in Midway. It's about an hour from Nathan's work, and 45 minutes from where we used to live. It's also a good 20 minutes from normal civilization. My only company out there was Sadie, my cat, and the deer that lived in the yard. Not kidding.

We came up here because we had to move out of our apartment on the Oct 31st, and our new one wasn't available until November 12. Originally, we had no idea where we were going to stay. But Nathan has really nice, really rich bosses. One of them happens to have a vacation home in Midway that is almost always empty and he said we could stay there for free. It has been a lifesaver, and we are so thankful for him. But being up here alone with a newborn all day every day for a week and a half has been rough. It's hard feeling unsettled and living out of a suitcase in general. But when you have a newborn that you are still adjusting to, and you don't have a car, and you're in the middle of no where, it SUCKS. Not that there weren't fun times too :) I just like to whine. It's my right as a new mother. I am also very hormonal and don't do well with long periods of not talking to adults or being able to leave the house.

ANYWAY. Here's the documentation of what we've been doing these past couple weeks in Midway.

We had our first Halloween! I put Sadie in her cute Halloween outfit. We got Jimmy Johns (one of the 2 food places within 20 miles) and rented a movie. Not trick-or-treaters came, so we also ate a lot of candy. It was a fun and relaxed night. It was our first full day out there, and I will admit it felt super nice to not be packing or moving or squeezing into our tiny apartment.

The morning after. Candy hangover.

 The house and surrounding area is gorgeous. It really is a great place for a vacation home. There were horses all around us. Nathan loved to go feed them. When it wasn't too cold, I'd venture out for a walk.

We made the 45 minute trek back to our ward for church both Sundays we were there. We both had lessons to teach each Sunday. Plus, we like showing off our homegirl in her pretty dresses.

Most nights were spent up in the master bedroom. The house was huge. So big, we didn't like it. Too big for a tiny family of 3. We would use the kitchen, but we did everything else upstairs. The master was big and we just lived in there. Nathan set up a station to work on home work. My nights usually looked like this:

The room became a safe haven. I hated my long days stuck in that house, but I loved our nights together in that room.

I had my 6 week postpartum appointment while we were up there so we decided to head down to work with daddy that day since my doctor is down town. We finally introduced her to everyone at Nathan's work and they were so excited! Nathan has been with this company since before his mission, so we are close with a lot of the people who work there. Sadie got passed around like a beach ball at a Nickleback concert (can anyone name that movie??) and she loved being held so much. I took her to the doctor with me and my sweet doctor was so excited to see her again. She took her out into the halls and showed her off to all her coworkers haha. I love her. We went back to Nathan's work after that and I worked for a few hours. Sadie seriously say in her seat or played on the floor and never made a peep except when she would fuss a little bit when she was hungry. Nathan's boss kept checking to see if she was still here because he couldn't believe how quite she was. She's a pretty awesome baby.

My amazing doctor, Ally. Love her!

Nathan took us to dinner that night and I nursed in public for the first time. I was covered, but it's a big deal for me haha.

Ben and Melea came out to visit and meet Sadie for the first time! It was great to see them. I got really bad pictures though. Haha.

The best thing that happened in that 2 weeks was that Jessica came to visit!!!! She stayed Friday through Tuesday and it was awesome!! We had a lot of fun and she made the last few days SO much easier! Sadie misses her aunt Jessi a lot. I got to take some pictures of her little belly carrying my nephew!

Taking pictures with her cousin

She loved it

Trying to get her to touch Jessi's belly. It didn't go well.

So I did it instead.

Even though the days were long and the house was creepy and I complained a lot, I did enjoy the time with my little one. I feel like I have started to get the hang of things with her and she has slowly started to become more and more aware of me and her surroundings, so we did a lot of bonding in that big house. I kinda like her.

We are settling into our new place and enjoying every second with this little princess.

Seriously, we are obsessed.

And thankful to be back in Cottonwood Heights!

Month 1

I wrote this blog post on her actual 1 month birthday, but didn't have good pictures to post. So now I am finally getting around to it! Technically these were taken a few days after she turned 1 month and they aren't even good pictures, but we were in the middle of moving soooo.. that's my excuse.

Today Sadie Rose is 1 month old. (Oct 27th)
I kinda can't believe it, but at the same time, I can't even really remember life without her here.
We are head over heels in love with this little lady.

It's been a whirlwind of a month having her home and getting adjusted to our new life. A baby really does change everything! As the month ends, I am feeling a lot less overwhelmed and starting to feel somewhat human again. Things are getting more on a schedule, my body is healing, and I am actually starting to do things besides sleep, lay in bed, and feed the baby. I might have needed a longer adjustment period than other people. Not even ashamed.

She wakes me up about 2-3 times a night depending on when I actually go to bed. She is pretty good now at going 3 hours between feeds. Although sometimes she likes to surprise me with only an hour in-between. She almost never cries or fusses between feeds, which is awesome because I can actually get sleep. She's also great at putting herself back to sleep. Sometimes she falls asleep while nursing, but if she doesn't, I can just lay her down in her crib. She looks around for a while, sometimes kicks her feet trying to get out of her swaddle, and then falls asleep. So awesome.

She is a rockstar nurser.  She latches like a beast and sucks like a beast. Sometimes too much, and then ends of choking on the milk, hah. My boobs are definitely still sore, but they aren't getting worse. I am hoping that means we are on the path to no more boobie pain! Because seriously, they really hurt.

She is such a content baby. I hope she stays this way! She will be alert for sometimes 3 hours at a time. She will just lay there and look around. No crying or fussing until she starts to get hungry again. I love it so much! She has 2-3 alert periods a day. One in the morning and evening, then sometimes one in the middle of the day. We love when she is alert!! She is responding more and more to us. She turns to the sound of our voices and will make eye contact with us. She is starting to find her voice a little bit, though not actually cooing and "talking" quite yet. She does, however, LOVE to grunt. It's especially fun when she does it in her sleep and wakes me up. But seriously, she just grunts all the time. It's funny.

We haven't been out very much this month and that is pretty much all on me. First, I am still recovering from my c-section. Second, I am paranoid about her getting sick. Hopefully we will get out more during this second month. I have only used the stroller once! We need to get out and enjoy the sun before winter comes and we never experience joy again.

I can't believe how much she has changed in just 4 weeks. I see it the most in her face. She is really starting to fill out! Although she still has her chicken legs. I am not sure exactly how much she weighs, but I am gonna guess that she's nearing 8 pounds now. I am trying so hard to make sure we really get the most out of this time when she is so little. I know she is just going to keep growing fast. While I am excited for when she is more interactive, I know I am going to miss these days of this little nugget who always wants to snuggle.

She loves...
+ Bath time
+ Being swaddled
+ My boobs
+ Being held by anyone, at anytime
+ Looking out the window
+ Her bouncer
+ Her pacifier. I don't let her use it to put herself to sleep, we only use it if she's having a fussy period and just needs to calm down. I don't want her to get too dependent on it.
+ Riding in the car
+ Her hands. She hasn't quite figured out that they are hers yet, but she loves to flail them all around
+ Grunting
+ Her bouncer chair
+ Staring out the window
+ Making funny faces. She always looks surprised or worried or like an old man. I love it

She hates...
+ Being hungry
+ Having her diaper changed, especially if she is sleepy
+ The dreaded booger sucker
+ When daddy coughs really loud. Loud noises in general, but his cough always makes her cry.
+ Getting strapped into her car seat
+ Having lotion put on her
+ Being awake too long

Perfect example of the "always looking worried" face 

We love her more every day and already seeing so much changing now that she's in her second month of life. She's kind of the bomb.

Alpine loop

This happened so long ago that I feel bad even posting it. Sadie was 2 weeks old. My mom wanted a traditional "Utah Fall" drive, so we took her on the Alpine Loop! It was beautiful. The leaves were still not quite 100% changed, but it was still so pretty. Sadie slept the whole time until we got out to take pictures and then she pooped through her clothes. Yay! 

These are all iPhone pictures so they really don't capture how pretty it really was. I seem to never remember my camera these days. It's too big. And weights the same amount as my baby.

It was fun to get out with these guys. It was Sadie's first real drive and we were so happy to know that she liked the car, because we are always going on drives and road trips! So really, she didn't have a choice.

This is not a real blog post

I'm so behind on blogging. I feel like so much happens and changes with the little lady everyday and it's hard to keep up. Big things like her turning 1 month old and her first Halloween and the fact that we are in the middle of moving and currently reside in a giant, horribly decorated vacation home in the butt crack of no where. I'll get to it alllater though.

Right now my mind is just full of thoughts. I'm coming down from one of the most stressful and exhausting weeks I've had in a very long time. Moving with a newborn and a healing c-section incision is hard. Dealing with very rude and inconsiderate people when you are offering a service is hard. A gassy baby is hard. Finally getting into a routine and having to start over in a new place is hard. No sleep is hard. And for some reason, finding someone to actually pick up a FREE washer and dryer is hard. 

So I'm a little exhausted and feeling very out of sorts. I don't like living out of suitcases and living far away from society. It makes the "alien" feeling of life with a newborn much more intense. 

But I'm thankful tonight that we have this place to stay until our new place is ready. I'm thankful for all the sweet ladies in our ward who act like my baby is the cutest thing they've ever seen in their lives.I'm  thankful for my cute husband who lets me nap and who carried every single moving box so I literally didn't lift a finger. I'm thank for crunch bars. And I'm thankful for baby snuggles. 

I've never felt more beautiful than I do now as a mom. I love this little girl with my whole soul. These past 5 weeks have been hard. Hard in ways I didn't completely expect. But they've been so beautiful. I'm figuring out a whole new part of myself. It's exhausting, sure. But it's also exhilarating.