George's well visits: 2, 4, and 6 months!

Obviously since I have been terrible at blogging, I've missed putting all of George's stats up on the blog. So here we are: the results of his well visits from 2, 4, and 6 months old!!

8 week appointment: 
Weight: 13lbs 11oz (94%). Height: 24.25" (93%). Head circumference: 16.25" (86%).
Finally out of the newborn sleep-all-the-time stage and just getting out of a two week hardly-sleep-ever stage. A champion eater and growing fatty.  Unlike Henry, hardly spits up, and generally super chill.
 

i know this picture isn't that flattering, but i still love it because FATNESS!!

4 month appointment:
Weight: 16lbs (73%). Height: 27" (97%). Head circumference: 17.25 (87%). 
Still a champ eater. Co-slept with us which was cute to wake up to but annoying the rest of the time ;).  SUCH a happy, smiley, chill baby.

pinchable! #amiright

6 month appointment:
Weight: 18.05 lbs (65%). Height: 28.5" (97%). Head circumference: 17.75 (84%).
Still loves to nurse, but refuses to eat baby food. Also will not sleep unless attached to me (holding or nursing). I asked the doctor about starting cry-it-out because I was nearing my wits end (he agreed it was a good idea). I brought up the fact that he hated baby food, and the Dr recommended to stop trying baby food for a few weeks and starting it again (I'll post more about that later).

sitting up on his own and everything. such a stud.

George has such a delightful, chill, happy personality. He is seriously such a joy to be around, and can always be counted on for a huge smile. He loves music and playing games like patty cake. He loves being in the Ergo and will almost always fall asleep in it [in a matter of minutes]. Henry and George love each other and are so sweet with each other, and my favorite thing is when they do something silly that makes them both crack up. I love my sweet boys!! 

George's Birth

Disclaimer: I'm being pretty thorough in this birthing story, so I remember everything. And I use words like dilated and stripped membranes. If that grosses you out, please don't continue reading :)


On Monday, September 9th, I was 41 weeks pregnant, and exhausted. I woke up feeling defeated, and like I just couldn't hold out anymore. I had my appointment with my midwife (Laurie) at 8am. Thankfully my mom was in town so she watched Henry while I went to my appointment. When my midwife checked me, she told me I was still a 3+ and 80/90% (I had been dilated/effaced for a month by this point). I started crying. She asked what I wanted to do, and she was very sensitive to my plan to have an unmedicated birth. I told her I still wanted to wait (vs getting induced), just to better my odds of having the natural birth that I wanted. She said ok, and scheduled an induction for Thursday. We agreed if he hadn't come by then, we'd just go ahead with the induction.

I pulled myself together and headed down to Labor & Delivery to get my stress test and ultrasound (since I was past my due date). For some reason I thought it would take about 20 minutes. Wrong...it lasted for over an hour in total. They had me hooked up to the monitors and I almost fell asleep in the hospital bed. Then they did the ultrasound to check to make sure there was enough fluid in there. After the ultrasound the nurse went to discuss the results with my midwife. Cue more waiting... When the nurse finally came back (I really was almost completely asleep at this point), she went over everything with me. There were variables in George's heart rate...the way they described it to me was that they knew everything was fine in the moment, but the presence of the variables could mean that something could go wrong. So my midwife recommended that we induce the same day, while we knew he was doing ok--and said there wasn't any reason to wait and we wouldn't want anything negative to happen before Thursday. I agreed and then it hit me that I was going to have a baby. Ahhhh! The phone calls and planning stages commenced.

I ran home before we started anything because I had Henry's carseat. I also grabbed my hospital bag, and stuffed my face with all the Italian bread we had left over from the previous nights dinner. I knew from experience I didn't want to be hungry going into labor, and that those meanies don't give you any food (although I really should have eaten even more than I did!!). Josh was figuring out his truck/work situation so he could leave, and my friend Natalie said she could take Henry (thank you, dear lifesaver!). I headed back to the hospital by myself, and once Henry had been picked up my mom and Josh would come join me.

First I went to my midwifes office (located in the hospital), and it was around 11AM. Laurie stripped my membranes. That was a little glimpse of how uncomfortable this whole natural birthing thing might be ;) After she did this, I had progressed to a 4+. Laurie felt great about the progress, and said that I was going into labor on my own. She said it would be an "augmented labor" vs "induced labor", which made me feel a bit more confident. She sent me down to Labor and Delivery to get all set up, with the instructions that she'd check on me a bit later. I got set up in my room and Josh and my mom joined me shortly. Then it was the waiting game. I had contractions (about 10 minutes apart), but nothing super crazy. They hooked my IV (I had Strep B so I was on antibiotics) on a rolling thingy so I could walk laps around the wing. It was a small wing, so all the nurses became pretty familiar with my beautiful face ;) I was lucky to have an amazing nurse, we'll call her K. She was funny, down to earth, supportive, and all around awesome. Which helped a lot.

off for a stroll!

After waiting around for things to happen for a couple hours, Laurie came in to check on me around 1PM. I was still a 4+ and my contractions hadn't picked up that much, so she decided to strip my membranes again and break my water. That was lovely....more discomfort, but nothing too terrible. After that I was a 5, and contractions started picking up a bit. I was using my hypnobirthing breathing, and everything was going pretty well. The contractions were uncomfortable, but manageable. Around 3PM or so (I think, but wasn't really keeping track), they checked me again and I was a 6. At 4PM they checked again and I was a 6+. I decided I wanted to try and hang out in the tub for a bit (all the labor rooms had jetted tubs in the bathroom). By 4:20 they had decided to start me on 1 milli-unit of Pitocin. Allegedly that dose is almost nothing, but they thought it might be enough to tell my body to get a move on. And let's just say my body got the message. Right after that the contractions were closer together, and getting stronger with every one. Being in the jetted tub was kind of helpful, at least in the fact that it was a tiny bit distracting. And sometimes the jets helped with the pain. Because at this point, the "discomfort" had elevated to pain. I was trying my hardest to focus on my breathing during every contraction, and occasionally remembered to tell myself I'm strong like a tiger and I can handle it.

My nurse, K, checked me one time in the tub and I was still a 6+, but she thought I was going up to an 8 during contractions. The baby would just need to move down a bit more for it to stay an 8. Right around 5PM she asked if I wanted to be checked again. Contractions were pretty intense by this point and I just shook my head and she said she'd wait for a little bit. One more contraction happened, and it was the worst yet. I kind of started hyperventilating and K talked me through it and told me to go to my happy place. In my head I was going "I'm a tiger! I was made for this! I'm a tiger!" hahaha (whatever works, right?). The next contraction came almost immediately afterwards and all of a sudden I felt the baby coming out. This is when I temporarily LOST. MY. MIND. It's a little hazy but I remember yelling and saying the baby was coming out. K was like "right now?!" and I was yelling "YES! HE'S COMING! AHHHH!!!"

Now...I was still in the tub at this point. And at this hospital it's against regulations to have water births (and to be honest, I didn't want to have one either). So that was a bit of a problem. K was telling me not to push, and was frantically trying to pull the drain while simultaneously trying to get help. I kept yelling...I just kept saying that the baby was coming, I was pushing and couldn't help it, and I couldn't get out of the tub. K sent Josh to the nurses station to get help, and soon there were two nurses telling me I needed to get out of the tub. All the while I kept yelling I couldn't get out. The nurses ended up pulling/helping me out of the tub, and somehow making it to the hospital bed. I have no idea how they did it, because I legitimately thought I would be giving birth in that tub.

In the midst of all this chaos, Laurie came running in, and asked me if I wanted to birth standing up or laying on the bed. I said (ok...I may have yelled it...oops) on the bed because there was no way I could stand up. So that was that. I was on the bed on my back, and the baby was on his way out. Laurie knew I wanted to "breath the baby down" (vs holding your breath and pushing), so she coached me along and let me do my thing. Which was a mixture of yelling and breathing. Haha. I definitely failed the hypnobirthing method in terms of how much noise I was making--in hypnobirthing they tell you that you don't need to make noise, you just need to relax and focus on your breathing, etc. I honestly tried to be quiet, and it was not happening. I even apologized a few times (in between contractions) for yelling, and finally Laurie said "If you apologize one more time I'm going to be mad at you!!!" I also still had my wet tank top and bra on from being in the tub, so while all this was going on, people were also trying to help me take them off so I wouldn't be all wet when George came out (to do skin-to-skin). This might be TMI (what about birth isn't, really? haha), but I remember Laurie telling Josh to take my bra off, because he should be able to do it easily. He was at a weird angle though and one of the clasps was giving him trouble, and it was pretty funny. I think I might have even laughed mid-contraction.

I don't think I did so great at the breathing him down technique, although Laurie and the nurses said I did. I say this because there was no way I could prevent my body from pushing. After a little bit, Laurie told me they could see his head, and to keep going. Around this time George's heart rate started to drop. Laurie calmly told me that I needed to get this baby out, because the cord was around his neck and he could be in trouble if we took too long. She said I had a minute or two if I wanted to keep doing what I was doing (breathing/yelling/sort of pushing?), but that I should just try and push my hardest so he could get out. I agreed. Someone (Laurie? K?) told me it would hurt worse than anything I've ever felt before, but to keep going and pushing harder where I felt the pain. The next contraction came and I pushed as hard as I could. They told me to look down and see my baby, to help me push harder. All I could see over my belly was a little tuft of hair and I exclaimed "he has hair!! I see it!" They laughed and said "Yes, good, now push him out!!! Push harder than you ever have, this will be the last time you need to push--just get him out!" So I pushed like a crazy person and yelled "Come on George!" and FINALLY his head came out and they unwrapped the cord from around his neck. I said "OH MY GOSH THAT FEELS SO MUCH BETTER!" because seriously, it did. I barely even felt the shoulders, the rest was easy as pie and he came right on out. I remember saying "I did it...I had a baby...!"  I had a moment where I just felt so immensely proud of myself for being able to do it [unmedicated], and was kind of in awe. George was born at 5:32PM!!! And it was amazing :)

After making sure George was alright, they put him on my chest to do skin-to-skin. I love that moment when they first put the baby on you. It just feels so magical. Then they did all the after stuff... the placenta came out easily and they pushed my abdomen and all that [not very] fun stuff. Because they knew that I hemorrhaged after Henry's delivery, they were very attentive to that and stayed on top of the bleeding.

I feel kind of obligated to say something about the pain of childbirth... Because in hypnobirthing they say you don't feel pain. You feel "pressure" and "discomfort", or some bologna like that. There was pain. To be completely honest (and graphic, sorry) it felt like everything in that region was covered in hemorrhoids, and they all exploded. That's my personal experience, but I got through it and it was totally fine. It didn't hurt like that the entire time, just when I was trying to push his head out. In hindsight I am glad I took the hypnobirthing class, because I do think it helped me to handle the contractions better.

we did it!!! and he looks just like Henry!

George and Grammy

I held him for about an hour and then they did all the stats, etc

look at all that hair!!

George Douglas was born at 5:32PM, weighed 8lbs 5oz, and was 20 inches long. He was born with lots of brown hair, and looked like Henry's twin (with darker/more hair). Josh and my mom were there the whole time, and were a wonderful support system. I am so happy they were both able to be there. ♥ Welcome to the world, George!!


Sorry that story was such a novel, but I wanted to write it all down so I can remember it. Plus I know some people are really interested in birth stories, so there you have it ;) I'll write about the rest of our stay in the hospital in another post.

Five whole years

These pictures are completely out of order. But they're some of my favorites of us. If I was super organized I would know where all my pictures of everything was located...but that's one of my goals haha.

It's been a great five years. We've done a lot. We've lived in three different places, and owned and sold a home. We graduated from school and we got real jobs that are actually in our field. We paid off all our student loans. We've seen Beyonce and Britney Spears in concert (one of those was clearly better than the other hahaha). After being told we wouldn't be able to have kids without IVF w/ICSI, we had Henry. Then about a year later we were blessed to get pregnant with George. I've just become a SAHM. And most of all, we are happy. Thank goodness, right? ;) haha. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH JUJI!!! Happy anniversary :)

Easter

This Easter was brought to you by Mok and Pok. We got Henry a new outfit, and a cute little Easter basket. His outfit was a little big on him...we got 18 month sizes, but then the shirt is untucked it's a little large. The pants seemed humongous, and then later I noticed the tag said 24 months. Oops!

No candy for this dude! We did get him some cookie treats though :) And a toy train and some Elmo "eggs"

He was so happy with his basket. It was adorable.

It was cute to see him carrying it around, and holding it up to his face to "give it love"

Even Jay-Z got to have some fun with Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. I posted a lot more pictures of Henry over on his blog. It was just too cute to see him all decked out in his new clothes and enjoying all the little parts of his basket. My favorite of it all though was seeing him carry it around and hold it to his face while saying "Awww". So precious. Thank you so much Mok and Pok! And I hope everyone was able to enjoy the day with their families :)

5 things i've learned in the first year of motherhood

The other night I could NOT go to sleep. And somehow in my insomniac brain I started to think of how I've been a mom for over a whole year now, and what I've learned in the process.

1. Baby sleep is one of the biggest mysteries ever in the entire history of the Earth. Why else would there be five million different "methods" just on how to put your baby down to sleep?! Everyone has an opinion and a method to their own madness, and really it all boils down to figuring out whatever hybrid method finally works for you. Thankfully I found the website Troublesome Tots, which has helped guide us through multiple sleep dilemmas.

2. Even though I always promised myself I wouldn't become one of "those" moms whose facebook gets overrun by baby-dom.....it totally happened. Like, immediately. Oops? I guess what I've learned about this is you just need to accept your own craziness, and embrace it. Obviously I am obsessed with my son. And I own it now. I figure that if people don't like it, they can block my baby-obsessed feeds from infiltrating their facebook newsfeed. :)

3. It's a little more complicated to go out than it used to be. We've only seen a handful of movies since Henry's been born. We used to go almost every single weekend. At least going out to eat isn't that different, you just need to bring a packed diaper bag and roll with the punches. I already always carry huge purses, and now I also carry around a huge diaper bag. I look like I'm going on vacation every time I go out ;)

4. People give lots of advice. Mostly unsolicited advice. Even from complete strangers. It's interesting... haha. You just have to learn to be polite, and be open to learning new things. Some people do super cuckoo things with their kids, but you might find that something crazy works for you and your kid too. Having a kid makes you a lot more polite to other people, in this aspect, because it's like an ongoing test to politely/graciously accept all the advice that will be coming your way.

5. I never knew how amazing being a mother would be. I figured it would be pretty cool, but really hard, and I was worried I wouldn't know how to handle it all. I've learned that I am a lot more capable as a mom than I ever thought, and I'm pretty proud of that. Ultimately, I am amazed how much I can love a tiny little person. I seriously love his guts!! He's adorable, hilarious, sweet, stubborn, and perfect. I love that he calls for me when I'm not around, and that when he sees me (in the morning when I get him up, when I walk back into a room that he's in, when I come back from running an errand, etc) his face lights up. And all the little hugs and sweet attention that comes from him. Thats love, yo. ♥

I am in love with being a mom. I truly hope that all my friends are able to experience this amazing journey. And in my opinion, it's even that much sweeter if you had to struggle to get here. Even when I'm being driven crazy and want to scream obscenities, I still love the crap out of that little munchkin. And after a few deep breaths, a sneak of chocolate (for me, not him), and a little bit of Elmo time, everything is better once again. I can't imagine my life without Henry, and I am so grateful to be his mother. ♥

5 ways to find & capture your soulmate

there are all these awesome articles that are lists on how to do stuff, or not do stuff, and they're all advice-filled, etc etc etc. and they're super serious and thought provoking. and smart sounding. i'm sure you've seen them floating around the internet. and--confession--i usually like them. then last night when i was laying in bed i was thinking how it's so weird that you can go from not knowing someone, to meeting them, somehow getting to date them, and then having it become love, and then marriage. HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN!?! how did it happen to me?!

...lightbulb...

lets write a listy-list on how i found and captured my soulmate ;) without further ado, here are my tips. take it or leave it..

1. don't be scared
being timid won't get you anywhere. except for maybe being preyed on by outgoing/aggressive/annoying guys. which no one wants. so don't be scared! be willing to make a fool of yourself, show your true colors, and wave your freak flag. ultimately you want to be with someone who likes all those things, so why not be up front about them?

2. talk to people
or in my case, harass people. ok, i didn't harass josh (per se)... but i tried to think of things to say to him in class. one time i brought up all the hurricanes in florida (where he's from, and this was in '07 when they were really bad that one winter) as a way to try and talk to him. also, i needed to get him out of his shell a little bit, because he's really shy until you get to know him. plus, if you never talk to anyone, how will you ever meet your soulmate!? or even know if you have anything in common!

3. share your snacks
sharing goldfish went a long way in starting our friendship. enough said. [what? i wanted it to be 5 tips, not 4!]

4. don't be afraid to make the first move
i asked josh out. i wanted to go out with him, so i made it happen. in my personal opinion, playing "hard to get" is annoying and over-rated. this is the 21st century, people. women don't just belong in the kitchen anymore (ahem, take notes mr. romney...). oh, i also eventually asked josh to be my boyfriend. cuz that's how i roll. and no, i didn't propose to him, i let him do all that hard work ;)

5.  keep it real
this covers many aspects. how you act yourself, how you act with eachother, how you act in certain situations, etc.. be true to yourself, and remember what is important. don't be flippant or shady with your feelings and actions. if you know it's the real deal, don't throw it away.

well, you probably didn't learn anything from this list, but i hope you enjoyed reading it. i should insert some sort of disclaimer that it's past my bedtime, and so my thoughts are becoming fuzzy. or i could just own it. take notes kids, and go forth and find your soulmates!

[or, if you're already with your soulmate, just be grateful you found them and it all worked out well for you :) hallelujah, right?!]

work

i go back to work on monday. i'm not exactly looking forward to it...

growing up i always said i wanted to be a career woman. i'm not sure if it's been some sort of twisted feminism thing where i want to be some sort of power woman, or if i didn't ever fully see the value in stay-at-home moms, or if i thought i wouldn't be a good mom or would have a hard time, or if i wanted to do it as a statement of my independence. i think it was some sort of messed up cocktail of all those things...

well, i've learned some things over time, and some interesting things recently:
-feminism is the right to choose to work or stay at home, not some need to become wonder woman
-being a stay-at-home mom is hard work and incredibly valuable
-i love being a mom. i never knew i could love a tiny human being so much
-i'm allowed to rely on other people if i want to (like my husband, and vice versa)

overall, i've definitely surprised myself by realizing i would love to stay at home with henry. and someday i probably will. but we've decided that right now the best thing we can do for our future is to have me work right now. we have really good jobs, we have built-in childcare only 10 minutes away, and we have a lot of bills. add these all up together, and working makes perfect sense. we're taking advantage of our current situations while we have them, and being really aggressive about paying back student loans and medical bills (remember that kidney stone from a couple years back? yeah...thanks). then we can reevaluate our situation in a year or two.

and with all these realizations i've been having over time, i have one more to add to the list: it doesn't make me any less of a person or a mother to go back to work. i still love this adorable face just as much:

barf

literally. yesterday morning at work i basically ran to the bathroom, and threw up. it was awesome...not. that was around 8:15am. i went home and got right in bed, and didn't get up until 4:30ish pm until josh came home. i didnt even eat anything til later that night when i had some toast. then my sweet friends jeff and darci gave us some chicken noodle soup and i had some of that before i went to bed. today i woke up and still felt awful, so i stayed home from work again.


tonight josh came home and brought me gatorade and some pretty flowers! he's such a sweetheart. i put them in my new pitcher that i just got from ikea the other day. then i was looking at blogs and whatnot on the couch, and was lusting over these boots that i saw on my friend kelli's blog. this conversation ensued:

me: want to buy me these boots for christmas?
josh: how much?
me: umm...475 dollars...
josh: ugh. even in your sickness you still know how to online shop!!

i blame kelli... anyways, i'm going to go eat some toast and drink some more gatorade. hopefully this bug will leave me asap so i can get back to having fun and making money!

funny weekend happenings..

last night we went to the movies. josh wanted to get candy, so we went to the concessions. i wasn't really paying attention and i thought josh asked for "squiggle worms," and then both josh and the employee kind of did an awkward laugh. i got a water (it was 5 bucks, dont bring it up...) and then we went into the theater. while we were sitting in there, our friend shannon asked for a worm. she looked at the box and goes... "umm, didn't you call these S-Q worms?" i looked over at josh, realizing that he had said that, and it all started to set in. shannon said, "umm, yeah. can i have some sqworms please? bet you feel kinda stupid now..." we all cracked up over the confusion of play on words, and josh laughed so hard he was crying. for the rest of the night we kept referring to them as S-Q worms. it was pretty funny...

pronounce: squirms. called: S-Q worms. love it.

also, we have had this pink snuggie in our closet since forever (still in the box). this morning i was wearing my huge fluffy pink bathrobe and josh goes: "i want to wear the snuggie today!" so after we got home from church josh whips it out of the box and puts it on. it was so funny that it was cute. then of course he started jumping around going "look at me in my snuggie!" and then doing the silly things they do in the commercials ["look, i can get up and cheer for alabama!" jumps up and cheers]. while he refused to let me take a picture, i managed to snap one to have proof. it was also a kitty action shot.

doesnt he look good in pink? maybe he should eat some S-Q worms in it. hahahaha. love you juji ♥

EDIT: this conversation occured sunday night (after this post was published)...
josh: i whip my hair back n forth! i whip my hair back n forth!
me: stop it... you're going to give kitty whiplash with your snuggie!

you are awesome ♥

[image]

hi homies. i just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone. we (both josh and i) really appreciate your kind comments, support, thoughts, and prayers. i was really nervous to post about our infertility, for a number of reasons [i mean, i'm just a little 23 year old, you know? like...who cares if we don't have kids yet because i'm only 23 and josh is only 26? we're young and all that jazz. and we havent been trying for that long. and people have cancer. and people die every day in car accidents. etc etc etc]. not to be a downer or anything, i was just really worried how people would take it i suppose. sometimes it can be scary to put stuff like that out there to the whole wide world.

so...thanks. all the comments, text messages, facebook messages, emails, etc have really been amazing. i didnt really know what to expect after writing about it. to be honest it feels kind of liberating to let everyone know, since it's always awkward when people ask why we don't have kids yet, or when we're gonna have kids, etc [BTW, you shouldnt really ask people those questions...just sayin...unless you're like mega close and your friends can cry in front of you when they spill their guts about not being able to get knocked up]. i always used to have the excuse, "oh, well we're in school and stuff you know." after a while that excuse didn't really work anymore and when asked sometimes i would have the urge to yell "WE'RE WORKING ON IT, OKAY!?!" hahaha. yeah...awkward...

anyways, i will stop rambling. thanks again for all your support. i love you guys ♥

ps: stay tuned for a little photoshoot. it involves a collaboration dealing with tights...be excited.

guess who i get to see tonight?

[picture sources]

you have NO IDEA how excited i am!!! i have loved she & him since they started (08). and of course i have loved zooey for years. we're talking full-blown-girl-crush-i-want-to-be-her-loved. and now i finally get to see her up close and personal. well...as close as i'm allowed haha. hopefully i can get some good pictures and i'll fill you all in on how it was!! ♥

vday

[source]

happy valentines day, lovers!


ps: if you hate valentines day, i'm very sorry. been there and done that. never had a lover on vday EVER til josh. i've even been stood up before on a valentines date before.
don't believe me? it happened.

sisters: a series, part ii

in case you missed out, im doing a series on friends that are so good theyre like sisters. im featuring my "sisters," [in no particular order] in all their beautiful glory! todays post is on my dear friend, betsy.

betsy was a bridesmaid at my wedding. isnt she adorable?

betsy always looks good. always!

she's so good looking that she makes me look ugly. oh wait, no thats the pink thing in my hair causing that...nevermind.

she helped me cater my sisters wedding, cuz she is THAT nice!

STORY TIME
story 1: how we met
i was a little sophomore, in 2006. i needed a job. i found one, applied, and got hired! i worked for byu admissions, mostly doing paperwork and data entry and whatnot. i sat at the front desk in the office, because somehow it was the only open desk. the cubicle right behind me belonged to this hottie of a lady, named betsy! believe me when i say we were the life of the office.

story 2: what we have in common
betsy is cool because she loves fashion and makeup, which i do too (regardless if my appearance ever reflects that). she also loves crafty things, like sewing and crocheting and such. and she is very hands-on, like me (she helped me plan my wedding, and she helped me to do all the catering for my sisters wedding, etc). oh, and we kind of look alike. after i visit her in her office sometimes people ask if we're sisters. and one time someone she worked with thought i was her. haha. oh, and we both LOVE candy! ok, me more than her, but she likes it too ♥

story 3: funny story about us
remember how i said we were the life of the office? sometimes, too much so. in fact, they enforced quiet time during work, but i dont think that was because of us and our laughing fits... at all... oh, and we had a deaf friend [w/hearing aids, not completely deaf] who worked next to betsy who liked us too. not only did she talk loud, but when she started laughing you could hear her on a different floor. when we all got laughing, it was like crazy town. quiet hours didnt stand a chance with us around...

story 4: why i love her
first, she is hottt. all my friends are pretty, remember? haha. but no really, when betsy is having one of her "ugly" days, its like me on my best day. however, she is so nice you can't hate her for it. betsy has been one of my friends for a long time, and she is always there for me. we cry together, laugh together, worked together, and are hot together. i can count on her for anything, including rides to my house from campus hahaha. also, she looks my age but she has a 7 year old daughter (happy birthday sweetie!!). you do the math :]

I LOVE YOU BETSY!!! ♥

sisters: a series, part i

you know those best friends you have that are so close, you could call them a sister (or a brother)? ive been realizing i have a lot of those, and boy am i grateful!! especially since...well...yeah (you know, the susie situation). so i thought i would do a little series where i feature some of my "sisters" aka bffs.

starting [in no particular order] with... the infamous dorris

aww, at our wedding

the first time we went to vegas, we danced with beyonce. we are THAT cool.

saint george. we're doing our peace signs. pay no attention to the man in the background... (thats just her lover and my husbands bff)

reenacting scenes from the lion king, no biggie

more lion king pictures

STORY TIME
story 1: how dorris got her nickname
one time darci [and jeff] were with us at brick oven with joshs parents. it was for joshs birthday. joshs dad called darci dorris, and it was funny. and we liked it, and now its her permanent nickname. its kinda cute, too :]

story 2: how we met
we really met because of joshua (you know, my husband). josh and jeff were roomates, and jeff and darci started dating the summer me and josh were long-distance dating (i was in maine). that was 2007. confused yet? haha. anyways, they all hung out here in utah all the time while i was over in maine, so i'd hear about them a lot. josh said darci was really cool, so i was kind of intimidated to meet her. apparently she'd heard the same about me, and felt the same towards me. then we met and it was like love at first sight.

story 3: what we do now
we hang out all the time and i always ask her to bring me food. thats how our relationship works. also, she has adopted me into her family so i know (and love) all her sisters. she taught me how to crochet, how to make fabric flowers, and all sorts of other crafty things. she is my partner for our new business [hopefully debuting this month!]

story 4: why i love her
darci is an awesome friend. she's always super nice and listens to me when i complain or im sad. i can ask or tell her anything. she brings me food a lot, and feeds into my fatty-ness. we like to eat a lot, its something we have in common. ♥ she's really pretty, which is basically a priority for my friendship. she is very crafty and fun. she likes good tv. she dresses cute. all in all, she is adorable and i love her. oh, and she's pregnant, which means i get to adore her baby and be the best aunt ever ♥

thanks for being my friend/sister, dorris!!! xoxo

♥♥♥

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i was reminded yesterday that oftentimes you dont know how many people care about you until something bad happens. this shouldnt be the way it is. ive been in that situation before, where i didnt really realize that anyone cared about me. it took a rude awakening to realize just how many people loved me.

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we need to be more vocal about how much we care about and love people. i remember when i was younger my dad told me that i shouldnt tell people (like friends, etc) that i loved them, because then it would take away from the word. no offense dad, but i didnt agree then and i dont agree now. i only say i love you to people i really do care about, and even though they are just friends, it doesnt detract from the word "love." the only person ive ever said "love" to romantically is josh. thats different.

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i want to let all my friends know that I LOVE YOU! you need someone to talk to? im here. you want a shopping buddy? im here. need a good cry? i will cry with you [but seriously, if i see you crying i will automatically start crying...no joke]. in the past i havent always been the most fabulous friend, but through my experiences and mistakes i think i can confidently say im a pretty good friend. try me out. ♥

and please, let the people you care about know that you love them. it matters.