Thursday, November 17, 2016

#CraftyCostumes or Adorkable Dress-up!

ok...it's been established that I'm crafty and a celebrant right?

so it's no surprise that I like to dress up (and make those around me do the same)

Chris has always been amazing about matching costumes, which is nice. Halloween has been awesome over the years:
2010: Star Trek
2011: Mermaid and Pirate
2012: Fighter Pilots!
2013: Monster and kiddo (Chris got to wear jammies.)
2014: Mummy and Vampire
2015: Star Wars
2016: 101 Dalmations
April 2014 I learned of the Salt Lake Fan-Xperience. It's like a ...bonus Comic-Con. I dressed up, each day. My favorite day was Chell. (If you haven't played Portal... Do.... ASAP. It's STILL my favorite video game ever. So great.)

So of course I went from then on. SLComic-Con 2014:
Han Jago, Leia Katie, Death Star me, Vader Chris and Stormtrooper Jacob

Comic-Con 2015:

FanX2016:
 Thursday we wore our Harry Potter Costumes. 
Friday Firefly: Baby Jayne (thanks to Marilyn for the hat!), River mom, and Kaylee Tessa. (And we got to meet Levar Burton!)
Saturday was just Tessa and me. Portal and her companion cube.

Comic-Con 2016:
 Dr. Horrible Jacob, Captain Hammer Gid (that's a fun story in person!), and Fan girls. "We do the weird stuff!" ahahah! (oh, and another dr. horrible we found. forgot to get one with just us.)
 Friday was Harry Potter. Any chance to wear my new robes (see Harry Potter b-day for pics of said robes) and dress him up like the cutest little house elf! Tessa met the fat lady. :)

 Saturday I had my whole Turtle crew! (Gid LOVES turtles.) Tesssa made an adorable April in all yellow with her own hair. Turtles: Mikey Chris, Donnie me, Raph Gid, and Leo Katie. Jacob humored us with the mask as Casey. Pop-O was Splinter.


Then there's the trip (#momlovesmatchers)
The plan was Blue. So we Disneybound - Dory, Marlin, Nemo:

Mickey and Minnie: 

Harry Potter:

How about random events like-
FairyTale Festival:
Dragon Eve, Prince and Princess Seth and Julia, Fairy Mother me, Squire Gideon, Sir Christopher the valiant, and Little Red Tessa. :)

Dr. Seuss Day:
We've got stars on ours!

Harry Potter's Birthday:
2015: Ravenclaw and Mandrake (everyone else dressed up too.)
 

2016:
Here's most of the everyone else - we had quite the crowd. Not pictured: Chris and Dad.

 
Here he is again in his house elf costume! And my new Adult Robes! (cuz I can't ALWAYS dress as a student, at some point that kid will be a student and I need to be a 'grown-up'. I got my robes by apprenticing at Madame Marilyn's Couture Robes for the Modern Witch. ;) haha Eventually we'll make my other set. I'm really enjoying learning to sew without being a total failure.)

 I'm sure there have been other events I'm missing. We like to dress up. And I love to make them myself - or I should say put them together. We love our #CraftyCostumes!

This was actually a random Sunday where he ran away before he was totally dressed and LOOK how cute and Risky Business he looks. I love it!

#OurKidGid

So now you've seen the journey to get the baby. But let me tell you - this baby was worth it!

The day he was born, he looked like a Call. His face, his hairline, his coloring, his temperament - Call. But he had my features, my lips, nose, and eye shape. It's fun to see how much he looks like my family as well, seriously he looks quite a lot like my baby brother Jacob did at that age.

And we loved him instantly.

He was a sweet tempered baby. Happy to snuggle. Crying to communicate, and the Halo 2 Theme song ALWAYS stopped his crying instantly.

He's been our joy.

Watching him grow has been an immense pleasure. Every day he discovers something new that he loves. He's so much like us- nerdy, emotive. He LOVES a 'show', a book, baths, and Mickey Mouse. He's sweet about dressing up for conventions and random holidays. He likes to be part of the conversation and show off his tricks - in his own time. He enjoys making choices - which direction should we go, which jammies to wear, which food or juice.

He's had object permanence since 6 months - not that great, let me tell you. When he's upset that he can't have the thing behind the door, that he shouldn't remember is there, it's hard not to capitulate. He's been signing for so long now that he speaks most the words he signs, but he knows he's more likely to get his way when he signs (I'm a sucker for word and sign, let me tell you).

He has favorite foods: hot dogs (or vienna sausages), apple juice, sauce, slices...apple anything, bananas, crackers, cookies (which he also calls crackers), veggie straws, hummus (which always ends up painted all over him), noodles of any kind (cheese noo noos or mac-n-cheese the ultimate meal choice), cheese, juice, fruit snacks, and more. The kid will eat pretty much anything we'll give him, but once he can ask for it, he will.

He has favorite shows: TMNT, Mickey anything, Avatar (the last airbender), Star Trek, Reading Rainbow, Mr. Rogers/Daniel Tiger, Pixar Movies - Inside Out, Monsters Inc, Nemo, Monsters University are his favorites, but he'll also watch Cars, Incredibles, Toy Story, Wall-E, etc - Disney movies like Frozen, Tangled, and more.

We love our activities together. Playing outside, watching a show, our daily activity, reading books, playing bubbles, making food, pretty much any time we spend time together we're happy.

He loves his family. I love his names for these guys: Nana and Papa. NaMa. Pop-O. Yaya (Julia). B and Cam. Kitty (Katie). How (Howie the dog). Sessa (Tessa). SeeSee (Chelsea). Ex (Alex.) Mac and Dil. Then there are some we're trying to get him to say, don't be offended if he just says 'no' he'll get there eventually! haha.

I adore #OurKidGid can you tell? (p.s. in case you haven't noticed, that's his hashtag on facebook and insta you can find lots of pics of him with that tag.)

Attached is a vid Chris made for a digital media class all about Gid. Yes it's my voice, but it's his script and direction. haha.

Our Baby Story

K here's a quick re-telling of our...adventure to attain parenthood.

We'd both always wanted kids, but wanted to make sure we were ready. "The List" was made- things we had to do before we could have kids. We started checking things off, until we both felt like our prayers said 'ok, time to try.'

Trying to get pregnant was the hard part. It was...trying. haha.  Taking out my IUD was scary because my life got harder - reverting to the way it was before they suggested it when I was 15. Cramps til I'd barf or pass out from pain. HEAVY bleeding for 7-8 days. Etc. More pain than I'd experienced before, and each month it got worse.  I was diagnosed with endometriosis. Basically, my uterine lining grows on the outside and on my ovaries and without the IUD it grows without treatment. Yay for having a diagnosis, boo that the only way to verify was surgery. After more months - and lots of love and prayers - I had surgery. Everyone kept telling me that I'd be in a lot of pain, but honestly (between pain meds and...pain tolerance) I felt GREAT. That's how bad it had gotten, SURGERY was better.

Before the surgery, the doctors covered all their bases and I heard a lot of "There's a lot of hope, but we don't know how bad it is, you might never get pregnant". It could be great or horrible. Awesome. So I was afraid of the standard surgical complications and risks, I was afraid that they'd get in there and it'd be 'frozen' or beyond hope, I was afraid they'd go in there and find nothing and I'd have to start again and try to find another reason I was...broken. I was afraid that even after surgery I'd never manage to get pregnant before it could grow back (which it will.) After the surgery they verified it WAS endometriosis stage 2, it was preventing me from getting pregnant. They'd cleaned it up. I had a '6 month window for my optimal chance to conceive.' They said if I could get pregnant the endo would treat itself.

We were a bit terrified of twins with fertility treatments, so we risked the first three months on our own. Then we started Clomid as the doctor suggested. Can I just say that if you've ever been on clomid, I'm so sorry for you and I love you! It's...the WORST. I HATE clomid guys. My eyes don't work properly - like I can't focus and things get fuzzy randomly. So I can't drive. I get dizzy, pass out, nausea, hot flashes, moodiness. I can go on. I'm NOT a fan. Pain - I've learned to handle, the clomid...I can't seem to get used to. (That being said, it works. So, there's that.)

Then we received the miracle for which we'd prayed. On our anniversary - June 11, 2014 we enjoyed our tradition of staying for an adventure at the Anniversary Inn. We'd decided there would be NO BABY TALK because I had my Dr appointment the next morning. June 12 I wake up, take an at-home test to see what to expect: negative. We go to the doctor ready for another crappy month of trying as my window closes.

We joke that Dr. Berry considers himself a bit of a comedian. (Gid's circumcision was 'a procedure and a show!') While sometimes I love it, sometimes it's...tricky. He comes in and says "so why're you here" like it's funny? (I didn't find it funny at the time)
  "To get checked for another month of clomid. I wanna be a mom" I replied.
   He tells me "Yeah, I don't think we're gonna do that" 
   At this point Chris got bugged, "why not?" 
   "Because you're pregnant." Dr. Berry is totally deadpan.  
   Chris was like "that's not funny" but the doctor had started laughing 
  "You're really pregnant." He said. At which point the nurse gets this HUGE grin and excitedly informs us that she double checked it, and waves the proof in my face. Then they advised us to keep it quiet for 12 weeks as conception was such an ordeal and he didn't want us to tell everyone just to have to un-tell in case of miscarriage. 

My pregnancy was a DREAM. I'd never been so happy, it was like I constantly thrilled. I would barf and just smile. I'd never been so excited to be sick before! My morning sickness wasn't even that bad. NOTHING was 'that bad'. Each twinge and pain and awkward moment was nothing. I've never felt more beautiful, more alive, more happy, more satisfied, more excited, more loved or loving than when I was pregnant. 

A little under a month before I was due we went to Fan-X! Can I just say, preggers crafts and costumes are SO fun? I was a TARDIS (bigger on the inside), a companion cube with a heart belly, and the Death Star (my favorite). Everyone was really nice about everything and I took a cushion to sit on whenever I needed to sit, but I'll admit it was a lot of walking and lines. Fun, lots of fun, but a lot of walking. The next Monday when I went to my doctor's appointment I was...shocked to learn I was dilated to a 4. My baby shower wasn't even until that Saturday! He said if I wanted to make it there without an infant, "No parkour, no running, minimal walking...sit down, keep your legs closed." haha! So I called my (again amazing) boss and said, 'gotta go on leave a week early' luckily we were all prepped already (my replacement trained and lesson plans prepped). I stayed home and did crafts sitting down and watched tv laying down. But I made it to that Saturday to attend my baby shower. Which was awesome. That night we went out and got the stroller/carseat, and other 'necessities' we thought we'd have more time to get. My back was achy.

The next morning I did not feel great. I was actually achy and everything felt off. So we stayed home and got the mural up on the wall (well, I put up the elephant and then sat down and they put up the stars and quote). We prepped as much as we could. I took a good shower got all comfy clean and double checked my (overpacked as always) bag. Mom said to come over for dinner. So we did. There she says 'all the BEST people are working tonight. Go walk on the treadmill for a bit. We'll go see if you've progressed and have this baby tonight!' Well, it was a short bit. My back was killing me, and I could barely walk. So I went back up to tell her to stuff it and stopped to sit, explaining that I don't want to walk anymore. It's hard and my back is killing me. She simply replies with 'You can't walk and your back hurts? That's BACK labor, we gotta go to the hospital, dummy!' (remember I'm paraphrasing). So we go. In the car, my darling Chris wants to know the color of my pain, the shape, the texture...etc. He's so great. But we kept telling each other 'this is not happening tonight. no way. too early. they're just gonna send us home.' 

We get to the hospital and guess what? I've progressed a little and my contractions are regular. Marta gave me a 'jumpstart.' I get in a room. I get an epidural. Epidurals are GOOD! Everything was good. My sisters brought me popsicles. We chilled. I felt nothing. It wasn't long at all before Marta's saying we need to call the doctor and push. (They did have to give me oxygen as I tend to hold my breath. I promise I was trying to breathe but...what can you do about getting light headed?) I had Marta, my mommy and my hubby and everything went fine. Then she's saying he's coming faster than the doctor. Marta says 'I CAN deliver this baby, but I don't WANT to, it SHOULD be your doctor!' And we stop pushing for a bit. In comes Dr. Berry! We push, out he comes. (Mom got THIS amazing pic that I HAVE to share!)


 I started BAWLING! Here he was. My BABY! I was a Mom. Overwhelming joy. 
 Chris' hands were shaking, so when Dr. Berry offered for him to cut the cord he wasn't going for it. Mom however was VERY eager to help and got that honor. :) Then he got checked over. 
 Here we are, our first look as a family. Yup, I'm still crying. 

And there you have it. Now we just have to parent, isn't that the scary part?

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

I'm Crafty!


So I was gonna post a bunch of pics of the crafty stuff I do, but I have way too many to choose from. Let's just say that since I got the silhouette Christmas of 2012 I fell in love with crafting. I cut vinyl. Lots of vinyl. I've done posters, wall murals, water bottles, stickers, stencils, and more. I make stencil painted shirts. Lots of shirts. Once I did over a hundred for my mom's girls camp project. And I don't stop at shirts, I've painted onesies (yup, lots of those), vests, hats, pillowcases, blankets, etc. Fabric painting is fun- now that I don't have to be talented like my mom and can use a stencil (which is where my talent lies, I've discovered.) I etch cups and glass pans. My favorite wedding gift is a pan with the 'new last name' especially here in mormon-ville where you tend to take your pans to things and bid them goodbye. With your name etched in, you tend to get them back! Nerdy cups are also super fun, and my favorite white elephant gift. Dicuts. Game cards. Handouts. Envelope printing. Boxes- oooh cardstock boxes cut in the machine are fun.

Ok I caved, let's do some pics:

Nerdy cups:
Zelda for Karli
Netrunner for David


Nursery Murals:
Gid's Mural
Mural for Carl's baby

Some Shirts:

 Star Wars Halloween 2015 - Gid's R2 was painted by me, Chris' Darth Vader - me, Dad's Chewbacca
Already Gobblin' Time for Wobblin' as he learned to walk. Future Hogwarts Student for HP's B-day!
 I LOVED making preggo shirts.

Ok, well I'm done for now. Gid's waking up. I've done lots of fun stuff!

Our Home

Ok, so while I do not intend to give you a tour of this home, I wanna take a sec to talk about some of my favorite decorating things we've done!

So when you walk in, there's an entryway with a giant calendar and scheduling stuff that takes you to the Family room (Kitchen + Living Room) and hallway. 
The kitchen is decorated with Black, Brown, and Red- as my hope chest kitchen stuff and then wedding gift dishes match the Tootsie Roll Theme (that Chris agreed looked nice and let me keep.)
Not sure if you can see my 'mod-podge'd tootsieroll wrapper LOVE and signs. but yeah. (also, I didn't show you the counters. It's...kinda clean right now, but hey, we live here.)
Family room is Black and Red. Here's the TV and shelves.
 Here's the 'mantle'. Right now I've got my Give Thanks pumpkins up. (flip them around for Halloween "Trick-or-Treat" and jack-o-lanterns)

So we walk down the cute picture-lined hallway, and there's a door marked as the bathroom. When we first moved in Chris and I agreed it needed to be a Disney bathroom. so BOOM-

Behind the door/across from the mirror are a few of our favorite disney characters with quotes. I cut the vinyl, but Chris (dear, wonderful man) cut the glitter paper silhouettes by hand.
 Next to it on the wall is the towel storage, I got three round baskets and mounted them to the wall to look like a Mickey Mouse head. Red and black hand towels and washcloths.
 Here's our big quote. "Laughter is timeless, Imagination has no age, and Dreams are Forever."-Walt Disney. This pretty much sums up how Chris and I choose to live. :) You'll also note our little Mickey and Minnie plushies and ears from our first Disneyland trip together. And other random disney trinkets - Mickey & Minnie pez, disneyland crowns, etc.
 This image was taken at a weird angle so you could see if you're standing in front of the mirror, you'll see the quote and stuff above the toilet, across from the towels, and hanging quotes. 
 Back out of the bathroom. There's more rooms, like my craft/laundry/storage room. See the silhouette and desk on top of the washer/dryer? Then the laundry baskets on the wall and to the right is our storage. (*This photo was not taken today- it's not even close to this clean right now, I craft! This is from when the baskets went up)
Here's the library/guest room. What you can't see is that the air mattress is still on the floor from the last time Tessa stayed over...we try to have her over often enough that we don't feel the need to put it away. But I love our shelves. (Quick moment to express my frustration that Ikea decided to stop carrying them in black. only black-brown. which is bad, cuz we need a few more DVD towers in which color, oh right, BLACK. Sigh. Rant over.)

Oh! Nursery! Gorgeous gray crib from the Mathis Family, who I think got it from the McGibbons. The nursery vinyl mural was me. Isn't it gorgeous? The quote is kinda hard to read in this dark pic but it says "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Do You Know How Loved You Are?" Couldn't decide on space or jungle, it became Elephants and Stars (my favorite parts of those two themes). 

And you're NOT gonna see my bedroom. It's not clean. It's never TOTALLY clean. I have yet to get my shadow box from Grampa Ivie and pictures actually mounted in there. Our bed is only made on days I KNOW for SURE I won't get a nap (which I do try to do regularly when he naps). Oh, we also don't have 'a bed' just a mattress on the floor (which I actually really like. cuz I just flop, and Gid can go up and down on it without any trouble. Someday my Grampa is gonna build me a beautiful magical storage bed without an ugly headboard (why do I hate them...not sure, but I do...) and so we're just gonna keep waiting. Cuz we're patient like that....and I like our mattress. 

Ta-Da! Decorations Shared!