More freebies

Here are tons more free printable gift tags! So cute! I wish I had more presents to wrap so I could use these too :)

Guys! Guys! Look what I made!

These are for Emmett for Christmas :)

I am so proud of myself I'm surprised my head hasn't exploded. I've never finished a project like this. Ever! I tried knitting a few times, but I wasn't very good at it. So now I'm trying crocheting, and I love it! I think the difference is that it's quick and I actually understand what the heck is going on with the stitches. That was not the case with knitting. Crocheting makes sense to me. So I shall stick with it and make lots of cute things. 

I got the tutorial from here, and it's really fast and waaay easy. This is like level 0 in the crafting world. I have another couple in the works, and these little fish are next. Aren't they so adorable? They would make the cutest mobile ever. 

And since I'm such a cephalopod nut, this little shop just made it to my favorites. So cute. 

On a completely different note, here's a video of cutie patootie Emmett from a little while back. 

Yesterday we were getting ready to go on a walk to the library, and we were having a bit of a rough time setting off. Emmett was wailing so loud I imagine you could hear him from about a block away. When we finnnally got going, we passed this guy working on the roof of a nearby building. As we walked by, he goes, "Stop beatin' that baby, lady!" haha oy

Have a great day everybody! 

The single greatest feel-good video of all time

Enjoy :)



Have a great day!

Cute Freebies

I just printed off a couple pages of these free gift tags to use for our Christmas and in a box I'm sending to Alex in Hungary. Hooray for free stuff!

The first one is from Wild Olive:



And this next one is from My Girl Thursday:



Go have fun wrapping Christmas presents!

ouch.

So yesterday in Gospel Doctrine, our home teacher and his wife were sitting next to us and their little girl was playing with another little girl in front of Chad. Emmett was watching them and jumping around; he really wanted to be down there too, but he should probably learn to sit up by himself first. So Chad helps him to stand up next to where the little girls are playing, and our home teacher's little girl toddles over and starts to bend down like she's going to kiss him. He hurriedly goes, "She really likes to kiss babies..."

"Is she sick?" Chad asks.

"No," he answers.

So we shrug. But as she bends down, instead of kissing him, she whacks him on the face! Both hands! It took a bit of an effort to smile and say that's alright instead of pinching the little twerp. But Emmett was fine. A little surprised obviously, but fine. Didn't even cry. What a man. Of course, little girl is barely a year old, so maybe she didn't have quite the impact she was going for.

So, Emmett's had his first lesson on girls. You think everything's smooth sailing, and then you get a whack in the face. Poor guy. 

Christmas in October, November, and barely December

Chad and I sort of got a jump on Christmas this year. In October, he gave me my first Christmas present:

I have been dying for one of these for a looooong time. And now, it sits proudly next to my side of the bed. Best nightstand evvvver.


Then on the Sunday we did our Thanksgiving dinner, after we ate Chad told me he couldn't wait on this next one any longer. And I'm SO GLAD HE DIDN'T!! Mom, Dad, and Erin, you guys'll understand how ridiculously ecstatic I was that this was mine. Like, to own. And I can watch it as many times as I want for the rest of my life.

"5 Disc Special Edition"
WOOHOOOO!!!!

Sigh. My heart still does little flutters. Am I the epitome of nerd? Yes. Yes I am. But so is Chad and that's why we love each other.

So, the story behind why this was so awesome: I wanted to be a photographer and a marine biologist for a looooong time. I was basically devastated when I learned that BYU didn't have a marine biology program, but I went to Provo anyway because I knew that was where I was supposed to be. Anyway, Chad knows this about me (and there's much more nerdliness to it than I described above, but that's way too much awesomeness for one post) and so he got me as close as I can get: 392 minutes of glorious oceanic experience.


And then tonight, we got a knock on the door. It was one of our upstairs neighbors with a little box in his hand. I sat on the couch as he told Chad that they found this box on their doorstep, and they opened it, and it had this "watch thing" inside (first of all, "watch thing"? What other thing is going to come in a Timex box besides a watch? Goober.) but on closer inspection, the address was ours. So Chad saw me slap my forehead, and--grinning--told our nice neighbor that the box was indeed ours. Chad closed the door, I threw up my arms with a "Merry Christmas!" and then went and wrapped the watch so he could open it tonight. And then it turned out that neither of us really liked the watch in person (online shopping; so fickle sometimes) and we're going to pick out a different one anyway.

Sheesh :)

Christmas is so much better when it's three months long.

We have a tree too! For the first time! And we may or may not have put it up and decorated it and everything a couple weeks before Thanksgiving...

don't worry, he wasn't chewing on it.

Emmett definitely did not like getting a faceful of fake pine needles

Recognize that ornament Mom? Guess what. It's my favorite one on the tree!

Terrible picture, but you get the gist.

Hooray for Christmas! We love this time of year :)


PS. This. Rocks. Is it a little weird that I can tell you that this thing could double for a Humboldt squid? Do I even need to ask that?

Thanksgiving

Chad and I did our own Thanksgiving this year! Admittedly, it was a little late. We had something flu-ish for the 24th and a few days around it, but we did our big dinner on Sunday. We cooked our first turkey! We did a brine, and it turned out sooo good.

We sort of tested it out before I snapped a picture... whoops ;)

And I made an apple pie! From scratch! Crust, apples, and all. And it turned out sooo good. We don't have a food processor, so for the crust I just used a whisk potato-masher style to smush everything together. Actually, that's how we mashed the potatoes too :) haha

Pretty, no?

Chad carving the bird

Emmett wishing he had teeth

Flu-like bug aside, our Thanksgiving was pretty great. Hope yours was too!

Family Time

So when Emmett was born, my mom and sister came up for a week. And I will tell you, not only was having them around a blast, but they were absolute lifesavers. I would have gone totally crazy in that first week if they hadn't been there. Chad and I were so grateful. Plus they cook like the gifts from God that they are, and we didn't complain one bit about that.

We got to run around Utah a little bit too. A little bit. I was still recovering, and Emmett turned a week old while they were here, so Chad and I weren't exactly the best at going out and doing fun things. But I thought staying home with them and our brand spankin' new baby boy was pretty dang fun all on its own. But we did go to Temple Square (from which trip I have ZERO pictures, because I was really on the ball that day) and up Rock Canyon a little ways. That was really neat, and it was a beautiful evening. After our little hike, we drove up to the Y parking lot to see the city lights at night. That was really neat. And a tad bit scary. But at least 98% neat.

With the sweet blanket Lindsay crocheted!

We were losing daylight...

With the awesome blanket Erin knitted! It's circular with alternating yarn fanning out from the center in a bit of a whirl. The woman's got serious skill. 

He's so beautiful. I can't believe we're already at the point where I can look at his newborn pictures and think, Was he ever really that small? Incredible. 

Chad's family came up a couple weeks ago too. It was really fun to see everyone get to know Emmett. And because I'm awesome at taking pictures of these kinds of things, I (again) only have a few. But it was a really good time. It's fun to show off your baby to family. 

Lindsay stopped by for a visit too! That was way awesome. I miss Lindsay. But she's off being cool and making her mark on the world, so I don't get to see her much anymore. And we may or may not have chilled in my living room, had pizza, and talked for seven hours. Definitely a fun day, and much needed. Miss you Lindsay :( 

I love this one. 

And... here a bunch more. Because I can. 

Going to the park in the awesome sweater my sister made!! There's a little matching hat too, but his head isn't big enough just yet :)

See? Serious skill. 

 

All funned out :)

Anywho, I've got a goal now to actually start posting regularly again. But I've realized that free time becomes a lot more scarce with a baby. Go figure. Nap time = mom running around like crazy trying to get housework done, etc. and then taking a few minutes to read a book before the baby's awake again. Don't get me wrong. I love the awake time. But Emmett usually has plans for us of his own :)

Have a great weekend!

4 minutes & 31 seconds of Emmett

 A few short videos of Emmett being cute :)




This one was during General Conference, so you're going to one of the seventy talking about repentance in the background :) oh and Chad didn't know this was a video at first, so that explains the cheesy grin.






And that's all for right now. But since Emmett is officially sleeping in his own bed now (!!!!!!!), I 'll have more time to blog a little here and there again! Whoop!

Have a great day!

Jazz for Cows

I love this video. It makes me homesick for playing in groups.



I love BYU.

Emmett's birth story

So Emmett ended up coming ten days late, which you all probably remember, because I couldn't stop complaining about it :) We were scheduled to be induced on Monday, August 29, but I was praying that it would happen on its own. Mostly I wanted to experience the process the way it happens when it's allowed to do its own thing (with the exception of an epidural). So we were at Sport's Authority on Saturday, August 27, shopping for boots for Chad for his new job. I had been having contractions earlier in the day, but they weren't regular (so basically, old news). But I can honestly say that something felt different that day. I even remember saying something to Chad about it before everything started. It was almost like everything felt heavier; like the baby was even harder to carry. I felt more weighed down. 

But anyway, as Chad was trying on boots, I started having contractions again. They kept coming, and on the way home Chad finally said, "Maybe we should start timing these?" He looked so hopeful :) So we started timing at 4:39pm. They kept coming throughout the evening, getting closer together and stronger. They actually kind of came in sets; like I'd have them at fifteen minutes apart for a while, then they would stop. Then half an hour later, they'd start again but be consistently closer together, etc. Finally around 8:30 or 9, they were getting painful and pretty close together; I was basically curled up in a sweaty mess on the bed while Chad squeezed my hands to help me through them. By 10pm we started grabbing the last minute things to throw in the hospital bag. At that point, they were about 5 minutes apart and I could hardly stand up during them; Chad had to come up behind me and help me stand a few times. By the time we got on the road, they were 4 minutes apart and there was no talking through them. Lots of gnashing of teeth and sweating, but no talking (except to briefly tell Chad I was ok when he looked at me with that worryface). 

There was a big thunderstorm coming in, and when we got on the highway, it really started raining. The windshield wiper on the driver's side has had trouble in hard rain before (it popped off and we had to pull over and wait until the rain slowed enough that we could put it back on and drive home). So naturally, I was pretty nervous. And also naturally, the wiper popped off during this storm too :) So we had to get off the highway (construction = no shoulder) and find a place to pull over and fix it. But fix it Chad did--while I was still having contractions at about 4 minutes apart--and we got back on the highway, both of us praying like crazy that the wiper would stay on and the rain would hold off. And we got both in return! The rain waited until we just barely got to the hospital.

[Side note on the rain: I love thunderstorms. I've always felt so much more comfortable and at home in the rain and thunder. And when we got to the delivery room, one of the first things I noticed was that we were up on the third floor, and there was a nice big window looking out on the storm (with a privacy shield at the bottom--no worries :) That was such a blessing, and another testament to me that Heavenly Father knows us and takes care of us, even in the details. I got my own personal thunderstorm.] 

By that point, I was in pretty serious pain. And carrying a Wal-Mart bag in front of me because I was sure I was going to puke. Chad had to help me walk, and when we went into the lobby, the after-hours security guard looks at us over the front counter and very casually says, "Labor and delivery?" So Chad helped me shuffle over to the elevators, we get up there and into a triage room, I get changed, and after checking, my nurse says I'm dilated to a 4. She also removes the trash can from where I'd scooted it to the side of my bed and gives me a barf bag instead :)

After a little bit, she moved me to my delivery room, got me all hooked up to an IV and monitors, and we wait for the anesthesiologist to come back. He had just left for home, because before I came, no one else was there delivering. So Chad held my hand some more and helped me through the contractions. By the time the anesthesiologist got back, I was in transition, and I was shaking like crazy. I didn't have much of a break between contractions anymore, and they were really getting down to business. So they sit me up, start cleaning my back for the epidural, give me a pillow to hang on to, and tell me to be as still as I can. Which is not very still, as I was still shaking like mad and couldn't stop. I asked the anesthesiologist if that was a problem, and he said, "Not as long as I'm shaking too." We really liked him; he had a really dry sense of humor, and he did a great job. And PS, epidurals are not as bad as they sound/look in the books. But maybe my opinion has something to do with having a really good anesthesiologist. It feels really weird, but it doesn't hurt that bad. It's like the very first prick of a bee sting.

Anyway, after the epidural kicked in, the contractions didn't hurt anymore, and basically, I was feeling pretty peachy again. I was still shaking, but that was due to being in transition. After that experience, I am pro-epidural, all the way. Chad and I were able to doze while my body finished dilating, which happened a bit faster than my nurse was anticipating. She checked me at 4am, expecting me to be at 9cm, but I was at 10. So, she got me ready, and I started pushing. My doctor was still on vacation, so the on call doctor (Dr. Jones, who was great) got there a little later. All in all, I pushed for less than 40 minutes.

Chad was great during everything. That man has a strong stomach :) But I really couldn't have done it without him. He was so strong during everything, and he helped me to be strong too. He was also able to go and stay with Emmett when the nurses took him to the nursery afterwards, and I was so grateful for that. 

Emmett William Jones was born at 4:38am on August 28 at 7lbs 14oz and 19in long.