Your Dalton Detour

Updates and fun stuff

2011-07-24T13:02:00.005-06:00

Life has been a little hectic the last couple of weeks, but I do need to post an update. For those that don't read my facebook page, I got the results back from my breast tumor biopsy and they came back that it is not cancer! Yeah! I do still have a fast growing tumor I'll have to take care of, but it's nothing life threatening.

On a totally different topic, a week ago we got back from a little family vacation to East Canyon Resort. We were there for 4 days, and had a great time. We've been going to East Canyon together with Adam's family every year since we were dating, so this was the 7th time we've gone together. For me, this was by far the best time. Maybe because Ryker is now at the age that he can appreciate some of the fun there. We went hiking, swimming, played at the park, 4 wheeling, boating, played games, and watched movies. Ryker actually slept really well, even taking 2 hour naps every day and sleeping through the night every night. This was the first time Ryker ever got to ride on a boat and he liked it. He hated having to wear a life jacket, but once he got over that, he had fun. He liked to wave to uncle Alan and Daddy as they skied. Here are a couple of pictures from the boat.

He even got to drive! :)

And he had fun playing on the back

Yeah For Fun Family Weekend!

2011-06-26T17:46:00.003-06:00

Adam is finally done with his summer semester! Hallelujah!

So this Saturday we went on a 30ish mile bike ride as a family. We went up to the Legacy Parkway Trail and rode that, then we stopped at Bountiful Lake for a picnic. Later that night we had fun playing fetch with the dogs all over the property and then having a BBQ. It was super fun and great to have time together as a family after not having much family time for the last 2 months.

Now we have 8 weeks before Adam starts the Fall semester and we are going to make the most out of it! We have multiple camping, hiking, biking, and other family outings planned. Then in between all of that we have a lot of projects we want to get finished before Adam goes back to school, like putting new flooring in the new baby's room since Adam won't have time for that once he goes back to school.

In the meantime, Ryker and I are enjoying having Adam back!

Good News and Bad News

2011-06-22T13:41:00.005-06:00

First, quick update. I did the Intelligender urine test that determines the gender of your unborn baby based on the hormones in your body, and based on that, I'm having another boy! I really am happy with either a boy or a girl. Intelligender claims their tests to be 85-90% accurate, so we shall have to wait and see.

Anyway, now on to other news. The end of last week I had two doctor appointments, one turning out great and one turning out badly. First the good one. I had my monthly midwife appointment to check on me and baby. I had done an Olympic distance triathlon (1500 meter swim, 22 mile bike, and 10k run) the Saturday before and I hadn't been feeling very well ever since. I had been cramping on and off, but no spotting. My midwife did an ultrasound and I got to see my very active little baby! Baby was doing great! Baby had a super strong heart beat and was moving all over the place in my belly, a very good sign that all is well. Eve, my midwife, told me that when babies are in stress they don't move, so the fact that my baby was moving like crazy meant he or she is doing wonderfully. Yeah baby! On the other hand, the fact that I didn't feel good and had been cramping so much after my triathlon, meant that I need to back off on triathlons now. Doesn't mean I still can't work out, but I need to keep the intensity lower and listen to my body. If I don't feel well or start cramping I need to stop entirely. Otherwise, I was in good shape, so I could feel free to keep going, although I may want to consider just swimming and biking since it was just the run that made me feel badly in the triathlon. I'm okay with that, since lately I've been having some pain while running so I don't love running anyway. :)

Now on to the bad news. Later that day I finally went to the hospital to get the lumps in my breasts checked out on an ultrasound. I was supposed to do it a month ago, but I wasn't worried about it and I kept forgetting to set the appointment. Anyway, I went to the Breast Care Center and Jordan Valley Hospital so I would be working with the best in the business. My left one turned out to be nothing, but the lump on my right size turned out to be a fairly large mass (aka tumor). The radiologist/oncologist then came to double check the ultrasound and then to talk to me. He told me that based on the ultrasound images, my mass was showing signs of cancer. It could still be a benign mass, but since it had grown so much in the last few months (there was nothing there in February and now it's almost the size of a golf ball) I should get it removed either way. However, they need to do a biopsy first because if it is cancerous, the surgery is different than if it is not.

If the mass is cancerous, then they will remove a significant amount of surrounding tissue, and depending on how bad it is, they may need to do a full mastectomy. The fact that I'm pregnant makes it much more difficult to deal with. The pregnancy hormones actually can cause the cancer growth to speed up, and even if they remove just the mass and surrounding tissues, they normally would like to treat with radiation or chemo to make sure they got it all. However, those treatments are not an option during pregnancy, so they often look at a full mastectomy as the safest option to make sure they got all of the cancer. Although, it could be possible to just do a lumpectomy and watch me closely, then deliver the baby early and then immediately start radiation or chemo treatments. Either way, none of those options sound good to me.

If the mass is not cancerous, they would still like me to consider surgery while I am pregnant due to its size, location, and fast growing qualities. He said they can still safely remove the mass while I'm pregnant, but my pregnancy will limit them on how they do the surgery and which drugs they use. My midwife also talked to me and told me this is probably the best idea for me if it's not cancerous.

Once you take the whole cancer thing out of it, it's still a sad thing for me because this is going to make it very difficult, if not impossible, for me to breast feed. I know that's not important to some people, but it's very important to me. I'm not saying anyone is bad if they don't breast feed, just that I really want to breast feed. If nothing else, Ryker never could really stomach any kind of formula well, so breast milk was his best choice. Unfortunately, based on the masses location and size, it's going to be next to impossible for me to breast feed on my right side. The biopsy alone is likely to damage it enough for me to not be able to breast feed, let alone the surgery. Then when you take into account that it's already blocking milk ducts, its pretty a for sure thing I won't be able to breast feed on the right side. I still might have a chance with my left side, but if I have to go through radiation or chemo, then that will be totally out of the question. And that scares me even more because if I'm going through treatments, that means I will have a premature baby, when breast milk is even more important. So, if any of you breast feeding new moms, or soon to be new moms, out there have any extra milk you want to freeze for me, I would really appreciate it! Hopefully I won't need it, but if I do need it, I'll REALLY need it.

Anyway, I have my biopsy in a few days. Then from there it takes a week to get the results back (you'd think cancer results would come back sooner, but no, they don't). And then from the results they will schedule me for some kind of surgery. We're keeping our fingers crossed and prayers in the air that all goes well and that me and baby will be totally fine. Hopefully this is just a little lump in the road.

More Family Time Pictures

2011-06-02T06:53:00.013-06:00

Here are pictures from another couple days of family time. I'm excited for July and August when Adam has school off and we'll be able to do more fun things together as a family. We already have a couple camping and hiking trips planned. It'll be interesting to see how Ryker does camping. :)

Hogle Zoo
Ryker driving us to the zoo

He looked cute in his hat. Too bad it didn't stay on long.

Discovery Kids Museum at the Gateway

Fitting in Family Time

2011-06-01T08:09:00.008-06:00

With Adam working full time and going to school full time, there's not much time left for him to spend with the family. Thankfully, he's a pretty great husband and father so any spare time he has he tries to spend with us. He had one weekend between semesters so we tried to pack in as much as we could in that weekend a month ago. Here are a few pictures from that weekend. I'll post more later (Ryker's waking up now).

Thanksgiving Point Farm

Play Planet

Living Planet Aquarium

First Midwife Appointment

2011-05-27T07:36:00.003-06:00

So on Monday I had my first appointment with my Midwife and my first peak and my little baby growing inside me. This was the first time I met my midwife in person. I've talked to her probably 10 times over the phone (making sure all of my supplements, training program, and races are okay), but meeting her in person was much better. I love her! I don't know why I didn't get a midwife the first time I was pregnant! She's so much better than my OB was.

First, she's a woman, so that right there makes her a little more understanding and me a little more comfortable than I was with my male OB. Second, she has 15 years of experience, so I feel good about her delivering my baby safely. And third, probably the most important for me, she's never once missed one of her patient's births. Hallelujah! She will be there with me through the entire labor, not let anyone push me around, and she is well aware of all of the methods of natural child birth that I want to try. And with her there, the nurses are not allowed to do ANYTHING to me without her written order. I feel so much better knowing that this time around I will have a professional there to support me, the ENTIRE labor AND delivery, and it's someone I will know and be comfortable with, someone who will know my birth plan and be totally supportive of my wants and needs and not try to push her own agenda.

This time around, I have to go natural, no epidural. I have no moral objection to epidurals, but since the epidural I got with Ryker nearly killed me (literally, my heart almost stopped and my blood pressure dropped so dangerously low they had to put ephedrine in my IV), I will not even consider an epidural this time around. I also didn't like how last time some of my nurses were really pushy and coerced me into things I didn't want to do, like get an epidural when I wasn't even feeling pain yet. Anyway, I am beyond thrilled I'm going with the midwife this time around and she does not have any plans in December or January, so baring some big unforseen circumstance, she will be there with me from beginning to end. Yeah!

Anyway, at my first appointment she did a breast exam and found two worrisome lumps; one in each of my breasts. So now I get to go to the hospital and get an ultrasound on each of those and make sure everything is okay. It probably is, but better safe than sorry.

Then the best part, she did an ultrasound for my baby and I got to see my little baby blob for the first time! I love every chance I get to see my baby during pregnancy. So originally my due date was December 25th based on the calendar. I wrote everything down so my midwife and I were pretty sure that was the date. However, in the ultrasound, little baby blob is measuring small. Therefore, my new due date is January 3rd. Personally, I think I will still come in December. Mostly because Ryker started off measuring small too, but when he was born at 36 & a 1/2 weeks, he was 6lbs 9oz and fully developed, making my original due date with him much more accurate. My original due date with Ryker was January 5th and he was born on December 29th, so he would have only been a week early instead of 3 and 1/2 weeks early.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this baby comes sometime after Christmas, but before New Years. That close to the end of the year, it would be great to get that nice tax break :)

Ryker's finally walking....and running!

2011-05-10T11:52:00.003-06:00

On Saturday, May 7th, Ryker finally started walking all by himself. He's been walking for a while holding on to things and pushing things, but Saturday morning he walked to Adam all by himself. He was so proud of himself! Then the rest of the day he had a lot of fun walking back and forth between Mommy and Daddy. Then on Mother's Day, the 8th, he started running back and forth between Mommy and Daddy. Now, every time that he can, he runs from place to place. He still falls, but he just gets back up and keeps going. I knew he was just waiting to walk until he could go fast. He's a fun kid!

Finally Catching Up!

2011-05-01T14:28:00.005-06:00

I’ve been out of the blog world for almost 5 months now, and a lot has happened in those 5 months!

First, we had Ryker’s first Christmas, which was awesome! He was able to have both sets of grandparents there when he opened his presents Christmas morning. He thought the whole thing was cool. He got to rip paper, play with new toys, and a box. Although he didn’t like it when I took his new toy away so he could open another one. That is, until he figured out he got to tear open another package. Christmas with a child is so fun!!

Next, Ryker turned 1 on December 29th and we celebrated his birthday the next day. Unfortunately, there was an awful snow storm that day so most of our friends and family were not able to make it to the party. However, we had the Dalton Grandparents and Grandma Stockdale and our friends the Miles Family, so it was still super fun. Since I’m paranoid about letting Ryker have sugar, and he has food allergies, we made him a special banana cake in the shape of a Teddy Bear (thank you Grandma & Grandpa Dalton for helping with that!). Ryker was hesitant to touch it, but then he went face first into it, but then when everyone started making loud noises in response he stopped because he thought he wasn’t supposed to do that. It was pretty funny. Overall he had a fun birthday!

At Ryker’s 1 year doctor appointment he weighed 18 pounds 2 ounces, putting him in the 2 percentile on weight. But his cognitive, social, and emotional development was all right on track or better.

In January Ryker’s communication skills really took off! He really started using sign language. By the end of that month he would sign more, eat, drink, cracker, milk, all done, and dog.

In the beginning/middle of February we found out that Ryker had some food allergies. I suspected something because he was always sick, had slow weight gain, and was getting a sore bottom often. Finally I took him to a doctor that is a licensed MD as well as a natural medicine doctor. His regular pediatrician wasn’t able to help before so I hoped this new doctor could, and he did! He was able to isolate that Ryker was allergic to cow’s milk, goat’s milk, yeast, coconut, eggs, and most strongly to soy. He did some natural allergy treatments and told me to hold off for a couple weeks on allowing him to have any of these things. Then I could add them back into his diet, one at a time, wait a week or two, then add in another one. As soon as I did this, Ryker got better. Basically all of his symptoms went away and he finally started to gain weight!

Now he can have everything except for soy, which is basically in every processed food. So this means I do a lot of cooking from scratch and I have to buy a lot of organic foods to get stuff without soy in it. Although, since I’ve made these changes, he is doing so much better! And, lets face it, without many processed foods in our home, we all eat healthier.

Here we are now at May 1st, and I can’t believe how big Ryker is! He is finally as tall as his cousins the same age as him (although I haven’t weighed him in a while, so I don’t know what he weighs). He is still small weight wise and a skinny boy, but he’s much healthier. Other than a cold and one ear infection, he didn’t get sick after we figured out his allergies, which is a HUGE thing for him! This is the kid that was always sick.

Ryker is now a wonderful communicator now! The only downside to that is he gets really mad at me when he knows I know what he wants and I don’t give it to him. Oh well, kids have to learn they don’t always get what they want. Anyway, now he uses sign language all day long and he talks a bit too. He now signs eat, drink, more, cracker, banana, milk, all done, bird, horse, fish, dog, grandma, hurt (if something like his ears or tummy hurt he can tell me), hat, shoe, please, thank you, car, bike, airplane, he shakes his head yes or no in response to questions and then he also loves to wave hello and good-bye to everyone. He can sign more than he can say, but he says mom (also mama, mommy), dad (also dada), grandma, papa (for grandpa), dog, bird (kinda sounds like bir), that, and his favorite is uh-oh. He is also mister social and loves to wave to everyone. Most of the time he plays well with other kids. He also LOVES music and tries to sing all the time, which is totally adorable! He loves to play the piano (Grandma Dalton’s keyboard) and he turns bowls and boxes into drums. He loves to read books. He loves to go outside. He is a great running and biking companion for Mom and he loves going in the jogging stroller and bike trailer. He walks (mostly runs) holding onto stuff, or someone’s finger, or taking a few steps from one thing to another or when he doesn’t realize he isn’t holding onto anything. Although he sits down and speed crawls if he realizes he isn’t holding onto anything. I think he’s just waiting until he can run without holding onto anything because he crawls so fast that walking is just too slow for him. Overall, he is a very sweet, smart, busy, playful, teasing, boy!

Adam just finished another semester of school, again with all As. Yeah, go Adam. He now only has a year left! He’s coming up on a tough 7 week semester that with his full time work at the VA and full time school schedule, we won’t see us at all 4 days a week. Monday through Thursday he’ll leave at 5:30 a.m. and get home at about 10pm. But then once those 7 weeks are over he’ll get 8 weeks off (we’re counting down!). So in his one week off this week, we just got done spending an awesome weekend together as a family. I’ll do a separate post about that later.

In the last 5 months I (Melissa) have had a lot of things going on too. First, since November 1st I have lost 45 pounds and am now down to 19% body fat. I have also been training hard for triathlon season, which gets started this week. I started by training 5 hours a week and have now worked up to training 12 or 13 hours a week. We (Ryker and I) switched gyms to one with a nursery that gives him tons of attention and one-on-one time. So I run and bike outside with Ryker weather permitting, and when it’s not permitting, we go to the gym and Ryker gets to go play for an hour while I run, bike, or swim. He loves it at the new place! He also takes a mommy and baby swim class there with me once or twice a week and he is becoming quite the little swimmer himself. Then when we come home after our workout each day & he goes down for a nap, I find myself either working out more or getting house work done, or both.

A couple weeks ago I was talking to my triathlon coach and he suggested I was in great shape and there was no reason I shouldn’t be training for a half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run), not just an Olympic distance (1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run). He suggested I could be ready for the Boise half Ironman on June 11th, so after talking to Adam, I decided to do it!

I was feeling great and the weather was getting better, so adding to my training with Ryker was no problem. Ryker is always asking to go outside, so he was loving the extra outside time with Mom. Since there was a slight chance I was pregnant, I decided to wait to register until I had my period a couple days later. After over a week of being late, I finally took a test, and then another test, and then double checked my calendar where I had been writing everything down, and sure enough I am pregnant! According to my calendar, I am due December 25th!

I immediately got on the phone with my doctor’s office and then later got a call and had a long discussion with my midwife about what being pregnant means to my training, diet, and triathlon schedule. Since I am feeling great (other than being slightly tired I don’t even feel pregnant!) she said I could continue with what I’m doing. I eat a very healthy, balanced diet, with enough calories to fuel my workouts, so all I needed to do was add 200 calories to my diet and I would be fine. I also closely monitor my heart rate during workouts so I should keep doing that and stay in an aerobic zone and as long as I’m not cramping or bleeding, I can keep up my workouts and keep doing my triathlons and bike events I’m scheduled for. Although right now I’m not planning on doing the half Ironman until next year, after this baby is born. I will however be doing other, shorter distances, throughout the summer as long as I continue to feel good.

That’s a lot of updates for one day, so I will continue updates another day.

11 Months and Counting

2010-12-13T11:10:00.003-07:00

It has been way too long since I’ve updated this blog, but as life goes this time of year, it has been super busy. We had our first Halloween with Ryker, and it was super fun. We had a Halloween party complete with a Spooky House for kids. Apparently it was scarier than I realized because I think a couple of the littler kids cried. Ooops. All in all though it was fun. I loved being able to dress all of us up. Adam was a hunky Hercules, I was Medusa, and Ryker was a dragon. He was so darn cute! My sister Kelly was Cat in the Hat and Ryker kept pulling his dragon head over his face so he wouldn’t have to look at her. So funny.

Then there was Thanksgiving, which we enjoyed with my mom and dad and Adam’s Grandma Grace. It was nice to just relax and hang out with family. Ryker of course was the center of attention as always. He loved the mashed potatoes, stuffing, and one bite of sweet potato casserole I allowed him. Also, in November, Ryker got his first ever hair cut from his awesome aunt Monica, so cute! He kept trying to look at the clippers, so poor Monica had to give a hair cut to one squirmy baby, but she did an awesome job!

Now we’ve moved into the wonderful Christmas season and it’s so fun having Ryker during this time of the year especially! We went to the Festival of Trees and he was mesmerized by all of the Christmas trees and Gingerbread Lane, constantly trying to reach out and grab everything. We got our tree up at home, but in order to protect the tree, but more importantly Ryker from himself pulling the tree on top of him, we put it on a table in a corner and then blocked it with a chest and couch so it’s just barely out of his reach. He still loves to look at when all the lights are on and constantly tries hard to reach for the decorations.

Ryker, as always, is the light of our lives. He is so mobile and independent, he’s becoming quite the handful. Here’s a list of things Ryker loves to do these days:
• Opening drawers and cupboards and unloading the contents
• Pushing chairs around and using them as a walker
• Climbing all over Shady like she’s a hill and he has to be king of the hill
• Feeding the dogs from his high chair. He takes a bite then he throws a bite down to the dogs
• Sticking toys in his mouth while he crawls around so he can take them with him without the toy getting in his way while crawling. I think he learned this from the dogs..
• Speed crawling down the hall and trying to make it into the dog room and out the dog door before Mom or Dad can catch him (so far he’s only made it part way into the dog door, but never outside)
• Dropping toys and saying “Uh, oh.” Or saying “uh, oh” and then dropping his toy.
• Reading books and then promptly eating them
• Pulling Mom’s hair
• Playing with all of his Grandmas and Grandpas (2 great grandmas, 2 grandmas, and 2 grandpas all on the same street)
• Pushing a ball around the room and chasing after it
• Sticking everything possible into his mouth, except he still isn’t much of an eater and is only in the 3 percentile, go figure
• Playing with Mom’s cell phone and any remote control he can get his hands on
• Being outside. Every time I open a door to outside he speed crawls over there to try and make it out the door
• Holding on to anything semi-stable and walking as much as possible. He’ll be walking on his own before we know it!

For fun, pictures of the last couple months

My little handful

2010-10-26T14:33:00.002-06:00

Now that Ryker is crawling like a pro, and pulling himself up to standing position all the time, and starting to walk while hanging onto things, he is becoming quite the handful. He now likes to pull himself up on the changing table (it has 3 shelves, two beneath the actual changing station so Ryker can reach those) and then unload all of the diapers and spare clothes, and anything else he can reach. In his bedroom he likes to open the dresser drawers and pull everything out. And now, he has discovered the wood burning stove in our place and has quickly decided that is his new favorite place to play (and make Mommy nervous). See how happy he is playing there:

Ryker update

2010-10-20T10:05:00.003-06:00

Ryker is now 9 and a half months old! I can't believe how time flies! At his 9 month appointment he was 15 pounds 14 ounces, in the one percentile! He is a tiny little boy, but I have to admit, I love it! I know he'll catch up someday, but what he lacks in size he makes up in strength and personality. He crawls (more like an army man, but crawling nonetheless), and pulls himself up to stand, and just this week he started walking by holding onto the couch and walking along. He chases the dogs, pulls their tails, laughs when they lick him, feeds them food from his high chair, and overall just loves the dogs. He feeds himself and likes to think he's a big boy now and doesn't need Mommy or Daddy to feed him. Occasionally he decides he's too big for a bottle and will only drink from a sippy cup. He loves to read books, but he equally loves to eat the books, so that can make story time difficult at times. He's a huge tease! He thinks it's hilarious to pull Mommy and Daddy's hair. He's is so wiggly! We have to distract him with toys or bottles when we change his diaper or he decides he's going to get up and crawl away.

He just made it last week to 16 pounds 1 ounce and I was way excited! He's still in 6 months size clothes and size 2 diapers. He's healthy at the moment and I hope it stays that way. He has always had a weak immune system, but his doctor assures me that will make him stronger in the future.

I'm so excited for Halloween! I haven't made a final decision on costumes yet, but you better believe it will be good!

Cruise

2010-10-20T10:01:00.003-06:00

A week and a half after Ryker and I got home from Texas, I turned around and flew back to Texas to head out on a 5 day cruise with Jen, Brooke, and her friend Julie. We went to Cozumel, Mexico. It was fun stuff, although it was really hard for me to leave Ryker. He had his grandma Dalton during the day and then Daddy at night and on the weekend, so I knew he was well taken care of, but I sure did miss him a lot! Although, it was nice for me to take a break and have some fun with the girls. I'm glad I was able to spend more time with Jen since I usually have to go so long in between visits. Here's a pic from the cruise.

September Texas visit

2010-10-20T09:54:00.007-06:00

In the beginning of September Ryker and I flew to Texas to help my sister Jen out for 16 days while she recovered from back surgery. It was nice to spend time with my sister and her family because we rarely get to see them. The bummer was that two days after we got there Ryker got super sick and spent the next 9 days with diarrhea and vomiting. We didn't know it until after the fact, but he had gotten sick from the recalled Similac formula (of course this happens to be the time there's a problem with formula, a month after I stop breastfeeding). Anyway, in the end it all turned out okay, even though Ryker lost some weight. When he was not sick, he has fun playing with his aunt, uncle, cousins, and their cute dog Daisy. Here are a couple pics Jen took with Ryker and their awesome family.

(By the way, doesn't Jen look awesome! You'd never know looking at her that she just had major surgery!)

A little late, but Triathlon pics from this summer

2010-10-20T09:43:00.005-06:00

I didn't do a very good job of taking pics of my triathlons this summer, but my friend Michelle who was with me at every tri except one, took some. Here are a few pics thanks to her. As a recap, I did the Daybreak tri in May, the Saratoga Springs tri in June, the Rockcliff tri in June, and the Stansbury tri in July. I took third in my group at Daybreak, fifth at Saratoga Springs, fourth at Rockcliff, and second at Stansbury. I would have done more, but I unfortunately received an injury in my right side that now prevents me from running. The docs are working on trying to get this fixed so I can run again (I still have severe stabbing pain in my right side anytime my body is josteled around, like in running), but hopefully I can get back in the tri game soon. In the meantime, here are a few pics.

East Canyon in August

2010-10-20T09:34:00.010-06:00

The end of August we did Adam's family's annual reunion at the East Canyon Resort. It was just two weeks after we got home from Mexico. It was fun! This time when we went 4-Wheeling I actually didn't get scared at all. It's amazing how much confidence I now have from doing triathlons over the summer. Anyway, I forgot to use my camera most of the time, but here are a few pics I took. On the Sunday morning, Adam, Ryker, and I went on a hike and then listened to conference talks on our ipod. It was great!

Our Sunday Morning Hike

Ryker liked to play peek-a-boo during the hike

After a while he fell asleep

And this is when we got home. Ryker was happy to be home playing with his toys :)

Finally, Mexico Pics

2010-10-20T09:26:00.007-06:00

Here are a few pics from the trip to Mexico Adam and I took in August

Travel Log

2010-08-24T16:18:00.003-06:00

From August 9th through the 16th Adam and I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We left Ryker home with Grandma Dalton and Aunt Julie. It was really hard to leave my sweet little boy, but Adam and I REALLY needed a vacation. And I knew Ryker was in good hands, so we didn't feel too guilty about leaving him.

Adam and I had a great time in Mexico. On the way there we got stuck in the Dallas airport while our plane was being fixed. We finally left 2 and a half hours late, but at least we made it to Mexico safely. By the time we got to our hotel it was super late and we just crashed. The next day we went to the beach, which was out our back door, and went parasailing and kayaking. The parasailing was more peaceful then it was anything else, but we were up in the air flying behind the boat for exactly 12 minutes. That was much longer than when I went parasailing in Hawaii 5 years ago. The kayaking was fun to do in the ocean, which was a new experience from doing it in a river in Provo. It was a little more physically challenging, but fun.

Our next day we went a did an "Outdoor Adventure" through Vallerta Adventures." If you ever go there, we HIGHLY recommend this adventure. It was our best day of the vacation. We took a speed boat to an island. Then a hummer type truck up half the mountain. Then mules up the other half the mountain. Then we hiked the rest of the way to a zip line platform. The first zip line was 300 meters long (985 feet) and 200 meters high (about 650 feet). From there we did a series of zip lines until we got to the top of a huge, over flowing waterfall. From there we repelled straight down the rock, right next to (or in my case, I ended up under the waterfall halfway down) the waterfall. Then there we crossed rope bridges, more zip lines, more repelling, and then finished it off with hiking, in which we crossed some rivers on foot. There were a couple of times where even Adam go nervous throughout this adventure, but it was the funnest day either one of us have ever had in our life!

Next day we went snorkeling and played on the beach. The snorkeling was okay, but the scuba divers said they saw a lot of variety on their dives, whereas I didn't think we saw a tone of variety in our snorkeling. We took a catamaran out to an island to do the snorkeling and while the catamaran was just sitting there I started getting a little motion sickness, so I got my own goggles I use for racing and jumped in the ocean just to do some freestyle swimming until it was time to go. When we got back we went to downtown Puerto Vallarta and walked around for a few hours, got a meal, and even checked out their local Walmart. :)

Next day we went horseback riding in the Sierra Madre mountains for 4 hours. This was super fun! I wouldn't recommend it if you've never ridden a horse before, but if you have and you're okay with risk, it was way fun. We went through some treacherous terrain and even crossed rivers on horseback. In fact, one lady almost fell off her horse in the middle of the river. One time we were crossing a ditch/stream and Adam's horse decided he was not going in the ditch, so he backed up and full on leaped. The guide calmly said to Adam a few seconds before, oh he doesn't like to cross here so he's going to jump. Adam grabbed on tight just in time to go flying through the air on his horse. Some of the trail we went on was really steep, parts I wouldn't even be comfortable walking down by myself, but the horses did great. I actually felt safer on the horse than if I was trying to do it alone. At the end of the day they made us an authentic Mexican lunch and it was the best meal we had the whole time. Great day!

On our final day we relaxed at the resort during the day and then in the evening we took a catamaran to an island to see the show Rhythms of the Night. It was a Mexican story that dated back thousands of years. It was really beautiful. Then they gave us an incredible dinner by candlelight and we got to walk around the island and then chill in hammocks right off the water until it was time to go back. On the way back our catamaran crew did a hilarious show, followed by dancing for the passengers. It was fun.

Overall it was a super fun trip, and as long as we were staying busy I did okay with missing Ryker, but every night when we went to bed I had to look at pictures of him. Though it was a fun trip, I was happy to come home to my baby.

We didn't do a very good job of taking pictures, but we did take some. Once I get them downloaded on the computer I'll post them.

7 Months

2010-08-01T07:53:00.012-06:00

Ryker turned 7 months old on Thursday the 29th.

(This was taken while we were visiting family in Alabama)

I can't believe how quickly time flies! I went to the dentist on Thursday and I said to the dental assistant, I just had a baby. She asked how old he was and I said, 7 months old today. Wow, I "just" had a baby 7 months ago. And then her and I busted out laughing. I guess I can't say I "just" had a baby anymore. He's now closer to 1 year old than to newborn. Crazy!

No new major milestones this month, but he is rolling all over the place still. I'll lay him on a queen size blanket and then go to the other side of it and tell him to come to me and he'll happily roll his way over to me and then look so triumphant when he makes it. I try to get him to crawl or scoot to me, but just ends up rolling to me. He has started scooting a little, but mostly rolling. He also sits up by himself for a few seconds, but then he usually falls over. We're working on it still.

A couple things happened with me and Adam this month. I completed my 4th triathlon on July 24th and took second place in my division. Yeah go me! I actually had a HORRIBLE week that week, so when I went to the triathlon I tried to take all of my stress and anxiety out there and it must have worked since I had my best time ever, and I placed.

Adam got a certificate in the mail, he made the Dean's List at UVU. That's right folks, he's a smart cookie! He managed to make the Dean's List on his first semester back in school while working full time, going to school full time, and having a brand new baby. Pretty impressive I think.

Anyway, here are some fun pictures from this month.

Taking a nap with Mommy

We babysit our niece for a few days. This was after Adam had fed both kids. Notice the food everywhere, but the happy faces on the kids :)

The family at Livy's baptism

Us at the Coke Museum. Ryker slept through a lot of it.

More of the Coke Museum with my nieces

The cool Coke bottles

How the heck did he do that?

2010-07-18T16:42:00.004-06:00

Before I write this I must warn you, it is not for the weak stomach folks. So if you get grossed out easily, probably want to skip this one.

Quick post about a funny, gross thing Ryker did yesterday. He was in his new favorite toy (the jumping thing you hang up in a door way) happily playing away. Then he started getting a little fussy, so I went over there to check it out and before I reached him, I smelled the problem (since he started eating solids his poop is much stinkier). When I got to him I looked on the floor and saw a pile of orange baby poop (he had sweet potatoes for breakfast). I quickly grabbed him out of his jumper before he could jump in the poop some more and smear it all over himself and the floor. When I pulled him out I fully expected to see poop all over the seat, his onsie, and his diaper. I put him on the changing table and buckled him in so I could check out the damage, but I was totally surprised by what I found. Somehow Ryker managed to poop out of the side of his diaper, completely missing his onsie and the jumper seat, only getting a tiny bit on his diaper. I have no idea how he managed that! He must have pooped mid jump or at the end of his jump and it squirted out the side, onto the floor without hitting anything else. And then he didn't want to jump in it and managed to jump all around it, only getting a tiny bit on his toes. Whew, that was lucky. Dodged the bullet there!

Anyway, I think it's pretty funny that the first time I had to clean poop off of the carpet it was from my son, not my dogs. Go figure.

Good news, it didn't stain the carpet.

And for those of you that aren't grossed out yet, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the event. Just don't scroll down if you don't want to see it.

Ryker's Dr Appointment

2010-07-15T13:41:00.005-06:00

Ryker had his 6 month doctor appointment today and it was not the most pleasant thing in the world. He has a GREAT pediatrician, so that wasn't the problem. Ryker apparently has a lot of hair in his ears (for a baby) and that is why he is accumulating a lot of ear wax. The poor doctor ( Dr. Tew) had to use a tiny ear tool to pull wax out of Ryker's ear because it was so clogged with wax he couldn't see into it. Once Dr. Tew got the wax out he was able to see that poor Ryker has an ear infection.

Another interesting thing Dr. Tew found is that what I thought was a top molar or canine tooth, is actually a cyst. Apparently it's pretty common for babies to get cysts in their mouth. Anyway, Ryker does now have two bottom teeth that look perfect, so that's good.

Our doctor appointment finished up with Ryker getting a couple shots. He was already pretty mad by that point because of the whole digging wax out of his ear thing, so by the time we left, I had one unhappy baby. The only good thing is that by the time we got home from picking up his anitbiotic prescription he wore himself out and has been sleeping ever since. I hope he feels better when he wakes up. Poor little guy.

On a good note, even with an ear infection and teething, he's overall a pretty happy kid. Just for fun here's a cute picture of him from this morning.

By the way, he is still a tiny baby and measures in at the 3 percentile in weight and head size. He weighs 14 pounds 5 ounces. His height is in the 25 percentile. He is now 26 inches long. Looks like I'm going to have a tall skinny boy. :)

6 months

2010-07-12T10:36:00.015-06:00

I’m two weeks late on this post, but that’s because we have been on the road traveling. Anyway, Ryker learned and tried some new things this month (although some of these were just in the last two weeks).

He discovered his toes and how fun they are to play with!

He learned it’s fun to ride on Daddy’s shoulders.

He learned he prefers to hold his own bottle and feed himself.

He learned Daddy is still one of his favorite beds.

He learned he still small enough to fit in a bathroom sink (ok, so really Mommy learned that when trying to figure out where to give him a bath while out of state visiting the Hiatt family).

He flew on a plane for the first time.

(This was a cool certificate Southwest gives to kids flying for the first time. We got this on the way home, so technically this was his second time flying, but close enough.)

(It's hard to see, but we were actually on a Southwest plane in this picture)

He visited 5 new states (Nevada, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and New Mexico). We flew to Alabama to go visit my sister April Hiatt’s family and be there for Livy’s baptism. On the way there we flew from SLC to Las Vegas. Then Vegas to Alabama. While there we drove to Atlanta, Georgia to visit the Coke factory (more on that later). Then on the way home we flew from Alabama to Houston, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and finally back to SLC.

(on the road in Alabama)

He met his Hiatt cousins for the first time and learned he sure loves them! Kiera even makes a great bed!

He also learned how to roll across and around the room in record time, and he’s really enjoying his new found mobility!

He learned he loves his new jumping toy! First time we put him in it he squealed with glee and jumped for 40 minutes straight.

He began eating solids. Bananas are his favorite, closely followed by sweet potatoes.

He learned that even though he likes eating solids, watching the dogs is still more interesting than eating.

He learned that if he's not careful (and if Mommy's not fast enough) he may end up with "help" getting that pesky food off of his face while admiring the dogs. Naughty Shady.

And finally, he cut his first tooth! I haven't been able to get a picture yet because that makes him very mad (his first tooth was on the top left. It's either a canine or a molar, weird. His second tooth made it's appearance yesterday and it's a normal bottom front tooth.)

Ryker updates

2010-06-22T07:28:00.006-06:00

Wow, it's been almost a month since I've posted and a lot has happened, both good and challenging. The most challenging thing that has happened this month is the Ryker got a yucky stomach virus that caused him to have diarrhea and vomiting, but at least there was no fever. I'm pretty sure I had the same stomach bug the day before my Daybreak triathlon. I thought it was just nerves, but then it didn't go away for a few days, and then Ryker got it, but much worse than me. He couldn't keep anything down for a week. He ended up having to go into Primary Children's hospital and be put on an IV. That was the most horrible experience of my life! Watching my poor little baby by pinned down while nurses stuck needles and tubes in him. I had to leave the room while Adam had to hold him down for the horrible experiences. I think I may have cried just as much as Ryker that night.

After the hospital released us from our our awful night (although I have to say the staff was really nice and helpful, but nothing makes my baby suffering seem better) Ryker still was battling dehydration. I had to syringe feed him breast milk and pedialyte every 15 minutes for 2 days. After a week, Ryker finally got over the bug. He lost an entire pound! That may not sound like much, but he was only 13 and half pounds and he got down to 12 and a half pounds. Not so good for a 5 and half month old.

Good news though, Ryker is totally over it and as happy as can be now. The interesting thing is that even though he was sick, he wasn't crying much (maybe because he didn't have enough hydration to produce tears, but who knows). He would still smile at us and he was mostly just lethargic. We knew he was feeling better when he started giggling and playing again.

Anyway, he's had a few new things in the last couple of weeks. First, I started styling his hair; well sometimes. He's so darn cute. Check him out!

Second, I started him on solid foods. He started on rice cereal last week. It was hilarious! The first time he got a spoonful in his mouth he just sat there with his mouth half open starring at me not quite sure what to do. I tried to show him how to eat it, and after a few minutes he started figuring it out. Then he thought he would try blowing bubbles in it, which meant he blew rice cereal all over the place. I tried not to laugh because I didn't want to encourage it, but I couldn't help it. So next spoonful, he looks at me, smirks, and then blows the rice cereal all over the place again. That kid is such a tease! Then Sunday we started adding bananas to his diet. He loved that! In fact, when I would pull the spoon out of his mouth to get another spoonful, he would scream until I put the spoon back in his mouth. He's so funny!

Another thing Ryker has started doing is scooting. He still HATES being on his tummy, so if he doesn't roll over within a few minutes, he scoots himself off of his blanket.

And finally, Ryker has made friends with Shady and Rolo. One day I was holding Ryker on my lap and Rolo came and put her head on my lap. Ryker lunged toward her and grabbed a fistful of fur. Rolo just licked him, which he thought was funny, and Ryker has been mesmerized by the dogs ever since. Every time he gets within arms length of them, he lunges to pet them, or pull their fur. Rolo has started trying to bring him toys to play fetch. Sorry puppy, that' not going to work for a while yet. The only hard part with all of this dog love, is that I'm a little paranoid about the germs. I try to wash Rykers hands as soon as he's finished petting the dog or the dog has licked his hands. But sometimes Ryker gets his hands in his mouth before I can wash them. I guess what doesn't kill him will make him stronger right? I'm still not comfortable with the dog germs, but that's just the paranoid first time mom in me. I'm sure I'll get over it.

5 Months

2010-05-30T08:18:00.003-06:00

As of yesterday Ryker is officially 5 months old. I can't believe it! It's fun to see his personality coming out more and more each day. He loves to talk, read books with mommy and daddy, blow spit bubbles, and he thinks it's pretty funny when mommy or daddy burps (so like a boy!). Every evening when Adam comes home from work or school Ryker talks up a little storm. It's like he's trying to tell his daddy all about his day. And every morning when I get him up he's super talkative too, like he wants to tell me all about his dreams. It's so cute!

Lately as he lays on the floor (he prefers his back to his tummy, but we still make him do both even though he won't stay on his tummy long before he rolls himself onto his back) he likes to watch the dogs. It's like he's recently discovered these big furry animals and he thinks they are fascinating. The dogs have started to pay more attention to him too, occasionally sniffing him. And of course Shady is always very concerned any time he cries. She always looks at me so intently until I help Ryker stop crying. Shady is such the nurturer.

Another milestone that happened on Ryker's 5 month birthday is that I participated in my first ever triathlon. It was at Daybreak at 8:30 in the morning and it was freezing! Last I checked the weather on my phone before we started it said it was 47 degrees outside. I don't know for sure what the water temperature of the lake was, but I heard it was 55 to 56 degrees. If you're not familiar with water temperatures, let me assure you, that is VERY cold!

So I was super nervous about my first tri. I had a hard time eating the day before and my stomach was doing flip flops. I only swam in the open water once a couple of days before (normally I train in a pool, which is quite different than open water) and I really wasn't used to swimming in a wetsuit. Plus, the bike course was 6 miles uphill, and I'm not the greatest at uphills. The only good thing about that though is that means it was 6 miles downhill on the way back, and I rock at downhills. Most people take it easy on the downhill, using it as a chance to rest, but not me. That's when I push it. There where 4 women that passed me on the uphill, but then I passed them on the downhill and they never caught up to me on the run.

Ahhh the run. I am not a great runner. Never have been, probably never will be. However, I was lucky enough to have a girl from my triathlon class, Michelle, find me on the run and run with me the whole 5k. Michelle is a faster runner than me so I pushed myself hard to keep up with her, and somehow I managed to keep up with her all the way to the end. And thanks to the good pace we kept on the run, I actually took 3rd place in my division! Crazy!

My goal when I first set out to do a triathlon was just to finish it and not to come in last place. Then my goal became to finish it and do it under 2 hours. I never thought I could even come close to placing, so you can imagine my surprise when I not only finished under 2 hours, but also finished 3rd. I'm totally thrilled! And now I'm that much more motivated to work harder and do better at my next triathlon.

Another milestone that happened at Ryker's 5 month birthday is that I officially have lost 60 pounds since he was born. So as you can see, it's been an interesting 5 months. My baby is getting so big, and strong, and bright, and accomplishing all kinds of things. I completed a triathlon and lost a bunch of weight (although I still have more to go before I reach my final weight loss goal. Too bad I gained 50 pounds in pregnancy). I'm excited to see what will happen in the next 5 months!

Motherhood

2010-05-18T12:03:00.007-06:00

Exactly one year ago today I found out I was pregnant. I don't know that I can adequately describe how I felt, but I'm going to try. After two and a half years of not being able to get pregnant, I had almost given up. I had spent so much time worrying that I would never be a mother, so much money trying to be a mother, and so many tears shed when each month I still wasn't pregnant. Only those who have struggled to get pregnant truly understand how that feels.

And then one year ago, after a few days of feeling like I had the flu I felt inspired to take a pregnancy test. I remember arguing with this inspiration in my mind. I had sworn off pregnancy tests because I was sick of the 2 minutes waiting that felt like an eternity. Wanting to hope, but afraid to because I didn't want to be let down again. But this time, it was different. This time, I think I knew before I ever peed on the stick that it would be different. It was like Heavenly Father was gently reassuring me that it would all be okay. That it was finally my turn. And it was.

Now I have the greatest gift I could have ever been given, my beautiful baby boy Ryker. I love every day that I get to be his mom. I am so grateful and amazed that Heavenly Father would trust me with the rearing of such a wonderful spirit. And this mother's day that passed last week was the first mother's day since being married that I was not depressed. I was so grateful I was finally a mother, but at the same time I felt sad for my friends and family going through the hopes and disappointments of trying to get pregnant. All I can say is, hang in there, it's worth it. One day you will have your chance of being a mother, whether through your pregnancy or someone else's, it will happen. I know I would go through the pain all over again if I had to.

And now I am going to post this beautiful little thing about motherhood that I stole from my friend Angee's blog. I get choked up every time I read it, but I think it wonderfully sums up how I now feel being a mother.

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn’t want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn’t know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

Edward Scissors Baby & School

2010-05-15T08:15:00.004-06:00

So a couple of nights ago Ryker woke up at 1:30am (which he does almost every night still) and ate his milk like normal. When he was finished I left his room for him to go back to sleep, which he normally does just fine. A few minutes later he started to cry so I went back in there to check on him because he usually just goes back to sleep without any crying. As soon as he saw me he let out an excited baby squeal and then started kicking and smiling and being very excited. He had decided it was time to play at 1:30 in the morning and he was so very happy that I had come to play with him (NOT!). So even though he was very adorable and I was actually tempted for half a second to play with him, I was extremely tired. So I gave him his binkie and left the room. He then proceeded to cry for 20 minutes before he finally went back to sleep. When I got him in the morning I saw that the poor kid had scratched himself all over! He looked like Edward Scissor Baby! He scratched his nose and all over his forehead. That explains why his cries just got madder and madder before finally tapering off. Normally he doesn't get that mad at night. So I promptly clipped his nails in the morning (like I do every other day, but apparently I missed a day with how sharp they were). Here's a picture of his cut up head, but it's blurry because I couldn't get him to hold still long enough. He's a very wiggly baby! And as you'll see in the second picture, he was still happy boy in the morning.

On a totally different note, Adam got his grades back from last semester at school, and he did really well! Now keep in mind we had a brand new baby and he was working full time. Plus in the last month of the semester he started a brand new job. The poor guy was living on a few hours of sleep at night the whole semester. And he got (drum roll please............) straight A's! Go Adam!

4 Months Old

2010-05-01T15:28:00.008-06:00

Ryker is officially 4 months old (well he was 2 days ago, but I’m a little late posting)! He is such a happy baby! He’s constantly smiling or giggling and he’s even started playing with us. He loves to eat his hands and recently he has started drooling a lot. For the most part he’s an okay sleeper, but he still gets up once in the middle of the night around 2am and then again at 6am, but then goes back to sleep for two or three hours. He still loves to cuddle. He reaches for things all the time; his toys, mommy’s hair, the dogs, anything that looks interesting. He’s starting to accept tummy time a little better and rolls over most days from his tummy to his back. He holds his head up no problem (although he’s been doing that for a while now) and he’s starting to do better about holding himself up while sitting up. He also LOVES to stand up. Half the time when I try to get him to sit down he will not bend his legs because he wants to stand. He’s already stubborn. :)

Ryker had his 4 month appointment on his 4 month birthday (the 29th) and he weighed 12 pounds 9 ounces (10 percentile) and was 24 inches long (25 percentile). Even though he’s small for his age, the doctor said he is way above average on his strength (I could have told him that). The Doc compared his strength to that of a 6 month old. Go my strong baby! And yeah, he’s growing well! One nice thing about him being little is that he does still fit well in clothes 0 to 3 months and size 1 diapers. That’s okay with me though, I love having a tiny baby! It’s so fun!

Here are a few fun stories from this month:

Happy Dancing Baby!
On Sunday April 25th Ryker was sitting on Adam’s lap in Sunday School. Adam was making funny faces at him at Ryker was getting excited and smiling back and him. Then all of a sudden Ryker started doing a little baby dance (holding his arms out to the side and rocking back and forth) with a huge grin on his face. It was so hilarious Adam and I started laughing at him. He would stop and watch us, wait for us to finish laughing, and then do his happy baby dance again. He kept doing it over and over again, which had Adam and I laughing hysterically and totally disrupting Sunday School. It was worth it though, it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen!

Play Time Fun
Ryker has started playing with us. Earlier this week I was playing like I was eating his tummy and he would smile at me. Then all of a sudden he grabs a big handful of my hair and yanks it. I look at him and say something like, “Hey, that’s mommy’s hair,” and he starts giggling at me mischievously. Yes, he is definitely Adam’s son! Already teasing me!

The next day I was playing with him again like I was eating his tummy and then he shoves his little hand in my mouth, which I assumed meant he wanted me to eat that too, so I pretended to eat his hand, which of course he thought was hilarious and he started giggling at me again.

Then today I was playing peek-a-boo with him. He was sitting in his car seat, which was on the kitchen table and I would duck down beneath the table where he couldn’t see me, then pop back up and say boo. Every time I did this he would laugh. It was awesome.

Good Baby at the Zoo
Not too much to this story, just that on Tuesday of this past week Adam, Ryker, and I went to Hogle Zoo for the first time as a family. Ryker mostly slept the whole time in his car seat/stroller and when he did wake up he just sat there smiling up at us. Then afterward we went out to dinner and he was totally a happy kid the whole time, just chilling in his car seat smiling and cooing and baby talking to us. Ryker is the best!

So all of these fun little stories made me realize something, I would pretty much do anything to hear my baby laugh! He has the cutest little giggle and laugh in the whole world as far as I’m concerned. He’s so easy to get to smile. I love having a happy baby! I’m excited for the little milestones he’ll accomplish this next month!

Ryker's Baby Blessing pictures

2010-04-28T07:47:00.008-06:00

Here are some pics from Ryker's blessing on March 29th

Updates from the Daltons

2010-04-21T08:02:00.011-06:00

The last couple of weeks have been mostly great with a few trials thrown in (doesn't that just sound like the description of life!). Here's a list of some of the interesting things that have happened.

First we had Ryker's baby blessing on March 28th. He looked so handsome in his little white baby tuxedo! My lovely sister-in-law Maria took the pictures so I'll post them as soon as I get them. Anyway, we elected to do this blessing at home rather than in church. We just felt like it was more of a family and close friend event and we didn't want anyone to have to miss their own church to come. Ryker was so peaceful and calm all day. I don't even think he cried at all the entire day. One funny thing is toward the end of the night Ryker was still in his baby tux and I thought I better take him out before he has a blowout or spits up on it, and sure enough as I was walking to the changing table he had a blowout! Oh well, I quickly put stain remover on it and it came out just fine. :)

On April 5th Adam started a new job working for the Veteren's Benefit Administration in downtown Salt Lake. He works with veteran's insurance claim files. Not exactly his dream job, but he likes it okay. The best thing is they work with his school schedule, he gets paid pretty well, he gets great government benefits, and it's a foot in the door for a better job there when he graduates next year.

Since the end of March I've been training for a triathlon. I workout at least one to two sometimes even three hours a day, six days a week. I love it! And I joined Life Time Fitness in South Jordan and joined their triathlon team so it's been super fun training with a team. I found that I'm not as bad as I thought because I never come in last place during workouts. Yeah go me!

Ryker has started talking a ton this month! He's my little jabber box, definitely my son! It's so completely adorable to see my tiny baby just talking away to me. He especially likes to talk while I'm trying to feed him. But best of all, on Saturday, April 17th he started laughing hysterically. No, not just giggling, full on laughter. We were eating dinner with Adam's parents and grandmas and I was holding him. He was just looking up at me and smiling so I was of course smiling back. Then suddenly he just busted out into laughter for like 5 minutes straight. He got all six adults at the table to start laughing as well. Now that was the cutest thing I've ever experienced in my life! Even Grandma Grace thought so. She told me the other day she woke up in the middle of the night hearing his laughter. It was so memorable she dreams about it! My only regret is we didn't get it on video. Adam tried, but by the time he started recording Ryker was done laughing. He does still giggle from time to time, but I have never to this day heard him laugh like that since.

And finally, I had a scary/funny experience yesterday. I was on the way to the gym for my triathlon class and I ran out of gas. I was driving our 1998 Mitsubishi Montero and Ryker was in the back seat asleep. I was at an intersection when the SUV ran out of gas. I kind of freaked out because cars started speeding around me giving me dirty looks and I was afraid we were going to get hit. The protective mother in me and adrenaline kicked in and completely by myself (where was the good Samaritan when I needed him?) I pushed this 5,000 pound vehicle (according to google that's how much this SUV weighs) out of the intersection and managed to turn the wheel at the same time (I was in the left turning lane). At first I was on a flat, but then once I turned it started going down hill. Then the vehicle started going really fast and I had to run to keep up with it and jump in the moving vehicle so I could steer and hit the brakes so I didn't hit anyone else. Then I finished pushing it uphill into a bank parking lot. Once I got into the parking lot a nice man ran to help me push it into a parking space. He said he saw me pushing it by myself from inside the bank so he ran out to help, but by then I already made it in the parking lot. When he started helping me we had a hard time pushing it into a spot. He said, "dang this is a big car. How the heck did you push this by yourself?" I don't know. All I can say is my baby was in danger and I wasn't about to let 5,000 pounds stop me from helping him. So I am really glad I've been working out!

Anyway, about 5 minutes later Adam's mom got there to give me some gas and I hurried on to the gym to do my hour and a half bike ride with my team. Surprisingly I'm not sore today.

And finally, Ryker, Adam, and I (and Grandma Arlene, Grandpa Doug, and Grandma Grace) all got sick with a nasty cold and cough thing. But inspite of the cold, Ryker has been such a happy baby. I love having such a happy kid! Anyway, because of his cough I took Ryker to the doctor last week. He weighed in at 11 pounds 9 ounzes. I was thinking that was great, but then the doctor told me Ryker had slowed down on his weight gain again and went from the 10th percentile to the 7th percentile and I needed to start putting human milk fortifier in every bottle of breast milk that I give him. So I tried to do that for the following week (although I didn't always remember) and when I took him in for a follow-up visit yesterday he was up to 12 pounds even and back to the 10th percentile. His head was also in the 10th percentile, but his height was not. He's only 22 inches, which is in the 3 percentile. So I have a little shorty pants baby. That's okay, I love my baby tiny. It kind of makes it more fun for me. He's almost 4 months old (in a week) and he still wears 0 to 3 months clothes and size 1 diapers perfectly.

Anyway, I have a couple pictures from this week, but I'm having a hard time uploading them to the computer. I'll post the pics as soon as I can.

A Few of My Favorite Things & 3 Months Old

2010-03-30T09:35:00.008-06:00

I can't believe my little baby is 3 months old! Where did the time go? I can't help but be amazed by how much I love this little person. I never knew I could love like that. It gives me a small glimpse of how much our Heavenly Father loves us.

As I was staring at my beautiful child this morning I started making a bit of a mental inventory of all the things I love about being Ryker's mom. Here are just a few of the reasons I love being a mom.

Baby smiles! I love how smiley Ryker is in the morning and practically all day long. How can I possibly get upset when in the middle of the night he decides it's play time and starts cooing and smiling at me?

Cuddle time. Ryker is such a cuddler! It melts my heart when he has his little arm wrapped around me and he snuggles into my neck or chest or shoulder, or any part of me he can.

When he's really hungry and I give him his milk he makes this adorable sound that sounds like he's saying, yum, yum, yum. It's so cute and funny!

Peaceful sleeping angel. I love watching my little boy sleep. He's so adorable and peaceful. Plus he makes the cutest facial expressions ever! I only wish I could see his dreams.

Watching my tiny boy suck his thumb. It has to be one of the cutest things ever to see my tiny baby suck his little thumb!

When he's really in the sucking mood and my hand, arm, or fingers are nearby he just goes for it and starts to suck on me. It cracks me up!

The way he reaches out to touch me. If he's laying down and I'm nearby he reaches out to touch me. He always wants to be touching me when possible. So cute.

When he's crying (something I wish he never had to do) and I come into his view to pick him up, he immediately starts to calm down when he sees me. It's like he thinks,"Oh good there's Mommy, she'll take care of me."

Dressing him up in new outfits. It's so fun dressing my baby! He's like my own personal doll. And not matter what he wears he looks adorable.

There are so many more things I love, but these are a few of my favorite things (yes I am singing the Sound of Music song in my head while I write this).

Here are a few pictures of my 3 month old boy taken this week:
Mommy's Bear

Daddy's Boy

Still the littlest of the cousins, but he's starting to catch up!

Ryker and his cousin Milo love each other already. Look, they started holding hands on their own. Shortly after this they took turns sucking on each other's hands. It was hilarious!

Changes

2010-03-24T11:08:00.005-06:00

Adam just got a good job here in Salt Lake working for the VA. It's great because they work with his school schedule and he gets school credit for working there, plus we still get all of the great health, retirement, and other benefits of working for the federal government. So thank you to Adam's dad for helping him get the job!

And randomly, here's my new favorite picture of Ryker. He's so darn cute!

Week of Firsts for Ryker

2010-03-18T11:19:00.011-06:00

This was a great week for Ryker filled with lots of firsts for him. He got to go to church for the first time this week. I was really nervous about taking him, but we just decided that it was time. I was set on not letting people touch him though. Turns out I was worried for nothing. Since I only went to this ward for 3 weeks before I got sick, then bedrest, then had the baby, no one there really knows me so no one made a fuss over him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not whinning here, just stating the facts. I was expecting everyone to be excited to see my adorable baby and just to swoon over him, but no one even paid any attention to him. Oh well, that's probably better for him anyway, less chance of getting sick that way. And for me it was fun because I got to dress him up in church clothes and he looked adorable! Here's a picture of him after we got home from church.

Next week I'm going to take him to where I used to go to church. They know and love me there and are excited to see my baby. They've been asking for weeks when I'm going to come visit, so now I will!

Anyway, a wonderful thing happened this week, Ryker finally started sleeping more than 3 hours at a time. One night Adam got him to sleep 6 hours straight! He did it while sleeping on Adam's chest, but still, 6 hours was awesome! I snuck out & took a picture of them. It's dark because I didn't want to wake them.

Anyway, 2 other nights this week Ryker slept for 5 hours straight in his own bed (must not be as comfortable as Daddy) but then Adam could actually sleep better in our bed. It looks like he's going to make this a habit. I know I'm praying he does!

And finally, we started reading Ryker books this week. Adam read him his first book and he really liked it! He even started smiling as soon as Adam opened the book and started reading to him. Here's a cute picture where you can see him smiling at the book.

I sure love my boys!

A week in the world of Ryker

2010-03-06T11:18:00.012-07:00

We took a family walk this week, which was interesting. In the beginning I was pushing Ryker in the stroller and walking Shady. Adam was walking Rolo. Then I decided I didn't want to hold onto Shady incase she saw another dog (she's a great walker until that happens, then she goes crazy) so Adam then got to walk both dogs. Anyway, it was fun and we got back home just in time for it to start raining and then snowing later that night. Here is a picture of Ryker in his outfit he got to wear on our walk. Adam is holding him. I love this picture!

Ryker's doctor gave the go ahead to start bathing him every other day, and Ryker has been loving it! One day this week I was getting ready to start running with the intention of bathing Ryker afterward. Well he decided he didn't want to wait, so while he was lying down he spit up and then rolled his head in it. So yes, he got his bath right then. He hair was all goobery from the spit up and I was not going to wait. Here's a picture of that bath. I know you can't tell in this picture, but Ryker really does love his baths.

Another fun thing, this week Ryker got to spend a little time with his cousins. So my sister-in-laws and I decided to compared the cousins (they're Ryker's age) and he is definitely the littlest. Chloe in the middle was born the same day. Milo on the left is almost exactly 2 months older. Chloe is in the 90th percentile and Ryker is in the 10th. Maybe one day they'll both migrate more toward the middle, but for now Chloe could totally take him. :)

And I am finally getting Ryker to smile for the camera. Here's a cute one. He was happy to be with his cousin!

Ryker rolled over again this week and I kind of caught it on camera. Here's my attempt of that. The first picture is when he pushed himself up and the second is toward the end of him rolling over. You can see he's not too happy in that one. He doesn't like that I keep putting him on his tummy.

Melissa's New Adventure

2010-03-03T19:08:00.002-07:00

I have decided to train for a triathlon. I know many of you are thinking I'm crazy, and you're probably right. So, to track my path of craziness I have started a blog dedicated to this specific journey. I didn't want to monopolize my family's blog with it, so this seemed like a good idea. I know no one may be interested in reading it, but it will be a good way for me to track my progress, and maybe I'll even be lucky enough to inspire someone other than myself along the road. So if you're interested in following my new adventure, feel free to check out my new blog. Here's the link
http://strivingtriathlete.blogspot.com/

2 Months and Still Little

2010-02-27T07:25:00.007-07:00

Ryker had his 2 month appointment (a couple days early) and he is still little, in the 10 percentile on height, weight, and head size. He now weighs 9 pounds 10 ounces, is 21 inches long, and his head is 36.6 cm. He is however very strong for his age. He can already hold his head up, roll over, stand up while I'm holding him (which sometimes makes it difficult to dress him because he won't bend his legs), and hold himself up during tummy time. My favorite thing about him being 2 months old is that he is now smiling all the time. I just love me some baby smiles! Only problem is that I have yet to catch them on camera. Anyway, here are a few pics from this week.

Strong Boy during tummy time

Wide awake in mommy's favorite outfit

Cute boy taking his nap

Ryker and Grandma Dalton

Best Baby Invention Ever! All Mother's With Babies Should Have!

2010-02-19T08:08:00.004-07:00

So, I swear no one is paying me to write this blog, but I have to do it. It's too valuable for mothers with babies or who are soon to have babies.

A few days ago my lovely friend Heather Canterbury posted on her facebook page about a great baby carrier called the Sleepy Wrap. I've tried a Baby Bojor, didn't really like it. I tried a sling, again, not so much. My little baby Ryker is a cuddler and he likes to be held all the time. I would love to hold him all day, but I need to do things, like eat, vacuum, do laundry, do dishes, etc. All of these things are difficult to do while holding a baby.

On top of all of that, Ryker has been sick, therefor he has been excessively fussy. Like along the lines of colic fussy. He literally has times where he cries for hours without end, and there is absolutely nothing I can do to console him. Yesterday was one of those days. He pretty much cried all day, with a few 10 minute breaks. Needless to say it was an incredibly hard day and I cursed all sick people in the world for the possibility of getting my baby sick. I didn't discriminate amongst sick people, I cursed them all because it could be possible that somehow they contributed to my baby's sickness or that someday in the future they may contribute to getting him sick. Yes I know, I'm crazy. But you try holding a screaming baby for 8 hours and see how sane you are.

Anyway, at 5pm I got an email from UPS saying that they delivered my Sleepy Wrap to the front porch. I ran upstairs, handed Ryker off to his Aunt Maria, and ripped open the box. I then read the instructions to try and figure out how to put the thing on. It was a little difficult, but that was probably because my brain was fried. After I got it on right, I put a crying Ryker into my Sleepy Wrap. Within one minute he completely stopped crying. Within two minutes he was out like a light! He remained asleep for the next two hours, waking up only to eat. In that feeding he ate 3 ounces! That was a miracle in itself since all day he wouldn't eat much, maybe only an ounce at a time.

Once he finished eating, got burped, and then got a clean diaper, it was right back into the Sleep Wrap. He immediately fell right back asleep. He slept there for another hour while I cleaned up and got ready for bed. Then I took him out and put him in his bed where he slept for another three hours! When he woke up a 1am for another feeding he ate about 2 and a half ounces, but then he started with the screaming again. I tried calming him and nothing was working so I put him back in the Sleepy Wrap and he fell asleep again within 5 minutes.

When Ryker got up this morning he was actually pretty happy, even smiling at me a few times. After about 15 minutes he started getting fussy, so I put him back in the Sleepy Wrap and he settled right down. This time he just looked around and enjoyed the scenery for 15-20 minutes before falling asleep. He is currently in his Sleepy Wrap while I type this blog.

If I haven't convinced you yet that you need a Sleepy Wrap, then you must have a baby that is never fussy. Even if your baby is never fussy, this is the best baby carrier I've tried. He's so close/tight to me that I can do stuff without him getting in the way. All the while he's happy as a clam in his shell. So, if you don't already have one of these, you should get one! It's the best $40 you'll spend! Here's the link: http://www.sleepywrap.com/

Sick Baby

2010-02-16T08:51:00.002-07:00

Poor little Ryker got sick last Monday with a sore throat that turned into an ear infection and a sinus infection. I've been so worried about him, since being sick at 6 weeks old can be dangerous. It's been a rough week because he has barely eaten and has been very cranky. On Monday night he decided that he would no longer nurse. This was probably because he couldn't breath and his throat hurt. I switched him to a bottle with pumped milk and he did only slightly better, eating an ounce to an ounce and a half at a time before screaming. For some reason night time seemed to be the hardest for him, spending hours at a time crying (which means I ended up crying with him).

The good news, however, is that as of last night Ryker's doctor allowed us to give him baby Tylenol and he finally ate more than one ounce, eating three whole ounces! Then afterward he slept for four hours straight and then woke up and ate another three ounces. His doctor wanted him to come back again this morning because he hadn't gained any weight in a week, actually losing an ounce and a half, but he was doing better today. His throat and ears are still red, but at least his stuffy nose isn't so bad and he seems like a happier baby, even smiling at me a couple times this morning and no major crying fits.

So, thank heavens Ryker is doing better, but I am still keeping him home for another month and a half before I let him near other people (he actually got sick at home from his 80 something year old great grandma, so it's possible to get sick even from home when sick people come too close). Hopefully he gets back to 100% soon and can start gaining weight again. I'm hopeful that'll happen very soon and he won't get near any other sick people!

Super Baby!

2010-02-13T10:22:00.003-07:00

So Ryker has a super power, super strength! He's always been a pretty strong baby, but now he's already surpassed some development milestones, and he's only 6 and a half weeks!

First, he stands up! I was changing his clothes the other day and I tried to sit him up to put a onsie on and he pushed his legs out straight and stood instead of sat. Then I tried to get him to bend his legs and sit, while saying "sit, sit" and instead of Ryker sitting, the dogs standing nearby sat and then looked at me expectantly waiting for a treat or something. It was pretty funny. Anyway, he has stood up multiple times since then. Come to think of it, about every time I try changing his onsies.

Second, he tries to pull himself up. It's pretty common when he's laying down for him to grab onto mine or Adam's fingers and pull himself almost completely up.

And finally, the one he did this morning, he rolled over! Now I know what you're thinking, "oh that was probably an accident," but no folks, this was deliberate. He was on his blanket doing tummy time when he pushed himself up then rolled over onto his back. So, I picked him up and put him back in the middle of the blanket on his tummy, and he did it again. When I picked him up and put him back the third time he got mad at me. I'm sure he was thinking, "Come on Mom, can't you see I want to be on my back!" Anyway, earlier this week he rolled from his back to his tummy a few times. Also earlier this week he had a doctor appointment (poor kid got sick with a sore throat that turned into an ear and sinus infection) and his doctor put him on his tummy and he pushed himself right up. The doctor was impressed and said, "Wow, he's strong. What is he going to do, start doing pushups or something?"

So yes folks, pretty soon I'll be asking Ryker instead of Adam to open jars for me. That's just how it is when you have a super strong baby! :)

Gratitude

2010-02-07T18:07:00.002-07:00

In the last few weeks since Ryker was born, I have been overwhelmed with my feeling of gratitude. I have truly been blessed and have sooo much to be grateful for, and I really just needed to write it down somewhere. So here are the things I've been thinking about lately.

1. I'm grateful for my wonderful husband. I just finished reading a novel where the two main characters "were in love" and I have to say, they don't know what love is. Love is a verb, and one that Adam has figured out. You know it's love when he holds the bucket for you to puke in, stays up for two days straight with you to offer support, takes his one night a week to sleep in and trades it for baby duty so I can sleep, puts up with my emotional mood swings so well that we're laughing about them a few minutes later, says sorry even when he knows he did nothing wrong but it will make me feel better and we can go back to normal and laugh at it later, is willing to come home after a 14 hour day and do dishes and laundry without complaint just because I didn't have energy to do anything all day, and sooo much more. Seriously, if all love is was what was described in a novel, staring at each other longingly and all that jazz, then this would be a sad world.

2. I'm grateful for my family. First, Adam and my beautiful baby boy. I love my baby more than words, but being a mom is one of the hardest things I've ever done, although it's also one of the most wonderful things I've ever done. Second, my extended family, both my side and Adam's side. It's great to have such supportive and fun people in my life.

3. I am super grateful we live in the basement apartment at Adam's parent's house! This has been the hugest blessing, especially since having the baby. Since Adam is currently in school full time and working full time, that means he's not home very often, which means I'm on my own a lot with the baby. I love my baby, but sometimes I need a break, even if just for an hour so I can run to the grocery store without exposing my newborn to germs, or so I can take a shower without having to jump out a few minutes into it because the baby started screaming. Having someone right upstairs to help with the baby at a moment's notice, like the other night when Ryker needed a priesthood blessing at 1:00am after screaming for hours non-stop, it's just such a huge blessing!

4. I'm grateful that my parents live just ten minutes away. The day after I had Ryker, my mom came and stayed with me in the hospital all day while Adam went to go take care of things we had left undone (we weren't prepared to have Ryker 3 and a half weeks early, so there was much to do). My parents have also been able to help bring make me meals, bring me groceries, and just be around to get to know my baby. It's also nice to be able to just hang out with them when I'm bored because Adam is gone a lot. I'm so glad to have them close by!

5. How can I not be grateful for such terrific friends. People that brought me meals after Ryker was born, who were worried about me from multiple states away and did everything they could to help me from a distance, people who have just cared and offered support through emails, phone calls, and blog comments, and even just people who gave me moral support when I felt like I was failing (breastfeeding has not been easy for me). It's great to know I have friends that are there for me for the fun stuff and the hard stuff.

6. I am so grateful for the love of my Heavenly Father that I have felt so often since the end of my pregnancy. From being put on bedrest to dealing with a fussy baby, I know my Heavenly Father is there for me and my family.

These are just a few things I have to be grateful for, but these are the ones that have been on my mind the most in the last few days. Thanks for reading! :)

More Ryker Pics & Family Pics

2010-02-01T13:50:00.008-07:00

Here are two pictures of Ryker and his cousin Chloe who was born on the same day. Ryker was born at 2:09am and Chloe was born at 11:50pm. Look how much bigger Chloe is!

Here are a few cute pictures my sister in law took.

Ryker likes to hold Daddy's hand

Daddy likes to mimic Ryker.

Look, it's Karate Baby!

And, it Super Baby ready for take off!

And after a long day, it's family Nap time!

3 weeks old

2010-01-19T16:18:00.008-07:00

Today Ryker is exactly 3 weeks old. His first two weeks of life he was having a hard time gaining weight, only gaining an average of 15 grams a day, when his doctor said he needed to be gaining between 20 and 30 grams a day. The reason for this lack of weight gain was because he had reflux really badly, and was spitting up most of his food. This was also making him pretty fussy, understandably. So, I went to a natural health clinic and had them test me on what foods I should and should not eat for Ryker. Turns out, there are a ton of foods I can't eat. Such as wheat, milk, lots of different kinds of nuts, certian fruits and veggies. I'm on a super strict diet now, but at least my baby is finally gaining weight well (he's now up to 7lbs 5oz, gaining an impressive 40 grams a day in the last week), and a positive side effect for me is that I'm losing weight. Anyway, here are some pics from my phone from the last few weeks. Now, thanks to my mom, future pictures should be better since I now I have a camera. Enjoy these cute pics of my little guy!

Daddy and baby Ryker at the hospital

Ryker is a pretty funny sleeper. Here's one of how he likes to sleep with his hands up. It's kind of a weird angle because I was holding him and trying to take the picture at the same time.

Look at how little he is. His clothes are all so big for him.

This is another cute pic of daddy and baby. Adam does a great job of calming him down at night. I think this is one of the nights he was on baby duty.

The Story of Ryker Coming Into the World

2010-01-13T19:00:00.001-07:00

This has been a crazy last couple of weeks to say the least. On Sunday, December 20th I got a really bad migraine. I didn't think much of it (other than being annoyed by it) until Christmas Eve when it was still there and I was talking to my friend Angela who suggested the headache could be a sign of something worse, like high blood pressure or the beginning of preeclampsia. So I tested my blood pressure and found that it was way high and then my mom pushed on my shin and I was pitting badly. My leg actually felt like play dough, and the indent stayed for a while. So, I called the hospital and they told me to come in immediately. After running a bunch of tests on me, the on-call doctor determined I was border line, but that perhaps with bedrest, everything would get better enough that I could make it full term on my pregnancy.

So, starting Christmas Eve, I went on bedrest. I literally did nothing more than lay around and watch movies and read a book with the exception of getting up to eat meals. Thanks to my mom's blood pressure monitor, I continued to monitor my blood pressure throughout the holiday weekend, and unfortunately, it didn't come down. So at my doctor appointment Monday morning when my blood pressure was still high and my headache was still there, the doctor decided it would be best to induce me. So I went across the parking lot to the hospital and began the process of getting hooked up to IVs. Once I was hooked up to Magnesium Sulfate to help my blood pressure, and a few other things, the doctor came in and broke my water at 10:45am on Monday, 12/28, and shortly after the strong contractions began.

I only lasted 4 hours before I asked for an epidural. The initial set up did not go so well. Once it was in and they started the dose, my blood pressure dropped dangerously low, and I honestly felt the worst I had ever felt in my life. I felt like the walls were closing in on me and I couldn't breath. They had to put ephedrine in my IV to get my blood pressure stabilized, but once I was stable, I felt fine.

When I first went into the hospital I was only dilated to a 2 and 4 hours after being induced I was only at a 4. Then I stayed at a 4 for the next 7 hours when I was finally to a 6. One hour later I was fully dilated and the nurse said she was going to let the contractions do some more work before I started pushing. By then my epidural was starting to wear off, so they started to redose me, and my blood pressure started dropping quickly and I began going through everything all over again so I asked to stop. I decided I would rather feel the pain then feel like I was dying from the epidural. The next hour and a half were the hardest of the labor. I started vomiting (which was the worse part) and then I was burning up so much that poor Adam had to just dab my face with cold wash cloths for the next 30 minutes until my temperature came down. Finally, about 2 hours later I was ready to push.

By then my epidural was almost completely worn off, so I could feel the super strong contractions and the urge to push. There was just enough of it left to take the edge off, but I still felt a lot. Thankfully, I only had to push for 50 minutes and then my sweet little Ryker was born.

The few seconds it took for him to cry seemed like the longest seconds in the world. I was so grateful when I heard him take his first cry that I had to cry a little myself. Then the overwhelming feeling of love when they put him on me, was incredible. Nine months of waiting, and years of hoping and praying to get pregnant with him, were all worth it the minute he was here. And of course, he was the cutest newborn ever!

Now that we're home, our world is turned all around, but in a good way (yet a very sleepless one). I can't believe he's already 2 weeks old! I really need to get a camera so I can document everything.

That's all for now, but I'm sure there will be sooooo much more to tell about him in the near future. Now I just wonder where I'll find the time and energy to document it all. :)

Introducing Ryker Adam Dalton

2010-01-07T15:09:00.006-07:00

Born: 12/29/09 at 2:09am
6lbs 9oz
19 inches

Full Story to follow, but here are some pictures

I Finally Beat It and I'm Thankful!

2009-12-12T08:04:00.005-07:00

I am so happy and thankful to say, that I think my cold is finally over! Just to be safe, I'll wait until Monday to start exercising again, but at least I don't feel like crap all the time anymore. Woo hoo!

Anyway, it's amazing how much better one feels when they are no longer sick, not just physically but also emotionally. I have felt totally on edge for the last couple weeks and in the last couple days that has gone back to less edgy (I don't think the emotional edge will really get back to normal until after pregnancy, or wait, maybe after I get over the first sleepless nights with the baby). Thank heavens for Adam being so patient and helpful these last few weeks (although he is that way all the time, I just especially appreciated it these last few weeks!). He has gotten our place 90% unpacked and decorated totally by himself. Though last night I told him that was only fair since I packed 90% by myself. :)

Now with most of the boxes unpacked, pictures on the walls, and most decorations up, it's really starting to feel like home. I think I'm feeling much more adjusted. Plus, there are some really cool aspects to our new place that I am now really appreciating.

The number one thing I appreciate, the toilets! I love the toilets here! I know that sounds kind of dumb, but Adam's parents were smart and kind enough to put Toto toilets in, which are like the best flushers in the world. We had an old toilet at our last place that didn't always flush properly, and that totally grossed me out. Especially since I've been pregnant! Now, no more toilet worries!

I also really love the tap water here. Adam's parents put a filter on the water for the whole house, so that means I don't need my Brita, the tap is already filtered so I can just drink straight from that (well, I do use a cup, but you get the point). Plus, they made us a really big, really nice master bedroom. Like 20' by 12' big. It's quite nice to have that much space, especially since the dog beds are in our room and soon the bassinet, so we'll have the entire family sleeping in our bedroom for a few months.

And finally, we have a racket ball court in our apartment. Yes, an indoor full size racket ball court with a climbing wall inside and other fun things that can be used (like there's hook ups for a volleyball net, a climbing rope, and scooters with attachments for games like hockey, basketball, and capture the flag). Because of my late pregnancy, I haven't really been able to take advantage of this room yet, but as soon as I'm recovered, I fully intend on having Adam teach me how to play racket ball. In the meantime, it's like Doggy Disneyland because it's a great place to play fetch in the winter and we can throw the ball way hard and have it bounce all over and make the dogs crazy. In fact, Rolo loves this room so much that as soon as Adam gets home and she has finished her crazy excited greeting, she runs to the racket ball court door wiggling excitedly, and then looks at the door, then looks at us, then back at the door, back at us, sometimes pawing at the door, until we either give in and go play with her in there, or walk away and leave her hanging. Possibly the only downside to having this super cool room in our apartment is that whenever the nieces and nephews are upstairs visiting grandma and grandpa, they want to come down in our apartment and play in the racket ball court. Although it hasn't been too bad, mostly they just come in during family parties and stuff, which is what we expected anyway.

So, if you all want to have a party, or you want to play a really good game of racket ball, come on over! Adam is way good at racket ball and will probably beat most people (so brothers of mine, next time you're in Utah you have to stop by for a game). Once the baby is born and a few months old, we'll have to have a little game tournament of some kind here. So if you're into physical games and would like to come, let me know and I'll make sure to invite you!

It's no fun being sick

2009-12-06T08:08:00.002-07:00

I've been sick with a bad cold for about a week now. Prior to pregnancy, I wouldn't let a cold hold me back. I would still go to work and school, run errands, go out to do fun things, etc. Unfortunately, I have learned that when one is pregnant and gets a cold, one cannot go on living life as usual. I tried doing that and all it did was make me sicker. So, even though I had all kinds of fun plans for this weekend (I was supposed to be up at East Canyon for a girls weekend and before I left Adam and I were supposed to go to the Festival of Trees), I ended up sitting or laying down at home and just watching movies. Boring! The only up side was Friday my friend KrisAn decided to brave my cold and come visit me. Thank goodness!

Saturday I took a little turn for the worse and had a hard time breathing all day, so I pretty much stayed in bed. Thankfully Adam was able to get a lot of unpacking done and get decorations up in our place, so now it's starting to feel a little more like home.

After sleeping with the humidifier on full blast last night, I'm feeling a little better this morning. Although I'm bummed because I still don't think it's a good idea for me to go out, even to church. There are a ton of other pregnant women and babies there, and I really don't want to expose anyone else to this horrible cold. I wish the person who gave it to me would have been as thoughtful.

Anyway, the baby will be here in a matter of weeks now and I have so much to do to get ready for him, but unless I get better soon, I'm afraid I won't be ready in time. So, here's to hoping and praying I get better quickly!

Catch Up

2009-11-06T07:40:00.004-07:00

It's been a while since I've written because things have been pretty busy. First, the weekend of October 17th was celebrate Melissa weekend, so of course it was great! On October 17th I had a fun baby shower (Thank you Megan, KrisAn, Mom, and Kelly for all your hard work!). We had great food, complete with two of my favorite treats, my mom's pumpkin bread and red velvet cup cakes! We played some pretty fun games, but my favorite was the diaper game. It's pretty gross, but still fun. There were 10 diapers passed around with different smashed, melted candy inside and we had to guess what it was. It's hilarious to watch people sticking their face into a dirty diaper. At least no on tasted it! My friend Megan took pictures of the shower, so you can see those on her blog here http://megananddan1.blogspot.com/2009/10/melissas-baby-shower.html

Anyway, later that night Adam and I celebrated my birthday, just the two of us. It was great to be able to go on a date again, especially since we haven't had time to in at least a month or two. We went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point and then out to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. And, in honor of my Autumn Project, we did have buy one get one free coupons, so that was super helpful! Then on Sunday Adam made me a birthday breakfast in bed and a great homemade dinner. We were actually able to relax and play games together, which was a nice change from the go, go, go we've been doing lately.

On Monday the 19th, my actual birthday, we went out to dinner with a few close friends to the Cheesecake Factory. Adam and I kind of have a love/hate relationship with the cheesecake factory. I love it, he hates it. I don't love their expensive prices, but almost every time I've gone there I've really enjoyed my food. Adam on the other hand, has never liked his food. I also love it because the portions are so big that Adam and I can share one meal and still come home with leftovers. Anyway, we got the avocado egg rolls for the first time (yummy), the Shepard's pie for dinner (that was pretty good, but not my favorite. Adam agreed), and of course, pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. The interesting thing is that I was actually underwhelmed with everything. Maybe it's because I'm cooking more, but I've noticed I don't enjoy going out to dinner as much. Ever since I started cooking dinner every night, I realized, I can cook a meal just as good if not better than what I get at a restaurant, and it's a whole lot cheaper when I do it! I can only imagine how my sister-in-law Dawn feels, since she's a real chef and probably can always cook a better meal than what she gets at a restaurant.

Anyway, since the "celebrate Melissa weekend" we've been busy preparing for our move. For those that don't know we're downsizing a bit (so we can afford for me to be a stay-at-home mom) and moving to South Jordan next weekend. Adam's been working hard every weekend and almost every night remodeling the place we're moving into (one of his parent's apartments) and I've been spending most days packing the house. I never realized how hard it is to pack while pregnant. The packing isn't the problem, it's moving the box after it's packed. Since I'm not supposed to lift much weight, it's really annoying to pack a box and then have to let it sit there until I can get someone else to move it for me, especially when compared to the weights I used to lift prior to pregnancy, it weighs practically nothing. A few times I broke the rules and moved boxes when I shouldn't have, but I paid for it later with pain and swelling. I'm just glad we're moving now before I get any further along and before the baby's born! With every week that goes by, it's getting harder and harder for me to bend down (due to my big belly) or to keep my arms above my head grabbing stuff (my hands and arms keep falling asleep), or just to have energy in general to constantly be moving. Plus, it'll be nice to get it over with before the holidays, especially since from that point it seems like it'll be a mad dash to my due date (which in my mind cannot come fast enough!).

So, now the house is 80% packed, the stuff we're getting rid of is 80% sold and gone, and the place we're moving into is 80% done. I just have to hope we can finish the other 20% in a week! And when it's all done, and we're moved and unpacked, I think I'm going to sleep for a week! I'm really looking forward to the day my energy comes back to me, though too many people laugh at me when I say that because theirs never really came back. So, if you have any spare energy, please, send it my way! I could really use it over the next couple of weeks!

Weight Gain

2009-10-12T08:13:00.004-06:00

As everyone knows, I'm pregnant and therefore have been gaining weight. I totally understand the need to gain, but as I weighed myself this morning I actually had to fight back the tears of my new found weight (5 pounds heavier than last month). I realized I must be doing a few things wrong. First, I believe I'm putting too much weight on too fast (although my doctor says I'm still within the normal range). This frustrates the heck out of me for a number of reasons. First, before I got pregnant I lost a bunch of weight (like 55 pounds). So I really didn't want to gain any more weight than necessary during my pregnancy so I didn't end up back at square one. Two, I currently exercise at least 5 days a week, but usually 6 days. I go walking for about 40 minutes then I come home, stretch and do some light strength training for about 15 minutes. If I'm exercising every day, then why the heck am I gaining weight so fast?! I want half a pound a week, not a full pound a week! This leads me to the conclusion that it must be the food, I'm eating too many dang calories.

Food must be the problem. When I was dieting prior to pregnancy, following a good healthy diet was actually pretty easy most of the time. However, since I got pregnant, the thought of some foods makes me sick, while the thought of other foods makes me want them, NOW. For example, I used to eat at least one or two apples every day, but then I got pregnant and apples never sounded good to me. It's only been since last week that I can eat apples again. Then there's seafood. I used to love eating good fish like tilapia, salmon, tuna, and shrimp. Well, not so anymore! I've tried it a couple times just to see if I can eat it again, but no, it still makes me want to vomit. It has now been 5 months since I've eaten any kind of seafood. Now lets not forgot the stuff I have to have all the time, like sugary treats. Prior to pregnancy, I rarely ate them. Now, I crave it all the time. I don't have any other weird pregnancy cravings like pickles and peanut butter (actually pickles make me gag now) all I crave is sugar in different varieties. And yes, I often give in to this craving. But I justify it by thinking "Well, I pretty much eat low calorie, healthy foods the rest of the day, I drink plenty of water, and I exercise every day, so this cookie won't kill me," but apparently it does.

So, what do I do to slow this crappy weight gain? I'd love to say that I'll just stop eating sugar treats completely, but I know that's not going to happen. I can cut back, but not get rid of them completely. I guess I'll just cut the calories more in the rest of my diet and up my exercise as much as I safely can. Unless you've got any better ideas? How did the rest of you women fight too much weight gain while you were pregnant? Also, if you're willing to share, how much weight did you gain in your pregnancies and how much came off within the first month (you know, from baby stuff and water weight)? I need some comfort here people.

More Success

2009-10-10T19:20:00.002-06:00

Today was my second time going grocery shopping from sales and coupons. I got $75 worth of groceries for $45, so I saved $30! And this time it only took me an hour total to plan my menu for the week and go through the ads and coupons. I'm up to making $30 an hour now, pretty good!

Also this week, I made a homemade pumpkin shake. I just used milk, vanilla ice cream, and a couple tablespoons of pumpkin from a can. It was actually really good. Tomorrow I'm making pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, yum!

So I had an idea today. I love pumpkin stuff so much and I really like to carve pumpkins (even though I totally suck at it) so I think it would be fun to have a "Pumpkin Party." All the refreshments would have to have pumpkin in them and the activities would have to involve pumpkins. Obviously carving pumpkins is a fun activity, but for those of you out there that are way more creative than me, do you have any fun games/activities that we can do involving pumpkins in some way (even if it's using fake ones)? And, if you're into pumpkins and would like to come to my party (don't know when I'll do it yet) please let me know, I'd love to invite you!

Autumn Project - 1st Attempt Successful!

2009-10-03T15:21:00.007-06:00

My first attempt at part of my "Autumn Project" was a success! Today I spent 2 hours going through grocery sale ads and coupons, then created a meal plan for the week based on what was on sale. I was introduced to this awesome website, http://theobsessiveshopper.net/, which is where you can go, put in your area and pick the stores you want to look at. It then tells you all of the sales they have going on and coupons you can print out (thanks for the tip Lisa!). I did have to download the coupon printing software (took all of two minutes) and then I was able to search through manufacturer coupons that are good at any store.

Anyway, just from the coupons I printed out, I saved $15 (and that part only took about 15 minutes). After I printed out coupons, I then looked at the four main grocery stores that I go to to see what kind of sales they had. I made a list for myself in Excel with the Store, Item, and sale they had going on. In half of the cases, I was able to find an item on sale AND have a coupon on it (this saved me another $15). For those of you new to this like me, Walmart will match anyone's price and honor coupons. The only thing Walmart doesn't honor is buy one get one free sales (found this out the hard way today). Anyway, I then took my shopping list and created a meal plan based on what I already have at home and what I was going to buy on sale/with a coupon. Then I added a handful of things I needed that were neither on sale nor had a coupon for, but were necessary to complete my recipes. Finally, I took my shopping list (which I printed out from Excel to make things easier for the teller at Walmart for price matching), my coupons, and the ads (which I had just received in the mail two days before).

Shopping at Walmart did take longer than normal, but then again I don't normally shop at Walmart so I didn't know where everything was, plus the place was crazy busy. In the end I got $110 worth of groceries for only $61, a total of $49 in savings! Not too bad for my first attempt at shopping the sales and clipping coupons. I guess this is like making $24.50 an hour.

Now, I did get a few things I don't normally get (like some holiday treats that were on sale), so the jury is still out as to whether or not I will actually lower my overall budget for the month. Either way though, I do feel pretty good about my first coupon/sale experience. In the end, I probably would have bought those holiday treats anyway, just because I'm craving them like crazy, but at least this way I saved money. :)

Fun Stuff and “The Autumn Project”

2009-10-02T08:44:00.000-06:00

This last week I've had the opportunity to do quite a few fun things. Here's the fun list from the week:
1st – I went to the What a Woman Wants Expo with my mom. Okay, so I was honestly a bit disappointed with the vendors there (specifically there's a really yummy bread vendor that has been at every expo I've ever been to at the Sandy Expo Center and they weren't there), but it was still fun. My favorite booth was a game booth where they sold all kinds of card and board games. I got two new games, Five Crowns and Ticket to Ride. Both are way fun and I recommend them!

2nd – I went to Oktoberfest at Snowbird with my mom. Again, I was a little disappointed with the lack of vendors there, but there was still some cool stuff. They had the Yo-Yo World Champion there who was doing some cool tricks, a German band with all kinds of fun instruments and German songs (lots of polka and yodeling type stuff), and of course, yummy Brats (although I won't be eating one again for the rest of my pregnancy since I paid for it that night when I was throwing up). The best part though was when we took the tram (a big box with 50 people in it hanging from a cable hundreds of feet above the ground) up the mountain to 11,000 ft. Then we hiked down a bit and rode a ski lift back down (which takes 22 minutes because we were so high up). It was actually quite beautiful, a little scary that high up, but fun.

3rd – Adam and I went to the Barnum & Bailey Circus with our friends Megan and Dan. Adam and I hadn't been to the Circus in years so that made it that much more fun. My favorite part was probably the dog show (it inspired me to try and train my dogs to do cool tricks) and the seriously cool disappearing tricks. Adam really liked the disappearing tricks too. Seriously, how do you make an elephant, tiger, person, etc. disappear when the cage they're in is off the ground? Way cool.

4th – My friend Megan and I went to the Miley Cyrus concert. I haven't been to a concert in three years, so this was way fun. Plus, it was Miley and as nerdy as this is, I love her! It was pretty cute to see all the kids there and how excited they got. Miley put on a great show, even though she had the flu. At one point in the show she had to run off stage to go be sick and her back up singers had to finish the song without her. Then they took a 5-10 minute break and then she came back on and finished the concert. So, thanks Miley for putting on a great show even though you were sick!

That's been my busy, but fun week!

Now for my new project, which consists of two parts. It's Autumn (my favorite season!) and that also means it's pumpkin season! I love everything made from pumpkins: pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin everything! So, my first part of the project is to try a few new recipes this Autumn. What I will do is make a different pumpkin recipe at least once a week and then I'll post the recipe I used and the results of my recipe. If I have time, I'll try to even do two new pumpkin recipes a week (maybe one treat and one dinner type recipe). If any of you have any really good pumpkin recipes, please send them my way!

Second part of my Autumn project is to use coupons! I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but I've never been a coupon clipper before and I've never been into looking at the grocery store adds. Prior to being a “housewife” I also worked 50 hours a week and I went to the grocery store on my way home from work, which ever store was the most convenient, even if they were more expensive. Since I've been staying home I've been able to cut our grocery budget in half just by planning in advance dinner every night so I just buy what I know I'll be cooking. Now I want to see if I can cut my grocery budget even more by paying attention to sales and coupons. So, for you more experienced budget shoppers out there, please send me your secrets! One thing I'm planning on doing is making a list of foods I buy regularly and what the “average” price is for these items. That way when I see a sale ad or coupon for one of these items, I'll know if it really is a good deal and if it's worth buying a lot of this item on sale. I'm a huge Excel fan, so I'll be making myself a nice little spreadsheet, possibly even breaking it up by the stores I regularly visit. If any of you have ever done something like this and are willing to share, please do!

I'll continue tracking my spending and compare my October and November grocery spending to my August and September grocery spending (Quickbooks is my favorite tracking tool! It is a must have!). Wish me luck on my two-part “Autumn Project,” and please send me any tips or recipes you have that can help!

24 week picture

2009-09-26T08:55:00.002-06:00

It's been 6 weeks since my last pregnancy picture, so here is a picture of me at 24 weeks. Now I think I actually look pregnant. I looked at my 18 week picture and compared the two, it actually made me sad to see how much fatter I look. I just have to remember it's baby, not fat (at least I hope it's mostly baby and not fat!). Sorry it's pretty blurry, we took it on my camera phone at night before bed time (hence the pajama pants).

The best part you actually can't see, and that's what my shirt says. I love it! It says, "Does this baby make me look fat?" I have another funny pregnancy shirt that says, "Somebody's kicking me!"

The Apple Mom

2009-09-23T12:40:00.002-06:00

I just got back from Walmart where I saw the funniest thing, and I have since decided I have a new woman to add to my list of mothers I look up to.

I was on my way up to the cash register to buy my laundry detergent, after I spent probably ten minutes in the Halloween candy isle thinking how much I wanted to buy the candy, but knew I shouldn't (what are they thinking putting the Halloween candy isle next to the laundry detergent anyway!?). Anyway, as I'm walking to the registers I see a young mom, probably about 25 (because anyone younger than me is now considered young) walking into the store with her adorable 3-year-old girl. In this particular store when you walk in the food side you walk right into the produce section. So the little girl and her mom are walking and talking when suddenly, the little girl spots the apple display. She stops mid-sentence, her eyes bulge out of her head, she starts clapping her hands, and screaming in the most excited 3-year-old voice I've ever hear, "Mom, look, apples!" Then she takes off running toward the apples as fast as her little legs could carry her, all the while gleefully screaming, "apples, apples, apples..."

I looked at the mom to see if she had a surprised look, but no, she was just smiling and said, "Yes, honey apples. You may get some." Wow, watching this little girl one would think she spotted Princess Island or Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory, but no, she was this excited over apples! And her mom didn't seem the least bit surprised. Like, "Oh yeah, my daughter gets this excited over apples all the time." All I have to say is, You go Apple Mom! and Can I be like you when I grow up into a Mom?

Housewiffery

2009-09-22T15:10:00.004-06:00

Back in the days when I had a full time day job I used to think to myself, "I could never stay home and not work. What would I do all day? I think I would just get too bored!" Well because of my high risk pregnancy, I have now been doing this for about a month and I keep thinking, where did the day go? Every day I have a To-Do list a mile long and I only seem to get through half of it. No wonder why my house seemed to be messy all the time and I rarely made dinner when I worked full time!

Now, granted, I do still do some work from home a little and I babysit a beautiful little 4 month old, but just the "house wife" work alone keeps me busy pretty much all day every day. Plus, I do probably move slower than average person with the whole fatigue of pregnancy, but it's amazing how NOT bored I am. It's also been interesting how "domestic" I'm becoming. Amazing because I never considered myself domestic nor did I ever really want to be domestic. For example, this weekend I canned my own jam (first time experience) and this morning, I woke up early and made blueberry pancakes from scratch, packed my husband's lunch, did dishes, laundry, went to the grocery store, cleaned the kitchen, and worked out. That may not sound like much, but for me, it really is.

Anyway, the thing that has been the most surprising to me about staying home, is the response I get from people. When I run into friends I haven't seen for a while or people in my neighborhood, the normal question is "where are you working" or "what are you doing for work?" My answer, is I'm actually just being a housewife right now. Honestly, from my perspective, from that point on in the conversation a lot of those people just look down on me. I've had people ask what do I do all day, what do I do for money, how am I going to survive financially, etc. They all know I'm pregnant and expecting a baby in a few months, and yet, somehow I am suddenly less of a person because I'm choosing to stay home.

In my opinion, whether you work outside the home or are a housewife/stay-at-home mom, you can be just as much of a contributing member of society. And no one has the right to judge you about your choice to stay home or to go out of the home and work. I know wonderful women in both scenarios and they are wonderful wives and mothers. Either way, that is a very personal choice that only they can make, and it is no one's place to tell them otherwise.

The Dog and the Kitchen Sink

2009-09-13T13:06:00.010-06:00

Yesterday two funny things happened that I can't help myself from blogging about.

First, this weekend I was on "bed rest" because I had hurt myself from a fall on Thursday (not the funny part), and my doctor told me to stay off my feet and rest for the weekend. At one point my sweet dog Shady wanted to sit/lay by me, so I let her up on the couch with me. She sniffed my belly then layed her head on it. A few seconds later my baby boy decided he liked Shady and started kicking me. Shady must have sensed his movement because she immediately sniffed my belly again and then licked it right where I had felt the baby move. So Shady and baby boy had a little bonding moment. It was so cute!

Second funny thing. On Friday night Adam got us a Red Box movie since I couldn't go out. Then he went and picked up dinner (since I couldn't really stand long enough to cook and I wasn't able to go grocery shopping for needed supplies). When we finished eating dinner we could not find the Red Box movie anywhere. We spent the next hour searching everywhere we could think of where the move could possibly be. Finally we gave up and decided it must not be anywhere in the house because we looked everywhere it could have been. Then, on Saturday, I was feeling much better so I decided to be a good wife and do dishes. Sure enough, half way through emptying the sick I found the Red Box DVD still safely in its case. I couldn't stop laughing when I realized we lost the DVD in the kitchen sink! Apparently when Adam was clearing dishes from the table Friday night he had the DVD in his hand and it ended up being put in the sink right along with the dishes. Go figure! So next time I can't find something, I'll remember to check the kitchen sink!

Things I love...

2009-09-02T12:27:00.006-06:00

For some reason I'm in an especially good mood today and I just feel like blogging about some of the things I love, so here you go:

I love being married to Adam, and I love Adam! Thankfully I married a man perfect for me, even if I haven't always recognized that. I'm so grateful to have someone to share my life with and I can't imagine life any other way!
I love my baby on the way! I know I complain about pregnancy a lot, but I'm seriously glad to be having this baby and I can't wait for him to be here.
I love my dogs! Shady and Rolo seriously bring so much fun and laughter into our lives. They both do some hilarious things and they are both so sweet. I love coming home to these two fun animals that are always so excited to see me, even if they are a little naughty from time to time.
I love my family and friends. It's great to have so many people care about you and to share in the joys and stuggles of life.
I love my pregnancy pillow!! I haven't known a good nights rest since I got pregnant until I got this wonderful thing. It was worth every penny and I highly recommend it to everyone! (even those not pregnant people. Adam likes it too and would probably use one if I bought it for him)
I love being home to cook dinner most nights. First, we eat much better. Second, we save a ton of money. And third, I know Adam really appreciates it and that makes me happy.
I love to exercise! I know, you may think this is crazy, but I seriously do love it. I'm so grateful to be in my second trimester and finally be back to working out 5 or 6 days a week. Even though I have to keep it easy, at least it's something! And I can't wait until I'm able to get in tougher workouts again, but pregnancy is definitely a good reason to slow it down. My day just goes so much better when I can start it with a workout!
I love sugary treats. This one is not so good for me, but I really do love them. Oh well, at least I'm working out every day, right?
I love having a blackberry. I love getting my email, having the calendar, getting on the internet, putting my to-do list on there where I won't lose it, and all the other wonderful features. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to another phone. It's the only thing that keeps me semi-organized.
I love reading! I read an entire book in one day the other day. I hadn't read anything for fun in a LONG time, but I finally decided I needed a de-stressor and borrowed a book from my friend Megan. I started it one night & finished it the next. Thank goodness I'm a fast reader so I can get back to work now.
I love Autumn! Maybe it's because the weather is usually not too hot and not too cold. Or maybe it's because the leaves changing colors is so pretty or my birthday happens to fall in this season, but either way, I love it!

There are many more things I love, but these are the things that I've been thinking about today. It's nice to stop sometimes and just think of our blessings, and right now I feel very blessed!

I was sucked into the Vortex

2009-08-29T15:43:00.012-06:00

Today was the first day since I've been pregnant that I've actually really enjoyed being pregnant. First, Adam and I went to Famous Footwear to buy me a new pair of exercise/tennis shoes. I wouldn't have spent the money due to sticking to a tight budget, but we both agreed I really needed them. The pair of shoes I've been using literally tear apart my feet. I have a consistent blister on the back of my right heel and I have to wear a band aid every day I go walking. Also, sometimes if my heel bandage is too thick, my toes get pushed too far forward and I end up with bloody toes by the end of my walk. It makes exercise and just walking around in general difficult when I always have a blister or bloody toes. Anyway, we were able to get me shoes for 50% off, so at least we got a really good deal and I really do like my new shoes! I've been wearing them all day now and no blister or bloody toes! So, back to my original "I liked being pregnant" today thing, while I was at Famous Footwear I had to use the restroom (a VERY common occurrence these days). I asked the clerk if I could use their restroom and he said they didn't have one. I replied, "Well what do you do if you have to go to the bathroom?" He said, "Well we have one, it's just not for public use." Then I said back in an earnest plea, "But I'm pregnant, can I please use your restroom? I really don't want to have to run around trying to find a bathroom." He immediately agreed and I was escorted back to the private employee restroom. Thank you being pregnant!

Then this afternoon I went to Babies R Us to get myself a pregnancy pillow and a maternity support waistband recommended by my physical therapist (I have some serious hip issues). Now, I have never in my life been to Babies R Us before. Don't ask me how I've made it through a ton of baby showers and 20 weeks of pregnancy without stepping foot in this store, but somehow I managed. After today I know why, that place is a vortex that sneakily sucks you in! What was I thinking going there without Adam to hold me back? I thought I could just buy two boring pregnancy things and be on my way, yeah right!

It started with the clearance rack. After all it was all 50% off PLUS the second outfit was only $1. How could a pregnant woman with all kinds of warm, fuzzy, baby loving hormones pass that up? Then the Carter baby clothes brand was on sale all over the store, buy one get the second one 50% off. Have you ever seen Carter baby clothes? SO CUTE! I have to admit, my weepy pregnancy hormones kicked in while there and I actually got teary eyed looking at all the cute baby clothes. The tiny little baby hats and baby shoes and even adorable Halloween costumes. I almost bought a costume until I realized that my baby won't be here by Halloween and he'll be much bigger next Halloween. Anyway, it was also pretty funny to be in a store with so many other pregnant women or new moms with their little bundles of joy. Because I still don't really look pregnant yet, I have to admit I kind of tried to stick my belly out a little further to fit in. I was really glad I was wearing a maternity shirt today so even if I don't have the baby belly yet at least I looked like I belonged there.

Anyway, I actually did get out of there without spending too much since everything I bought was on sale. But I don't think I should go there again alone, it's too dangerous. And next time, I may need to bring some tissues just in case the weepy pregnancy hormones kick in again. So all you pregnant women out there, beware of the Vortex! Oh and just for fun, here are a few of the adorable, on sale, outfits I couldn't resist buying. There was one super cute little cowboy outfit I wanted to buy, complete with little baby boots, baby cowboy hat, and even a sewn on sheriff's badge, but I had to resist because it was way to expensive. Oh well, maybe I'll just register for that one. :)

Doctor appointment, good, bad, and pictures

2009-08-27T08:08:00.010-06:00

Last night I had a doctor appointment. I had been looking forward to this appointment for two main reasons. Number one, because I was going to be able to get another ultrasound and see my baby again. I just can't get enough of seeing the little person growing inside of me! Number two, because I've been having this horrible stomach pain that has been on and off now for about a week. One time it was so bad I thought about going to the emergency room, but then I remembered I had a doctor appointment in a couple days so I decided to wait. I tend to be a worrier anyway so I didn't want to feel stupid if I went into the hospital and they told me it was gas or something dumb like that.

Anyway, first I got to see my little baby. He's gotten so much bigger in the last month! He doesn't even fit in one frame anymore. Although, I have to admit, my doctor's ultrasound machine is not as good as Fetal Studio's so the pictures aren't quite as clear, but you can still see him. Here are two from the ultrasound. And in case you were wondering, he's still a boy. :)

He was moving around a ton during the ultrasound. It was actually pretty funny because every time the doctor pushed a little harder on my belly and poked him, the baby would hit or kick at where he had just been poked. I guess he doesn't like being poked. The good thing with that is when I want to feel him kick when he's a bit further along, I'll just poke him to get him to hit or kick me. Who knows, that might work when he's out of me too. I know I hit or kick someone if they poke me, so why wouldn't he?

So, now to the second reason I went to the doctor, my awful stomach pains. The funny thing is, the morning before I went I was having these lovely pains and I text messaged my sister-in-law Amber, who is an expert at being pregnant (she's pregnant right now with her fourth), and asked her if the pain was normal and what it was. Her first response was it might be my gallbladder. She had problems with her gallbladder in her last pregnancy and even got it removed after her last baby. So as you might guess now, after I explained my pain to my doctor he said he thinks it's probably my gallbladder. Apparently it's pretty common for pregnancy to aggravate one's gallbladder. And yes, Amber is pretty awesome to be able to diagnose me over the phone!

Anyway, the bad news is that the only thing the doctors can do for a gallbladder problem is surgery, which is not advisable during pregnancy. The doctor continued to explain that this means I have to wait until 6 weeks after the baby is born and then have the surgery. So I'll get to become really familiar with the hospital. First major procedure to have the baby, second another fun procedure to take care of my gallbladder. I didn't think about this until I got home, but I'm thinking that I won't be able to breastfeed after the surgery for a few days until the anesthesia from the surgery is out of my system. So, that means a fun few days for Adam when he has a newborn and a wife recovering from two major medical procedures. Good thing Adam is a patient man! And it's probably also a good thing we'll be very close to a lot of family who can help out (hint, hint family, we'll need your help!).

So, the good news, baby is doing perfectly. The bad news, I am not doing so hot, but for the sake of baby, I get to suffer for the next four and a half months (although I'm voting only 4 months because I'm going to push to be enduced early). Honestly though, I'm okay with it. At least the baby is doing fine and the gallbladder will basically only bother me and not him. I'll just really need that prenatal yoga now to help me manage my stress and pain. Oh well, what's 4 months to the rest of my life anyway?

A few fun things...

2009-08-26T11:34:00.016-06:00

On Friday Adam and I went to the Living Aquarium. Adam would really like to get an aquarium of our own, this gave us some fun ideas. Here are just a few pictures. I don't know how Adam can go in like this to pet the sting ray and not fall in. I totally would have fallen in! By the way, has anyone else who's gone to an aquarium noticed that sting rays are like the dogs of the sea? They always swim over to us to be petted.

Look, I found Nemo! I totally want one of these fish if we ever get a big salt water aquarium.

On a different note, I still get to watch my friend's baby twice a week. She really is a good baby and it's been good practice for both me and the dogs. It's amazing how many times a day while I watch her that I have to literally juggle multiple things at once. Like it's actually pretty hard to make a bottle while holding a crying baby. Or trying to leave to go run a few errands takes a while because I want to make sure she's fed, burped, and diaper changed before I go anywhere. Then trying to carry the diaper bag, my purse, the car seat, and whatever else I have, like a package to mail off at the post office. Not to mention making sure our Rolo puppy doesn't run out of the front door while I'm trying to get out (since she's not 100% trained on that point yet). Although, Rolo is getting used to having a baby around and she likes to lay right by the baby sometimes. Here's a cute picture of one of those times when Rolo just couldn't get close enough to the baby. So cute!

Anyway, it's fun watching this cute little girl, but every day I watch her I think of my own little baby and how much I'm looking forward to having him and being home with him. And even though it's a bit of struggle to adjust from two incomes to one income, and it means sacrificing a lot, I'm glad we're doing it. Before being pregnant, I never thought I wanted to be a full time stay at home mom and quit my day job, but now I really can't imagine going back to work and my baby isn't even here yet. Now I just need to make sure I engage myself with other stay at home moms so I don't get lonely or desperate to talk to another adult. I've been staying super busy with a few work loose ends I need to tie up, but those should be taken care of in about a month and then I can focus more on everything else. Like maybe I should start looking at baby stuff. I haven't even started looking and all we have right now are some onesies, baby shampoo, a few toys, a cute newborn outfit, and a cute blanket. So, at least he'll be bathed and clothed with a few toys to keep him interested...

Ok fine, here's 18 weeks

2009-08-15T20:50:00.005-06:00

Well, after talking to a few more people and being reminded that "getting fat" doesn't count when you're pregnant, here's a picture of me Adam took tonight. This is my week 18 picture. Man, am I fickle or what! Anyway, see, I told you I don't really look pregnant yet, just more chubby.

And here's another one. The reason I'm posting this second one is because you can see my cute dog sitting at my feet. It's not the best picture though because I wasn't holding my shirt tight enough so you can't really see my belly, but at least Rolo looks cute.

By the way, these were taken on our phones, so not the best quality. The top one was on my phone the bottom one on Adam's phone. Maybe someday we'll have a digital camera besides our phone to take pictures with. We're not really picture takers anyway, so this will do for now.

A problem with being overweight and pregnant

2009-08-14T10:20:00.004-06:00

Ever since I entered my second trimester about a month ago, pregnancy has honestly been mostly easy. Sure I still get a little sick now and again, and I have some other not so fun side affects, but for the most part, if you didn't know I was pregnant, it would be hard to tell. I am mostly back to normal eating and I'm also back to exercising 5 or 6 days a week, so that's nice. I have gained some weight, but nothing huge or out of the “normal” range. Maybe this is my pregnancy emotions about to come out, but I have noticed one new problem in my second trimester that is a bit of a struggle for me. The problem is that my belly is starting to get bigger and my capris I've been wearing through my whole pregnancy, are a little too tight around the belly (although still lose everywhere else).

Now, I know you're thinking, you're pregnant, duh, of course your belly is getting bigger. Right, I get that, but here's the catch. Because I'm already a bit overweight, the extra belly growth really does just look like I'm getting chubbier, not pregnant. I have two cute skinny sister-in-laws that are also pregnant, and they are cute pregnant ladies with the “it's obvious it's a baby bump and not fat” thing going on. In fact, it seems like everywhere I go I see a cute little pregnant lady or find out another one of my friends is pregnant (must be that spring lovin' or something!). And don't get me wrong, I think it's great there are so many of us pregos out there. More kids for my baby to play with. I just wish I had the cute pregnant lady thing going on. I, however, have people tell me that I'm still not showing. I know that's supposed to be a compliment, but I would rather have a cute “baby bump” that's clear it's a baby and not a fat deposit, then just look like I'm getting fatter.

So, in answer to all of the people that have been asking for “baby bump” pictures, you're going to have to wait. Right now I mostly just look fat, not pregnant. Maybe in a month or so it'll be more obvious my big belly is carrying a baby, and not just last nights dinner. When that's the case, then I'll post my baby bulge pictures (because by then he'll be more of a bulge than a bump).

In the meantime, I've started wearing maternity shirts, just because they don't have a shirt that says, “Yes, I'm pregnant.” Seriously, someone should make those, I'm sure that would make a lot of people's lives easier. Especially for those of us with some extra fat that would prefer people think everything is baby, even though I know there's obviously fat there helping to hide the baby. Oh well, I'll just live with looking extra chubby right now and I'll just be consoled by the fact that it's all for a good cause.

Good Dental Assistants are Hard to Find

2009-08-12T19:32:00.000-06:00

I had a dentist appointment today at which I was to get one old filling fixed, a new cavity filled, and a good old fashioned cleaning. I had no pain whatsoever when I went to the dentist this afternoon, and now I'm honestly in a ton of pain. Why do you ask, well, I must admit, I kind of blame the dental assistant that helped my dentist today. I made her mad, and that was apparently the thing to do if I wanted her to be rough on me.

Here's what happened. Nice Mr. Grandpa Dentist (don't know his name, but he was an older gentleman, and very nice) was working on the left side of my mouth giving me all kinds of numbing shots and then his other dental work. As you all know, laying upside down with your mouth wide open and your teeth being worked on creates a build up of saliva in the mouth. Hence, the lovely sucky thing the dental assistants get to use (I'm sure there's some kind of fancy name for it, but I call it the spit suker, or sucky thing). Well, Mr. Dentist was working for a while and I was getting so much saliva and dental water backup I was actually starting to choke on it. I was starting to panic because I was having a hard time breathing and choking, but since the dentist was in my mouth I couldn't say, “Please miss kind and lovely dental assistant, can you give me the sucky thing?” So, in a panic, I tried to reach over and pat her leg to indicate I really needed the sucky thing. Wow, you would have thought I called her all kinds of bad names, because her response was awful.

She started to yell at me to breath through my nose and I had better get used to it because they were going to be using a lot of water on me today and I couldn't just swallow or get vacuumed any time I wanted. I then quickly apologized (because by now Mr. Dentist was out of my mouth and had made her vacuum up my spit) and asked her to please use the sucky thing as much as possible as I was having a hard time not choking. She actually rolled her eyes at me and made a sneer remark!

The rest of the dental work went okay, until it got to the cleaning part, which nice Mr. Dentist had Ms. Dental Assistant do. Since she pretty much hated me, she was totally rough on the scraper and the polisher. I actually got tears my eyes a couple times from the pain.
So, next time I have a good dental assistant (which honestly, all of the ones I've had in the last couple of years were really good) I will make sure to go out of my way to really lay on the praise and thanks for a job well done. All of you good dental assistants out there, thank you! And please, will you be my dental assistant next time?

Ultrasound pictures

2009-08-11T08:28:00.006-06:00

Here are 3 Ultrasound pictures from 7.24.09.

It's still crazy to think this little guy is in my belly!

And here's a picture from the bottom looking up. Definitely a boy!

Was it gas, a bug, or a baby?

2009-08-10T16:56:00.004-06:00

Last night I felt something a little weird in my belly. It kind of felt like a little bug fluttering across a little part of my belly. Or maybe it was a little gas bubbling. But, what I'd really like to think it was, is the baby kicking, or flipping over, or something. Either way, I'm going to go with the idea that I felt my baby moving! :)

The way we look at food...

2009-07-29T17:49:00.002-06:00

I must admit, the way I look at food has changed significantly over the years. I've pretty much always had a love/hate relationship with food. I love good tasting food and the way it makes me feel (at least on a palate satisfied, emotional soothing level), but I hate the way I crave it and how many foods seem to pack the pounds on my body. I've also had this strange feeling that I must eat this (fill in the blank) because this may be the last time I eat it (yes these are hard economic times, but I know I'll eat again). Then there's the constant roller coaster of dieting that I've been on my entire life. What the heck is a diet for any way?! Isn't the point to make a lifestyle change so you don't want to just eat pizza and brownies every day? Because if all I eat is celery, sooner or later when I start adding in more food choices I'll gain weight.

The last 7 months of my life has taught me a great deal. First, I love food and that's okay, as long as I love it for the right reasons. Do I love it because I'm stressed out and it's a comfort? Or do I love it because it gives my body the strength and nourishment it so desperately needs (and hopefully is yummy too)? Every day, I get closer and closer to loving food for the right reasons (although sometimes I do slip back into old habits of comforting myself with food).

For those that don't remember, I was on a “diet” from January until the end of May when I found out I was pregnant. I did extremely well, lost a bunch of weight and cured some health conditions and started to permanently change the way I eat. That's when this baby boy inside of me decided to turn my food world upside down. One day I love a food, the next day it makes me want to puke. One day I can go 4 hours without eating no problem, the next I get horribly sick at about 2 hours. My body was in total havoc! Unhealthy foods sat okay with me while healthy foods made me sick. The thought of some of my favorite meals made me want to lose my lunch. And then a glorious thing happened, I entered week 12 of my pregnancy.

Now my body is behaving much nicer (at least with regards to food, not with regards to my hair falling out, my back hurting all the time, and a lack of sleep). And the way I look at food, pretty much changed. Now I eat only because my body is telling me to (to be more specific, my baby is telling me to. He's very demanding!). And when I no longer have the hunger pain, I stop. So what if I'm not stuffed full and there's food still on my plate, that's okay. Yeah I know there are starving kids in China, but me over-eating is not going to feed those kids in China. It's just going to make me want to eat more at the next meal and the next. So really, I'm helping those starving kids by NOT over-eating (not mention my own because he also gets mad at me when I over eat). Plus, I know I'm going to eat again in 2 hours anyway, so I don't want to eat too much now. If I'm still hungry, I'll just eat later. No big deal.

So what's the point of my ramblings you ask? Well, I've been doing a lot of research lately on food, the way we think about it based on our culture, socio-economic status, etc. and it's very fascinating. And I'm definitely developing myself a “how-to” parent guide with respects to food and my children. I don't want my children to make the same mistakes I did and I definitely want them to be healthier than I've been. Sure, I know I'll slip up here and there, and things I swear I'll never do will probably be done, but education is the first step. And then follow-through is the next. Hear I come follow through!

We're having a boy!

2009-07-24T12:34:00.004-06:00

We went to get our ultrasound this morning and were surprised to find out we're having a boy! It was so cute, as soon as the doctor got the thing on my belly the baby starting waving at us. Then he was sucking his thumb. Anyway, we saw multiple angles and there is no doubt that he is a boy!

It's kind of funny because this whole time Adam and I have been thinking he was a girl, but then randomly in the last week or so we both had dreams that we were having a boy. I guess he was sick of us calling him a girl so he let us know in a dream. Anyway, we're excited, but we have no idea whatsoever on a name. All the names we had in mind were girl names. So, we're open to suggestions.

I must also admit, I'm happy that he's a boy because now the pressure is off to carry on the Dalton name. Not that there was any pressure from anyone except myself, but I'm happy we won't have to worry about that. And there are benefits to having a boy first. I just have to hope he has Adam's temperament and not the "Stockdale boy" temperament. He'll be a much easier boy to raise that way. A little less of a rascal.

Busy, Crazy

2009-07-14T18:05:00.006-06:00

It's been a busy last couple of weeks! On July 3rd my friend Megan and I went to Park City to visit my old roommate and good friend Elizabeth. Liz was in town from Connecticut for a family reunion, so we were lucky to get to see her for a few hours. Then on the 4th, Adam and I cleaned the house and got ready for our trip to CA for the Stockdale family reunion. That night we also had my sister April's family and my parents over for a little 4th BBQ and fireworks. It was actually the first time Adam and I have been able to celebrate the 4th since we've lived in this house (we had other non-fun things that had to distract us the previous 2 years), so it was pretty nice.

On Sunday the 5th, we left for our trip to CA. Adam flew to Oregon to meet my brother Dave and get the car he so kindly gave to us. Then he was going to hang at Dave's for the day and drive the rest of the way to CA and meet me there on Monday. I was to pick up my niece, then go to my parents house and drive with them the 8 hours to Reno, then on Monday we were going to continue the rest of the way (4 more hours) to CA. It sounded like a good idea, but that's because I forgot that my parents have the worst luck in the world with cars. Lets just say what should have only been an 8 hour day turned into a 17 hour day when the radiator blew on my dad's car. Being pregnant and stuck sitting around for 17 hours with stressed out people was very unpleasant. I'm just way thankful my lovely niece was there to keep a good attitude and make me laugh. Thank you Allie! And sorry mom and dad, but I'm never driving a long distance in your car again! :)

The rest of the week in Shasta Lake were good. It was great to see everyone again and get to know some in-laws and nieces and nephews a little better. Thankfully the trip home was much less eventful than the trip there and Adam and I made it home in 11 hours (better than the 12 and a half our GPS said it should have taken). Then, the next day my old roommate Liz came over for dinner before she headed back to Conneticuit. It almost felt like it added one more day to our vacation, which was nice.

The only problem with going on vacation is that when you come home and have to get back to work, there is a "To-Do" list a mile long. I haven't even made it through half of it yet, and yet I'm sitting here blogging. Can you tell how excited I am to get my work done?

One last note, in a week and a half we're going to find out the gender of our baby! Woo hoo! Guesses anyone?

Dogs and babysitting

2009-06-30T07:21:00.006-06:00

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I get to babysit my friend KrisAn's newborn baby girl, Maddie. She is such a cute baby, and sooo good! Seriously, I hope my baby is as good as her! She's so easy to babysit because she only cries when she's hungry or needs her diaper changed. Plus, being a newborn and all, she sleeps a lot. And when she's awake, she's pretty content chilling in her bouncer or on my lap. Not to mention she's about the size of a football, so carrying her around is pretty easy (especially on my sensitive pregnant back, so I like that!).

Anyway, I've been excited to start watching Maddie for quite some time, for a number of reasons. However, I must admit that one of those reasons is because it's a great opportunity to train my dogs to get used to a baby in the house (twice week is a good starting point to work up to 24/7). I've babysat my niece Lindy a few times, and they always did well with her, but she's a lot older than a newborn and more interactive. Not to mention she cries less. Don't get me wrong, Maddie doesn't cry much, but she does need to eat and have her diaper changed every 2 hours, so when I have her 8 hours, that means she's bound to cry at least 4 or 5 times during the day. And sometimes it has to be for a couple minutes while I make her bottle or get her diaper changed.

Also, the dogs need to be much quieter with a newborn then they need to be with a 7 month old. Since when I would watch Lindy, she'd sleep for maybe an hour at the most during her stay, and usually in my bed, that meant the dogs could still bark and play in the house without disturbing the baby's nap. With Maddie however, she sleeps in the living room or kitchen (depending on which room I'm in at the moment) and she sleeps most of the day, which means the dogs have to be quiet in the house most of the day.

Staying quiet most of the day is pretty easy for Shady. She's 7 years old, so she likes to sleep just as much as Maddie. Even though Shady is actually the barker in the house, I can get her to stop barking in just a few seconds. Rolo, on the other hand, is a little different story. She's still a puppy at heart, even though she's now a year and half old. Her idea of a good day, is one in which she gets to play 80%, eat 10% and sleep 10%. Not to mention she likes to pretend she's tough and play gaurd dog any time someone comes to close to the house. She could play fetch all day and never get tired of it (just ask the Doggy Day Camp at PetsMart, they had to switch off on employees all day long with her because she was wearing them out). However, even with all of her energy, Rolo is doing great! And giving me a lot of funny moments.

The first time Maddie came, she was asleep in her car seat. So I set the car seat on the sofa and intended to just let her sleep, but Rolo had other ideas. She sniffed the car seat and realized there was a kid in there and got excited (she loves kids because they usually play with her much longer than adults). So of course Rolo runs to get her ball, and because she can't reach into Maddie's car seat to give her the ball (not without getting on the sofa, which she can't do without being invited) she sets the ball next to the car seat and sat starring at Maddie waiting for her to throw it. When Maddie didn't throw the ball (because if she had I'm pretty sure she'd be in some kind of record book and KrisAn should sign her up for baseball ASAP) Rolo whined a little, then nudged the ball closer to the car seat. After a few more seconds of the ball just sitting there (and me laughing at Rolo) she then licked the car seat, hoping that would entice Maddie to throw the ball (who can turn down a kiss, right?). Still no throwing, so then she starts to paw at the ball, trying to show Maddie that she was supposed to pick it up. Finally, after a few more minutes of this (and a few more laughs from me) I took pity on Rolo and grabbed the ball and threw it for her. What did this champion fetch player do you ask, bring it back to me in a hurry? No; she brought it right back to Maddie and went through the whole process all over again. Afterall, Maddie is cuter and smells better than me, and SHE is who Rolo wanted to play with.

10 ways my body is wigging out

2009-06-25T08:52:00.007-06:00

So in 2 days I'll be 10 wks. Only a few more weeks and I'm out of my first trimester, yeah! I am happy to say that I've only gained 1 pound so far. One of my big fears with pregnancy is gaining too much weight, so only 1 pound makes me pretty happy. However, I can't say I'm thrilled with some of the other fun things going on with my body. Here are the 10 ways my body is currently wigging out.

1st, even though I've only gained one pound, I can already notice my pants fitting a tiny bit tighter. Is that normal at only 10 weeks?

2nd, nausea and I have gotten to know each other really well, and I am not a fan. I will admit, my nausea has gotten a little better this week, but if I don't eat every 2 hours on the dot, it creeps in fast and furious. And I have to say, needing to eat every 2 hours is really annoying. I have to plan my day really well or I'll pay for it with all kinds of unpleasantness.

3rd, there are a lot of foods I can no longer eat without getting sick. I already mentioned meat is off the "to eat" list, and now I have other foods to add. No soy milk, certian kinds of crackers, certian kinds of soups, no apples, no bananas (except in a smoothie I can sometimes do half a banana), certian veggies, and not too much dairy since I'm mildly lactose intolerant, and the list grows almost daily.

4th, lower back pain. I'm not sure if this is related to the pregnancy or not, but I've had it for a little over a week now and it's killing me! I've been to the chiropractor twice and a massage therapist once and it's still killing me. Hopefully it'll get better before I have to do a 12 hour car drive to California in a week and a half.

5th, the bathroom and I see a lot of each other! I can hardly make it all the way from SLC to Ogden, only a 55 minute drive.

6th, if I get up too quickly, my lower ligaments really hurt!

7th, irritability. I just don't have as much patience with people as I used to have. Now little things can set me off and that stinks.

8th, where did all of my energy go?! I used to work out 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, and sometimes that wasn't enough to get ot all my energy, & I just don't have any energy anymore! Now I'm down to 45min 3 times a week and that's pretty hard to find the energy for.

9th, all I have to say is beware of constipation.

10th, this one is new as of last night. In the middle of the night I was trying to roll over when all of a sudden I had horrible stabbing chest pain and I could barely breath. I woke up Adam to help me, but we really didn't know what he could do to help. Finally, I just asked him to pick me up from my laying position so I could sit up, thinking he'd probably have to take me to the hospital. Once he picked me up the pain almost completely stopped. Wierd. The middle of my chest is still sore this morning and if I take a deep breath it hurts. I called my doctor about it this morning, and apparently this is pretty normal. The way I was sleeping and then turned over, it pulled my breastbone apart a bit, which caused the stabbing pain. When Adam sat me up, it put it back to normal, hence the pain stopping.

I'm hopeful (and probably a little too much so) that some of these things will get a little easier. Although, I do know that I'll have interesting other changes coming, so we'll see which ones are the easiest to deal with.

One last thing, I have to admit, it's really fun having multiple women of my friends and family pregnant or having babies around the same time as me. Currently pregnant I have have two sister-in-laws (hopefully soon to be two more) and 3 friends. Then, those who have had a baby in the last year to a few weeks ago I have 4 sister-in-laws and 3 friends. So, my baby is going to have lots of friends near his/her age to play with. Yeah!

The Pregnancy Story

2009-06-13T10:56:00.006-06:00

As some of you may know, Adam and I have been working on doing foster care to adopt. We went through all of the classes and paperwork and the only things we had left to do was get our physical and home study done. So a couple of weeks ago I finally made an appointment for both of us to go in on a Tuesday. The day before the appointment I was nauseous all day long so I thought I was coming down with something. Tuesday I was still feeling a little sick, but I didn't think much about it.

At my Dr. apt, they did all the tests and said everything looked perfect. Then the Dr noticed I hadn't had a period in a couple months, but I assured him I wasn't pregnant because that was totally normally for me. In fact, in the last year I had only had two periods due to my PCOS and other health conditions. But then I had a thought about my sister-in-law Misty, who had just found out a few days earlier that she was pregnant after she assured the Dr she was not. So, I asked how much more it would cost me to get a pregnancy test. When they told me $20 I changed my mind (after all you can buy them at the dollar store!). I went home and didn't really think anything of it.

The next day I was sick again and I had the feeling in the back of my mind that I really should take a pregnancy test, but I honestly tried to ignore it. As anyone who has ever had a hard time getting pregnant knows, pregnancy tests suck! You can only see negative so many times before you want to cry and throw the dang pee stick out the window. I've done so many tests over the last couple years that I thought multiple times I should buy stock in the pregnancy test companies!

So, finally by noon, I brought myself to pee on another one of those dang sticks, and sure enough it came back positive. I immediately called the Dr I had been working with on my most recent weight loss program. I had been doing HCG, and I wanted to make sure that there was no way possible that it was still in my system. I had been off of it for two weeks, but I really needed to know it was out of my system (it actually only takes 3 days to get out). After he assured me there was no possible way it was still in my system from the diet, I called Adam at work and told him the news. I then went to a pregnancy clinic and had them test me two more times just to make sure I was really, really pregnant. Sure enough, they confirmed that I was really, really pregnant.

The problem was, because I hadn't had a period since February, they had no idea how far along I was. And, since I was on the HCG diet, and HCG is also used as a fertility treatment because it stimulates ovulation and the dropping of multiple eggs, they couldn't tell me without an ultrasound if I was pregnant with one or multiple babies. Unfortunately I couldn't get in to see a doctor for two more weeks so I spent the next two weeks wondering what was in my body (and feeling very sick!).

So, I was finally able to get in to see the OB last week. He confirmed my due date to be January 23rd, and that I am only pregnant with one baby (whew!). I was able to see the little lima bean's heart beat, which was pretty cool, and Doc says everything looks good so far.

As you can imagine, Adam and I are very excited. And as I said in my last post, we're both pretty sure we're having a girl. Unfortunately, I have been super nauseous for the last few weeks, that is until I realized part of what was making me feel so sick (besides the little lima bean growing inside of me), and that is, MEAT! I can't eat meat without almost immediately feeling sick. Sometimes just the smell makes me feel sick. So, as of Monday this week, I am now a temporary vegetarian. As soon as I cut out animal protein, I started feeling much better. Amazingly, I've found that I really don't miss meat. Probably because even the thought of it right now makes me feel a little queezy. And, since I'm new to this way of eating, I am totally lacking in recipes and dinner ideas. So, if you have any good vegetarian recipes, please pass them my way! I could really use them right now!

I was going to wait, but I changed my mind...

2009-06-11T06:32:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted a blog in a couple of weeks because I couldn't blog about what I really wanted to. You see, Adam and I had decided to wait to tell people until we knew more information and until it was more of a sure thing. Well, now we know more information, but I guess nothing's really for sure until it actually happens. And, since I don't think waiting until it actually happens is really the most logical time to tell people, here I am, telling you my secret now. (Have I built the suspense enough yet?) So, here's our news, I'm pregnant!

I'm only about 8 weeks along, and I'm still at high risk for miscarriage, but I have hope that I'll be able to carry this baby to term. We were going to wait until I was out of my first trimester to tell anyone, but we decided that if I actually do miscarry, it will be easier to go through with the support of family and friends than it will be alone. Although, I really don't think I'm going to miscarry (maybe I'm hopelessly optimistic right now, but hey, who am I to doubt the power of positive thinking?).

There's a lot more to my pregnancy story than this (most of it quite funny if I do say so myself), but you'll have to wait until later today when I have more time to write. However, I will tell you that my actual due date is January 23rd (4 days before my 4th anniversary) and Adam and I are both pretty convinced we're having a girl (although I won't be able to prove it for a while yet). However, if we're wrong and it's actually a boy, we'll be happy too. As long as we have a healthy baby, I'm happy!

Fun Date Night

2009-05-17T13:02:00.002-06:00

Last night Adam and I had a unique and fun date night. We went sky diving and rock climbing! Well, sort of. In Ogden there is a sky diving simulation tunnel called iFly. There are only 6 in the US. We were lucky enough to get two free tickets for the one here. We had to do a 30-minute training class before hand and then we were each going to be able to do two jumps. We got all geared up and were ready to go in the tunnel with our instructor.

Adam went first, and after a couple seconds got the hang of it and was flying around the tunnel. Next was my turn and I was pretty excited. I've never had a fear of heights (which is good because there was only a little net beneath you so all the air could get through and push you up. It was quite the drop beneath the net!). I was having fun flying for about 30 seconds when I realized I couldn't breath. The 85mph air pushing me up felt like it was choking me so I signaled my instructor I needed to get down. When he got me down I explained I was having a hard time breathing, so he explained when you're sky diving you can't breath through your nose, you have to breath through your mouth (that would have been good to know ahead of time). Anyway, he had me jump back in and I finished out my first flight. It was fun, but it was still hard for me to breath (my history of asthma probably didn't help).

Adam then went again and this time the instructor grabbed onto him (there were handles on our jumping suits) and they went spinning in circles and way high up the tunnel. It was pretty cool to watch and Adam says pretty fun. When it was time for my second jump I decided I wasn't ready to fight breathing again so I just asked if Adam could take my second jump, which he was happy to do. On Adam's third jump the instructor showed him how to do some flips. It was pretty cool, but one time Adam almost flipped out of the tunnel, but the instructor caught him.

All in all the sky diving experience was pretty fun. Next time though, I'll be better prepared to breath properly, and we'll get pictures so we can post them!

We were also lucky enough to get free tickets to a rock climbing place, so we headed there next. The instructor taught us how to belay for each other, which was pretty cool. Adam climbed first and went all the way to the top, which was about three or four stories up. He climbed so fast I had a hard time keeping up with him and keeping a tight rope. The first time I brought him down pretty slow because I was afraid to drop him. We switched and I started climbing. I made it about half way up and realized my arms are weak! I couldn't figure out where to go from there so I had him bring me down (which he did much more quickly than I had brought him down). I rested a minute & started climbing again. This time Adam helped me figure out which grips to hold on to. Thankfully he is a much better belayer than me, so I didn't get as tired. I made it almost all the way to the top, but my arms were finally too tired to be able to use the tiny grips at the top (the grips got harder the farther up you went).

After that Adam jumped up and climbed a new route. Again I had a hard time keeping up with him (especially since my forearms were tired from climbing myself a few minutes before) He went on a much tougher climb this time around, but he was still able to do it really well. When he was done, I brought him down a lot faster (sometimes, a little too fast I have to admit). In the end, I realized I really need to build my upper body strength more! My legs did totally fine and didn't even come close to giving out, but arms were a whole other story.

Anyway, fun date night! And the best part, it was free! Can't beat free tickets!

Our Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-12T08:19:00.002-06:00

First I just want to say, happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there. I know a few people who this Mother's day probably meant a lot to them since it was their first as a Mother, so a special happy Mother's Day to you (Teresa, KrisAn, Golda, love ya!). And of course, an extra special happy Mother's Day to the wonderful women who brought me and Adam into the world, we love you Moms!

Since this is a weekend that is usually pretty hard for me, Adam and I planned a fun weekend trip with his parents and brother. We went camping in Marysvale Utah (I had never heard of it before, but luckily Adam's Dad had). We stayed at this cute little place called Pine Creek Cabins. They technically weren't even open yet, but they busted their butts to get the cabins ready in time so we could stay. We were their first customers ever!

For those of you, who like me, have never heard of Marysvale, it's a cute small town in South Eastern Utah, and it's along the Piute ATV trails. In the late 1800s, early 1900s, it was a booming mining community, with other little communities all around it. Thousands used to live there, and now there are only hundreds.

Since we were only there for the weekend, we kept it pretty simple. We went 4-wheeling, hiking, and biking. The first day we went on an ATV trail up to a point where we got off and hiked to some waterfalls, which was pretty cool. But the coolest part was on the way back we went through the old Miner's town in the middle of the mountain (now a total ghost town) and found some new family history from the Dalton family. In the little ghost town was the Dalton Cabin and the Dalton Mine. It was really cool to find this little place with family history for Adam's family that no one in his family previously knew existed. It's only accessible by ATVs, so if we had never gone there, we would probably still not know it was there. We'll have to take our kids there someday so they can see that part of their family history.

I don't know why exactly, but I found the whole ghost town absolutely fascinating. There were tons of abandoned homes, and a huge abandoned lodge that was so cool looking. I just couldn't believe so many people would walk away from those things. It's really quite sad when you think about it.

Anyway, it was a pretty good weekend, with the exception of my weird minor injuries. After a bike ride the first night, I decided I needed to do push ups against the cabin deck, and my feet slipped from underneath me and I ended up injuring my wrist. Then the next day on our way back from 4-wheeling, I got stung in the neck by a bee (which I happen to be allergic to). I normally never carry any allergy medicine with me, because even though I'm allergic to bee stings, I usually get them on my arm or leg and all that happens is the sting area swells up to the size of a softball or baseball. Looks funny, but no big deal. However, having a sting on my neck swell up that large is dangerous because then it blocks my air passage. So, after I got stung, I sped back to the cabin (in a complete panic because I could feel the inside of my throat swelling up and I was having a hard time breathing). I really didn't know what to do, but Adam's parents went and got me Benedryl (a cream to put on it topically and the pills to take internally). Then Adam and John gave me a blessing. Pretty quickly after, the swelling in my neck went down and I started to feel fine. Whether from the Benedryl or the blessing, who knows for sure, but I'm grateful for both.

So, even though I was kind of cranky during the trip, it was still a good one and I'm glad we went. And in case you were wondering, my wrist is fine now and the bee sting is now only a little bump, like a bug bite, on my neck.

Don't Judge Me, from Melissa

2009-05-03T10:25:00.003-06:00

There are some topics people should never judge others on, and one of those is the topic of children. Lets face it, some people are not cut out for children, some people simply do not want children, some people want children and have a difficult or impossible time getting pregnant, and some are baby making machines and can get pregnant at the flip of switch. I am a big believer in having children at the right time in a relationship, not just because others think you should.

In my not-so-humble opinion, someone should not get pregnant just because they are married. And there is no rule that says, you have been married a year, or two, or three, so now you MUST get pregnant. You may have your opinion, but mine is that bringing a child into this world is a big decision and can and should only be made between the couple conceiving the child and God. Only they are in the right place to know if now is the right time to have a child.

Why do I bring this up you ask, because I am a little sick of people's judgments passed on me. Yes, I have been married 3 and a half years and I am not pregnant. My husband is in his 30s and I am quickly approaching mine and still no children. We have a great marriage and we would both be pretty good parents in my opinion with lots of loving, supportive family and friends nearby, and still, no children. We both love children, are good with children, and want to have multiple children, but still, we have none.

So, I get the questions all the time, “Why don't you have kids yet?” “So are you and Adam ever going to have kids?” and so on. First, I honestly do not like answering these questions in the first place. It is really no one's business unless we decide we want to make it their business, on our own, without their prodding. However, just to set the record straight, and so I can hopefully stop getting hurt and frustrated by these questions, we don't have kids yet because my body has not allowed us to. Yes, we prevented pregnancy for the first year and a half or so of marriage, but we have done nothing to prevent pregnancy for almost two years now. Infact, we've tried watching calendars and all the other stuff to help me get pregnant, which are all pretty much useless with the medical conditions I have.

So people, please stop asking me when I'm going to have a baby. It breaks my heart every time I'm asked the questions, and I'm too nice to say to your face, none of your business. If I could have a baby, I would have one by now. I know God isn't preventing me from getting pregnant because “it must not be the right time” or “maybe I'm not really ready for a baby” or “maybe I'll be a bad parent.” I get that, I don't like it, but I get it.

I'm sure someday, in some way, I'll have children. But for now, I live my life today and plan for my future tomorrow. Maybe we'll do foster care, maybe we'll do adoption, maybe we'll do all kinds of fertility treatments and pay thousands of dollars trying to get pregnant with or without luck, but whatever we do, don't judge us. It's our decision to make.

1st Ride of the Season

2009-04-26T13:34:00.002-06:00

We're finally getting into Spring in Utah, which means it's hiking & biking season, yeah! Yesterday Adam fixed our bikes so we could start riding again. Our plan was to take the Jordan River Trail as far North as it goes, but we really had no idea how far North the trail went. We were going to go early in the day, but it was raining most of the day and riding in the rain is not our idea of fun.

Luckily by 5:30pm it stopped raining so we loaded up our bikes and headed to the trail at 6pm. We didn't make it to the end of the Northern trail, but we did ride our bikes 16 miles! I think if it was earlier and warmer we would have kept going, but still, 16 miles is still quite the accomplishment for our first ride of the season.

I have to admit, I was very proud of myself. Last year I was so weak I could hardly go up hills, and some I couldn't go up at all. There is no way I could have rode 16 miles last year. Plus, there's no way I could have kept up with Adam last year! And one of the best things, I am not even sore today. Quite the opposite, I feel like I want to go do it again. :)

I am so excited that Adam and I are now at about the same physical fitness level! That will make this an awesome spring/summer! We already have hikes on the calendar and now we're going to be adding some good bike rides. We both just want to get into a little better shape so we can up our difficulty level for our family vacations coming up.

Anyone know of some good biking trails within an hour drive of West Jordan, UT? We'll be needing some more good ones for this spring/summer season.

Good "Practice" Run

2009-04-18T11:52:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday my sister-in-law Julie was kind enough to do my 100,000 mile maintenance on my car, so I was lucky enough to babysit her two kids for the day (I do sincerely mean that, she has great kids!). Being that Adam and I now have like 40 nieces and nephews (I lost count since it grows every year) I have definitely done my fair share of babysitting. In fact, I've even watch kids for days and weeks at a time, so I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing. The one thing I failed to take into account, is that previously, I never tried babysitting kids and working from home at the same time.

I only had the kids (a 4yr old and 6 month old) for about 6 hours. I thought that it would be easy to work from home at the same time. Well, I'm sure any mom right now is just laughing at me. After trying it, I realized working from home is going to be a little harder than I originally thought. Luckily Julie has really good kids. The baby just sat in my lap and played with toys and the dogs (and sometimes my computer) when she wasn't taking a nap, eating, or enticing me to stop working and play. She only cried when she was hungry or needed her diaper changed. The 4yr old mostly entertained himself, with a little help from me and the dogs. Still, even with that, I only got about half the amount of work done in those 6 hours that I normally get done.

Good thing for me I actually got up at 3:30 that morning and started working (I couldn't sleep) so by they time they got their at 9am, I had already been working for 5 and a half hours. So, once you add in the equivalent 3 hours of work I got done in 6 hours, I really did get a full days work in, it just took me a lot longer.

This did teach me that I have a lot more preparing I need to do before I'm ready to work from home with a child of my own. I need to get used to starting earlier or working later to get the same amount of work done. So, my hat is off to all of you moms out there that currently work from home! Someday (hopefully sooner rather than later) I'll be asking you for tips!

Happy Easter and Happy Birthday

2009-04-12T20:55:00.003-06:00

This has been a busy week for both the Dalton Family and the Stockdale Family. On the Dalton side it was Adam's Dad's birthday, and it was the big 6-0. We had a surprise party for him on Friday night, although I felt bad because I totally didn't realize it was supposed to be a surprise party (maybe I should read my entire email when related to family parties). I even called Adam's mom while she was with dad and asked her questions about the party. Good thing he wasn't paying attention.

Also on Friday was my mom's birthday, but my sister April and I took her out to lunch for her birthday on Thursday. My mom says it may be the best meat she has ever had. We went to this great Brazilian restaurant in Jordan Landing. I can't remember it's name, but it's one of those places where they walk around with different meats and you get to sample all different kinds of yummy food.

Then of course, today was Easter! My parents came early this morning so we could go to church together and they hung out at my house all day. My sister Kelly came later in the day and our friends Megan and Dan came over too. We had a great Easter dinner together and then played the fun dice game Farkel (a.k.a 5,000 or 10,000).

As you can probably guess, with two birthdays and Easter, our calorie intake was WAY overboard this weekend. Adam and I are looking forward to our 9:15 Cycle and Core class in the morning, then I'm going to throw in a yoga class and add another cycle class or combo class at night. That'll be about enough to burn off one of my three bad food days.

Anyone want to go running with me on Tuesday morning to help burn off another one of those bad days?

Dreams do come true, even the bad ones...

2009-04-07T14:32:00.004-06:00

I (Melissa) started my career in the health industry when I was a freshman in college. I started out working at a natural foods and supplement store, then went to work for the American Cancer Society, then became manager of a different nutrition store, then became an Account Manager for the SilverSneakers Fitness Program, and finally became a manager/part-owner of a great family health club.

Everyone that knows me, knows that I have struggled with my body weight my entire life. Partly due to “fat” genes (the ones that give you a SUPER slow metabolism, low thyroid, and fun hormone imbalances that make you heavy) and partly due to poor lifestyle choices. Lets face it, even though I do have diagnosed medical conditions that make me heavier than the average girl, I also made poor lifestyle choices. I didn't have to eat that fatty food or those delicious sugary deserts, I chose to.

With that said, my biggest fear since I started working in the health industry 9 years ago, and my repeating nightmare (yes, I do have vivid, stupid dreams) was that one day I would be talking to someone in my health store, the gym I was working at, or a health fair/health event, and that person would say to me, “So if you know so much, and work in the health industry, why are you fat?” Lucky for me, most people have a filter; the kind of filter that allows you to THINK those things that may be hurtful to others if said aloud, but not actually SAY those things. I had never met anyone whose filter allowed this kind of comment to get through to me, until the other day.

The last time I was in my club, my sales guy was on lunch and a lovely senior lady came into the club wanting to check the place out and get prices. Being the friendly person that I am, I sat down with her, found out what she was looking for, determined our club would be a good fit for her, and then proceeded to show her around. She had never been in a gym before in her life, so I decided to take a little extra time with her and show her more specifically what each piece of equipment actually did and what muscles it worked. I got to the back machine, which works the lats, and I told her this was one of my favorites because it helps to get rid of the dreaded back fat. She then stopped, looked me up and down and said, “If you work here and understand this stuff, then why are you still fat?”

The bad dream I had been dreading and hoping to avoid for the last 9 years, finally came true. Someone actually ignored their filter and said it. I'm sure she was not the first person to think it, but come on lady, did you really need to SAY it? Who do you think you are, my brother? (since they would probably be the only one to say something like that to me, but at least they'd only be joking around)

What did I do you ask? Without even missing a beat, I smiled sweetly at her and said, “Well actually I just lost 40 pounds. You should have seen me a few months ago. And, I'm still losing about 2 pounds a week, so give it a few months and I won't be fat anymore.” She just looked at me, smiled back, and said, “Oh, wow. That's great.”

Surprisingly, after she left, I just laughed about it. I didn't run away and find a corner to cry in like I might have done 9 years ago, I let it roll off my back. I guess that shows I've grown up a bit. I used to want to lose weight just to look good. I would do anything, even sometimes unhealthy things, just to lose weight. Now I just want to lose weight to be healthier, and hopefully to be able to get pregnant. Sure, I want to look good, but that's not the most important reason. I want to be physically fit enough to go running with my dogs everyday, take hikes, bike rides, and have the energy to run around and play with the kids I hope I'll have some day. I want to avoid health problems related to be heavy, and live with my husband on this earth for at least 60 more years so I'm around to meet the generations of our family tree. If the side effect is that people I come across in my work don't think (or maybe even say) bad things about me anymore, well that's nice, but truth is, I really don't care anymore.

Food Poisoning & Emetophobia

2009-04-05T07:50:00.001-06:00

On Wednesday night I got the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had in my life. For normal people food poisoning is awful, but it's especially awful when you have a fun little problem called emetophobia. For those of you who are lucky enough to not be familiar with emetophobia, it is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety pertaining to vomiting (the same type of intense fear those with claustrophobia face).

I actually have not had emetophobia my entire life, I know I didn't have it as a child, but I was lucky enough to pick it up some time as an adult. I didn't even know it was a categorized thing that other people have too, until Adam looked it up on the Internet on Thursday while I was getting through the worst of my sickness. So I'm curious, do you or anyone else you know have this fun little phobia?

If so, here are some tips to help cope with emetophobia while sick (and just good practice if you're sick in general). These are the only things that allowed me to get through two days of horrible sickness.

Have a spouse (or other loving family member or friend) be there to comfort you
I know this seems silly, but if I didn't have Adam there telling me it would be okay I would have had a major panic attack (I almost did anyway). Panic attacks and vomiting don't mix well.
“Prep” your bathroom
Again seems silly, but it was essential for me. Adam was sweet enough to clean the bathroom for me at 3 in the morning, and especially the toilet, before I spent a good solid 24 hours in there. Then when I was too weak to get up and go back to bed, I had a pillow and blanket nearby where I could just lay on the floor and sleep. Plus, everything was cleared out of the way from around the toilet so I would have no obstacle courses.
If you have long hair, make sure it is pulled back and out of the way
The last thing you want is a terrible reminder of your fear getting in your hair.
A toothbrush and tooth paste
Get all reminders out of your mouth as soon as possible.
Water or other drink
Make sure you have something to drink when that round of fun is said and done. You want that taste out of your mouth, but more importantly, your body needs the fluids. As much as I didn't want to drink anything, Adam was good enough to remind me I had to drink to get better and that was incentive enough to sip liquids all day

Last thing, NEVER EAT CARL'S JR! I'm pretty sure that's what gave me the food poisoning. I guess that's what I get for cheating on my food plan and for eating fast food. I'm definitely cured from that!

Salads Please

2009-03-29T13:20:00.002-06:00

Adam and I have a new goal, to try as many different yummy, healthy, salads as possible.

I am still on a "diet," although really it's more of a lifestyle change. One of those changes is making sure I'm eating plenty of fruits and veggies every day. Both Adam and I feel a whole lot better and have more energy when we do this. My problem is that I don't have enough good recipes. I can always look them up in a cook book, but half the time the recipes I find in cook books are gross or have wierd ingredients that I can't find in a grocery store or don't know what they are.

I'm asking everyone out there in blogger world to please give me their recipes for tasty, healthy salads, that you've actually tried. Here's one we had today that was soooo good (I sort of made it up):

Sweet Spinach Surprise

Baby spinach
Diced celery
Diced gala apple
Sliced strawberries
fresh raspberries (don't cut these, just put them in whole)
chopped pecans
Poppy Seed Dressing (The best brand is Briannas Home Style. Its has all natural ingredients and the lowest sugar content of the regular ones on the shelf)

We put the dressing on our self, once its on our plate, not when the salad is in the bowl. I find we use a lot less dressing that way, which just lowers the calorie and sugar content. The fruit in the salad adds a lot of flavor, so it really doesn't take much dressing. Plus, too much dressing takes away from the natural flavor of the salad.

Try this salad and let me know what you think. And more importantly, give me a recipe for a good salad that you make!

Another Rolo Detour

2009-03-24T18:57:00.001-06:00

When Adam got home tonight I actually had dinner ready (this is fairly rare in our home lately). So Adam goes to get a bowl out of the dishwasher & Rolo is at his side (where you can pretty much always find her when Adam's home. Rolo is totally Adam's dog/shadow and Shady is my dog/shadow). Rolo was still wiggly & excited from Adam just getting home & still trying to shower him with her love (aka dog kisses). When Adam pulls his nice clean bowl out of the dishwasher to be able to eat my lovely prepared dinner, Rolo can no longer reach his hand to lick him. So what does she do you ask when she can't lick him, she licks his nice clean bowl instead.

Don't worry, Adam threw the “Rolo's Love” bowl in the sink and grabbed a new one. This one safely out of reach from Rolo's tounge.

The Rolo Detour

2009-03-22T12:56:00.002-06:00

Since we haven't been able to have kids yet, most of our cute and funny stories in our home end up involving our dogs, especially Rolo. This is one of my favorites of those stories.

A couple weeks ago Adam had already gone to work when I went out to leave and found that one of my tires had a screw in it & was completely flat. Since I depend on Adam to fix all things car related and he wasn't home, I was at a total loss of what to do with the car, so I called my wonderful and brilliant sister-in-law Julie. Shortly thereafter, Julie came over with her tire fixing stuff and was ready to fix my tire (it's wonderful having a sister-in-law that's a mechanic & way smarter than me!).

Julie has a three year old boy and a 5 month old girl, so I took the kids in the house while Julie worked her tire magic (I would be no help to her outside, that was for sure). Of course the first thing Rolo did when we came in the house was bring the 3 yr old a toy to play fetch. So Rolo & 3yr old nephew are happily playing fetch when baby niece starts to cry. Now this is Rolo's first experience being around a baby so I really wasn't sure what she would do. The first thing Rolo did was bring the baby one of her toys. Makes sense. Toys make Rolo happy, so her toy would surly make baby niece happy.

Well that didn't work, so then Rolo comes back and licks baby niece's leg, Voila! Baby niece stops crying. Then anytime baby niece would start to fuss Rolo would come over, put her head on baby niece's lap (while baby niece poked Rolo in the eye & examined her) & if baby niece didn't stop fussing, Rolo would lick her and all would be better.

The best part was towards the end when Julie was finishing up her tire magic. Nephew sat down with a sigh and said, “Whew. I'm tired. I'm done now.” That's great, my dog can tire out a three year old. I'll definitely have to keep her around for when I have kids!

The Problems of Eating Healthy & Exercising

2009-03-20T14:16:00.003-06:00

For those of you who know me and Adam very well, you know we can be pretty cheap, or what's the politically correct term, frugal. Especially when it comes to clothes. In 2008, between both of us, we spent a grand total of $250 on shoes and clothes. Not per person, total. And it's only that high because I had to buy a new business suit, and those things aren't cheap!

So, to my point, over the last three months I've managed to lose a grand total of 39 pounds. That's great right, well yes and no. Great because I really needed to lose weight and be healthier, not so great because that means that none of my pants fit me anymore. This brings me to the Problems with eating healthy and exercising:

I can now put my pants on and take them off without undoing them at all, and if I don't wear a belt, they fall down completely. Now I need to go buy new clothes. I'm still hoping to lose more weight in the next few months, so I especially don't want to buy more clothes just to have them no longer fit in three months and have to do it all over again.
I've started walking, running, exercising more, which means my workout shoes are now worn out and I need new ones. Good quality running shoes cost like $70! Yeah right!
Healthy food is expensive, thus our grocery budget has gone up! Bad news for cheap people.
Since I've been eating lower calorie foods, so has Adam, meaning HE'S losing weight without meaning to. Adam really does not need to lose any weight. So quit it, would you Adam! :)
Once you start losing weight, everyone wants to know how much you've lost and how much more you have to go. Well, I'm sorry people, but it's embarassing to think how much weight I really needed to lose in the first place. So after 40 pounds, I'm not telling!
All this exercise has helped me realize something, I LOVE EXERCISE! I know, crazy, but I absolutely love to work out, and even though I work at a gym, I'm so dang busy I don't get to work out nearly enough. So now it's like I have this massive craving and I can't fulfill it, which is making me a little nutty.

So what's the moral of the story you ask? Well, if you're thinking about eating healthier and exercising, be prepared to spend a lot of money and be prepared to be frustrated with sometimes embarassing questions and answers, and with not being able to fulfill your cravings (whether those be food or otherwise). One last thing, dang you men who lose weight without even trying! :)

My First Detour

2009-03-19T15:16:00.000-06:00

I've finally decided to join the blogging fun. For quite some time I refused to have a blog of my own due to lack of free time, but yesterday I had a good conversation with my friend Hilary that finally made up my mind that blogging was a worthy detour. Hil had a great point. She said that some people commented on how in the world someone could find the time to update a blog on a regular basis. Hil's answer was simple, but totally logical. Taking five minutes of her day to write a blog actually saves her time. She used to spend hours each month writing emails to friends and family updating them on what was new with her and her family. Add that to the multiple phone calls to repeat the same story, and you get a lot of time. Exchange all of this for a blog, and now she only takes a few minutes each day and she has a lot more time on her hands as well as memories preserved that would likely have been forgotten by the time she got around to emailing or calling friends and family.

Hilary has two adorable little girls, one of which is a toddler that does and says the most hilarious things, so she has plenty of funny and memorable stories to write. Even though I don't have children yet, I still have interesting things happen that if nothing else, I'd like to remember. I used to be a regular journal keeper, but that simply doesn't happen anymore, so this blog will hopefully serve two purposes. Keeping my friends and family up-to-date on the happenings in the Dalton family life, and keeping my memories preserved. So, thank you Hilary for showing me the light!

Now, you may wonder why I chose “Dalton Detour” as the title of my blog. Hopefully my little thought at the top helps clear that up some, but I thought I'd expound a bit on that. Most kids have ideas for what their life will be “when they grow up.” That idea changes as we get older, but we all have some kind of plan for the way we want our life to go. When I think back to where I thought I would be by this time in my life, I realize I've definitely had a lot of detours, which have ultimately put me on a different road, but a good one. Even if you asked me 18 months ago where I'd be today, I definitely would not have said on this road, and I can guarantee you, Adam didn't think he'd be here either.

When we got married a little over three years ago we lived in a condo in Bluffdale. About two weeks after we got married I asked Adam if we could get a dog; he said no. Three weeks later was Adam's birthday, and guess what he got for his birthday, our dog Shady! (Can you tell I don't listen to “no” very well). Then seven months later I suggested to Adam that we should look at selling our condo and buying a house. He said no, and a month later we were house hunting, and two months later we moved into our house in West Jordan. What can I say, I'm a very persuasive person. :) Sure there were plenty of times since then that Adam's persuaded me away from my original thoughts, but thankfully he's a really laid back person so we get along great.

The end of 2007 we decided that we should get a friend for Shady to play with, so we got her our playful puppy Rolo (thank you Jarod & Debbie). We figured that if we could raise a puppy and keep her alive as well as Shady, then maybe we might be able to handle a child. All I can say is, wow, who knew a puppy was so much work! There were definitely tears of frustration (at least on my part) and tears of laughter. Rolo is one of the best things that ever happened to us. She is probably the funniest dog I've ever met, and even though she's kind of a brat to Shady sometimes (who is probably one of the sweetest dogs in the world), Rolo and Shady are great friends and they are one of the great joys in our lives.

In 2008, Adam and I started working together for Family Total Health Club. In the beginning of our marriage, I never would have saw myself working with Adam. But now, I can't imagine not working with him. Adam may have a different opinion, but I absolutely love working with my husband. Sure there are challenges, but what job doesn't have challenges? I'm a work-a-holic by nature anyway (get that from my dad), so at least now when I work 90 hours a week, I still get to see my husband. Now if only I could figure out a way to get Shady and Rolo to be able to work with us. Hmmm, I'll have to think about that one.