DADDY is Home!

Wow I am SOOOOO behind on blogging, (certain people have complained :) So time to Update!!! It has been a busy few months! As always the days and months seem to fly by. But the most exciting thing that happened in a few months was that Ryan came home from his deployment!! It was a long 4 months but there is nothing better then seeing your hubby walk off a plane after 4 months. I am so proud of what my husband does and to be his wife. I am also very grateful our little girl will grow up knowing the importance of patriotism.

Ryan got home super late the night he came home Embree was already in bed so we decided he would just see her when she woke up. When she woke up he went in her room to get her and she was so excited it was as if he had never left and she was so happy to have her daddy back. They played all morning and they are the best of friends. I love the husband and dad that Ryan is. Embree and I are extremely lucky to have him. He takes such good care of us and makes us so happy and always tries to make things fun.

The week after he got home we went to Victoria for a few days, did the tourist thing and visited with some families from some areas Ryan served in. It was a lot of fun and nice to spend some time together as a family and get away for a few days.

January & February!

Ryan on one of his missions

Me and Embree

Embree climbing all over everything and playing

Ryan deployed over two months ago! YAY! Tonight is one of those nights I am in a negative mood and feel like he will never come home and that he has been gone forever. But I can't believe two months have come and gone. January was my 24th birthday! One year older and wiser too! I've been working two days a week to keep busy and hanging out with family and friends like CRAZY! February 3rd my little brother Derek got home from his mission, and other than that I don't know where the time has gone! Ryan has been pretty busy flying lots and working hard with online classes. He makes me so proud and I really feel lucky to have such a hard worker for a husband. Embree is SO ridiculously busy!! She is into everything and all over the place. Some of her favorite things are eating paper, trying to suck on the toilet seat, trying to get into any and all trash cans, grabbing peoples faces and hair, yelling, babbling, being tickled, climbing stairs, crawlng all over like she owns the place, and eating anything she can get her little hands on. She keeps me really busy and is so funny. So here is hoping the next two months FLY by. I am so ready to have my husband back!

2010

It feels like we have hit the point where life will never slow down, a lot happened in 2010, and we are looking forward to 2011! January we moved to Oklahoma, Ryan did his training and I worked at a staffing agency as the receptionist and got bigger and bigger the farther along my pregnancy got. We hated it because Altus is the smallest town I have ever lived in. But we spent a lot of quality time together and did a lot of things we wouldnt have done if we lived somewhere cool. In May we came back to Utah for a few weeks then moved to Washington! We moved in got unpacked and settled and almost 2 months latter we had Embree, adjusted to having a baby. we are loving how much she changes everyday and having her in our family! Three weeks after we had Embree Ryan started flying and was gone a lot. We felt like things were calming down a little then we had to get Ryan ready for deployment and before we knew it he left for deployment. He has been gone a week and a half and I miss him like crazy. But staying busy does make the days fly by. So it was a very busy year but we are looking forward to all the changes 2011 has in store for us.

Ryan

Well Ryan will be leaving in and around 20 days. I have gotten used to him being gone a lot lately but he always comes back after two weeks. I have to be honest, I am really not looking forward to him being gone for 4 months. I love him to pieces, he is my best friend and he takes such good care of me and Embree. I dread the thought of him missing out on how Embree will grow and develop in that time. I really feel like he is the most amazing wonderful husband and father in the entire world, at least I know that for me and Embree he is perfect. I am so grateful that he is willing to serve our country, I am SO proud of him. I am grateful that he works hard, that he is still working hard at going to school, and that he still gives so much time to Embree and me everyday. I know this makes me sound like a brat, but he never tells me no, and I'm not a brat just very well taken care of. He really is my better half, he completes me and really balances me out. I can be a little crazy sometimes and he is the only one that can bring me back down to earth. I am gonna miss him like crazy but I am grateful for wonderful friends and family that completely understand me and the situation and are there with out me asking. So wether I like it or not he is leaving but I am so lucky that he is mine!!!

Busy busy

This post is kind of all oEmbree is now 4 months old, we have been super busy running around like crazy and it still hasn't stopped! We went to Utah in October for Jeff and Tara's wedding, it was a beautiful day. The sealer gave some great advice and counsel and we are so so happy for them. They make such a great couple. When we were in Utah Ryan found out he was leaving on another mission the day after we would get home so he told me to just stay in utah and Fly home. I stayed for two weeks and he got home two days after I did. Embree did so good on her first plane ride and only cried during the landing but only for a few minutes. It was so good to get to spend time with family and friends. Since we got home things havent settled down. Our car was in the shop while we were gone because we got hit by a drunk driver before we left on our trip. After we got it back we decided we should just get rid of the stupid car because its just been bad luck and we have gotten in one too many accidents in the 3 years we have had it. So we got a 2009 black Subaru legacy, I love it and it is so much nicer and safer then the mazda was. We have been looking for places to live for when Ryan gets back from his deployment, trying to get the house organized to pack up once again, getting ready for Thanksgiving, getting Ryan ready for his deployment, all while trying to manage the day to day craziness. We are loving life though and trying to not got nuts while life changes once again. We have been sleep training Embree which she is doing really well with, we have done it for 4 nights and she is down to only waking up twice to eat. She is rolling over like a pro, she loves to prop herself up with her arms, she grabs and puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Her personality comes out more and more everyday and we are enjoying her and love that she is such a good baby. While we were in Utah Ryan blessed her and gave a beautiful blessing. We also got her little ears pierced, and they look so cute! Ryan is almost done with another semester, he makes me so proud and I am so lucky to have such a dedicated hard worker as my husband. We are excited to take on everything the next few months and I will be SO happy when Ryan's deployment is done but it will make it much easier being in Utah surrounded by family and friends!

2 months

Well our little girl will be two months old tomorrow, I know everyone says it, but I can't believe its been two months. I know before I know it she'll be off to school then a teenager then married then having her own kids. Thats the fun part of life I guess, it goes by so fast. She is such a good little girl and we just can't get enough of her, she is cooing and oohing and trying so hard to be understood. She laughs, it sounds more like she's coughing over and over but she smiles really big when she does it. We think that one day she will be good at squirting liquid out of her nose because when she spits up (which is almost after everytime she eats) spit up comes out of her nose, kind of nasty. She can slide around the floor so we think she'll be crawling early. She loves skyping Daddy when he's on the road, she will push off of me until her face is right by the computer screen and she just smiles and makes lots of noise. She is growing so much, she's almost two feet tall! She is so much fun and we love having her in our life, we really do feel so so lucky. Ryan has been flying a lot, he is on a 19 day mission right now, which is never fun but it's life. We are lucky to have a good job. I have been keeping busy at home and doing projects here and there. I also have made a lot of friends in our new ward which makes it easier and keeps me busy with play dates and lunch dates. Julie and Dallas moved up two weeks ago and we are enjoying having them close. Ryan is pounding away at school, I am so grateful that he has such drive and hits his goals so hard. Life continues on though and we are enjoying every minute of the craziness and all we are learning along the way. I will post pictures soon, Ryan has the camera so it will have to wait til he gets back, but there are some to come!

Embree's birth story

Read at your own risk...anyone that truly knows me knows I tend to give too much information sometimes and am not modest in the least bit when it comes to sparing the details, you have been warned....

Our sweet baby girl has been here for almost six weeks now. She is an absolute doll and has been the easiest baby. She was born July 23, 2010 at 8:21 am and weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz. 21 inches long. She was considered large but is healthy and very happy which is more than we could ask for.

So my Mom had come into town the day before my due date which was July 19th. I felt great pretty much my entire pregnancy no braxton hicks no contractions no pain, just a little discomfort and morning sickness all day the first few weeks. So as my due date came and went I was amazed I was experiencing no signs of labor at all.

Three weeks prior to my due date Embree had dropped and was completely in position I was 90% effaced and between one and two centimeters dialated. I had my membranes stripped twice and it didnt make me have contractions at all. The entire time I was convinced that she would come only when she was ready, but it didnt stop me from trying to hurry it along. Also because I wasnt terribly uncomfortable or in pain I was ok with waiting. The hard part was that it was now Wednesday and my Mom was leaving Saturday and nothing was happening. So the entire week before I was going on several walks a day and having sex several times a day, bouncing on the excercise ball, and praying she'd come while Grandma was in town.

So Wednesday night Ryan and I went to the store and got some caster oil. I swore I wouldnt do it because I absolutely hate pooping but I figured it was better to do at home then in the hospital on the table. So I downed it with some rootbeer just like Grandma Salas said to do. About ten thirty that night we got into bed and by eleven I was on the toilet. It was not pretty or fun at all...After an hour I was pretty sure I was done so I got back into bed and shortly after felt like I should try going again and as I sat there with nothing coming out realized I was probably having contractions. So I got back into bed and for the next two hours I laid there timing them and at two decided to tell Ryan I was in labor but to sleep still cuz I was going to take a shower. From the time I started timing them they were 5 minutes apart and lasting 1-2 minutes. Once I got out of the shower I laid down next to Ryan and he started timing them, they were much worse at this point. Now I am a bit obsessed with always being put together so I had made sure my toes were freshly manicured, I had gotten a brazillian a week before, I shaved my legs in the shower, put lotion on and made sure I looked decent even though I was in a ton of pain.

So 3am hit and Ryan decided I needed to wake my Mom up and that we needed to get to the hospital. We got there and checked in at 3:30am, they came and checked me almost right away, I was all the way thinned out and I was at a 6 which made me very happy. Also I had lost my plug at home right before we left. So they got me into my room the dr came in and popped my water then the nurse came in to do my lab work so they could get me my epidural. About a half hour later they came in to my epidural and at this point I was so delirious with pain I could hardly sit still enough to get the epidural and I was so out of it that I couldnt focus. The doctor yelled at me to hold still which made Ryan mad but it was what I needed to snap out of the state I was in. As soon as the epidural was in I felt so much better. The pain from the needle was nothing in comparison to the pain of the contractions so it really didnt bother me.

I relaxed for a little bit and I think it helped Ryan because I wasnt in any pain at all anymore. He told me seeing me in as much pain as I was in was really hard for him. I guess while I was having contractions before the epidural I just kept saying over and over "this is getting really old" So around six they came in to have me start practice pushing. I was glad that my nurse noticed that I had gotten a brazillian that my legs were shaved and that my toes were freshly painted. I am glad someone appreciated it :) So the pushing started and yes I had the mirror so I could see what was going on. Ryan was an awesome coach and was a great support. The only part that was hard was as I was pushing looking at my Mom seeing her crying because it would make me cry and I was trying to focus on getting Embree out instead of thinking about how I was about to be a Mom.

8:21 she was out and in my arms. My first thought was that I couldnt believe she had been in me. She looked so big and had the most adorable cry. They left her on me for a while then took her to check her and clean her. We were so excited she was FINALLY here and healthy. Then the fun started for me. I had three tares all third degree almost fourth degree. Fourth degree tares are the worst. So it took them an hour to sew me back up which wasnt too bad because the nurse left my epidural on until after they sewed me up. Now the gross details..I tore my labia, butt hole and Urethra and they had to put my Urethra back and sew it into place...nice visual right? So that was the excitement or worst part of the delivery. We had to stay in the hospital two nights which I just wanted to go home after a few hours.

But since day one Embree has held her head up on her own, been very alert, she latched on right away the first time and has had zero problems breastfeeding, she sleeps so well especially at night, when she does wake up she just grunts really loud til I wake up, she already tries to crawl and is so easy. We are so grateful to have her in our family and that she is so good. We joke that she must know how important our sleep is to us at night because she goes to bed for the night at 9 or 10 and doesnt wake up until between 2am and 5am then wakes up at 6am or 7am then wakes up again at 10am. She looks more like her daddy then me but I am totally ok with that. She already smiles all the time and tries to laugh, it sounds more like a cough but we know what shes trying to do. We are loving every minute with her and have loved watching her change and grow the last month and a half. We are very very lucky.