The Newly Mormon Idalifornian: April 2013

I have to give a talk in church this Sunday. As usual, I'm super nervous. And again, as usual, I'm procrastinating writing my talk. Instead of getting started on it, I'm going to blog. I meant to write this post yesterday, so pretend today is the 24th, alright?

One year ago today, Sterling and I found out that our lives were about to change forever. That's right, April 24th, 2012 was the day we found out I was pregnant. I don't think I've ever told the story of how we found out I was expecting, so here we go!

We weren't planning on trying for a baby for another year, once I graduated. BUT, my birth control was making me sick all the time (I have problems with all hormonal BC), so we decided that I'd go off of it and instead try tracking my cycle, and figured if I did end up getting pregnant, it would be fine since Sterling was about to graduate and already had a good job lined up, so we could handle it. Well,good thing, because that cycle-tracking didn't work so well. Just a mere few days after going off the pill, I was pregnant. I ovulated way earlier than expected (based on an average cycle), and I knew it when I did, so I told Sterling I just ovulated and so we probably made a baby earlier. That whole last part was probably TMI :)

For a couple of weeks after that, I had a bunch of little weird symptoms and was googling everything, and they were all possible symptoms of early pregnancy. I knew I was pregnant, but Sterling thought I was just being over-dramatic. He didn't believe me. HA, showed him.

One night I had this really weird dream where I kept taking pregnancy tests and they all were negative. I woke up feeling sad and disappointed, which was weird because I didn't think I wanted to be pregnant yet. So anyway, when I woke up, I knew I just had to take a pregnancy test....so I told Sterling I was running to Walmart and I'd be right back. It wasn't even 6am yet.

Came home from Walmart, took the test, and it was positive immediately. I called Sterling in and showed him, and he was surprisingly calm (I wasn't expecting that, since we weren't planning on a baby for another year!). I raced back to Walmart to get another test to be sure. I also picked up some cereal and things for breakfast. Got home, realized I didn't even have my bags. Yep, I walked out of Walmart empty-handed after paying for my groceries. I was THAT hyped up. So back to Walmart I went, and as I walked back to the cashier to ask if she had my bags, she just held them up once she saw me coming. ANYway, got back home, 3 tests later and I was still pregnant!

That's about it for the story. We're just so thankful we have this sweet little girl. A little while back, Sterling told me he was glad we didn't end up waiting another year or so to have her. He is so very right. I can't imagine life without her and I think she came exactly when she was meant to!

I'm actually doing this update a day early because, well, I have time to. Who knows if I'll get a chance tomorrow! Anyway, my baby is 3 months old! Gosh. Quit growing, little girl.

Let's see, where to start with updates. Well, we moved into our house! We've been here for about 3 weeks now. We love being homeowners! It's a lot of work though, too. The first week+ that we lived here, Suzy (Sterling's momma) and I spent tearing down wallpaper in our kitchen, dining room, and hallway (P.S. I DESPISE wallpaper now.) that was held on by pounds of glue and took forever to get off. Then we primed and painted. Then I refinished my countertops in the kitchen, which I am SO proud of, by the way. I'm not exactly a great DIY-er, but the counters look pretty dang good...especially compared to the fact that they were olive green before.

SO our kitchen and dining room are done now, with the exception of some finishing touches in the decor area. We bought new carpet, but it's taking forever and a day to get here, so it's not scheduled to be installed until the 15th. Ugh. But I'm beyond excited for it, seeing as our current carpet is red/orange/green/yellow shag. Delicious. Suzy and I have more projects to take on, still. We need to paint the master bedroom, family room, and guest bathroom. The guest bathroom is wallpapered, so that will be another nightmare. But I'll be happy when it no longer screams 'Pepto Bismol puke'. Heh :) So anyway, all is good in the house area!

We are flying to California this weekend for a quick trip to see my family. I'm being really optimistic about how Brynleigh is going to handle the airplane, so please pray all goes well there and I'm not in for a serious disappointment. Any tips for flying with a baby are greatly appreciated. My plan is to have a bottle in her mouth the entire flight and hoping she'll love to eat as much as she usually does.

And now for the Brynleigh 3 month update! We took her to be weighed yesterday, she's 10.23 lbs. That's only in the 10th percentile, which worries me, but the nurse seemed to think it was fine. She looks a lot chunkier lately though! She's a genius baby, too. She talks constantly and is such a happy baby. If you just leave her to play by herself, she'll sit there chatting away with her toys (Simba, the lion on her bouncer, is her favorite). She's getting really good at grasping, sometimes she can even put her binky back in her own mouth if it falls out. She also loves getting a tight grip on a handful of Mom's hair. She smiles a ton if you talk to her. She can roll to her side from her back, but just can't get over that arm yet to roll all the way over. She's still not a huge fan of tummy time, though she tolerates it a little longer if she does it on her Bobby. She's really good at holding her head up, if you carry her around in your arms, she's turning her head around looking at everything.

She wears 0-3 month still and probably will for awhile longer. She loves sitting up, if you hold her lying in your arms, she's always trying to lean forward so she's upright. She loves her hands and is chewing on them constantly, sometimes both at the same time. She's pretty much mainly formula fed now, much to my dismay. I just don't have enough milk for her, so she gets really frustrated and won't stay latched on. So I try to nurse throughout the day, but the only time she really stays on anymore is when she wakes up in the early morning and I'll bring her in bed with me and she'll nurse until she falls back asleep. Speaking of sleeping, she now sleeps in her port-a-crib. She falls asleep for good between 9-10:30, and she'll sleep until about 4-5am, which is when I bring her in bed with me and she stays there until we wake up around 7am when Sterling goes to work. She still has acid reflux, and we just switched her to better medicine for that. Other than that, she's been a super healthy baby. She's never even had diaper rash!

That's about all I can think of. Here are some pictures, first of the before and after of our kitchen/dining room, then a bunch of my cute girl! Actually, they aren't in order. Whoops!