So, the last post was in February of 2013 and Kayla and I though that we should try to catch up on what is going on in out lives.  Much has changed since then.  We now since welcomed a new child into the world, so our family is now up to 4.  Hazel Madison Walsh was born mid November of 2014 and topped the scale at 5 lbs and 15 ounces.  She was tiny!  Hazel was welcomed by her big sister who wore scrubs to the hospital and had her doctor kit.

Abby played doctor on Hazel within minutes of meeting her.

Sisters:)

We are so blessed.  I have finished 2 and 1/2 years of pharmacy school and miraculously survived having a baby mid-semester, working 9-15 hours a week, and being a  husband and father of one.  It's been challenging, but Kayla and I couldn't be more blessed.  Life is pretty great.  Christmas was a pretty amazing experience.  Kayla shared the following excerpt on Facebook and I couldn't say it any better, so here it is:

Needless to say, Christmas was great.  It was the first Christmas that Kayla and I didn't travel.  We stayed at our home here in Colorado.  It was nice to stay home.  Abigail loved it! More Christmas photos are soon too come.  

Flashback to JUNE

Oh my goodness, JUNE! That was almost a year ago!

A lot happened in June, including my beautiful daughter's birth, but I'll share everything chronologically.

My mom threw a wonderful baby shower in Kanab for me.  Our baby girl was definitely spoiled that day...with presents as well as all the wonderful treats and refreshments I ate that day.

 Beautiful decorations!

 My mom and I in front of some presents/decorations.

I was so excited Ashley was able to come with her beautiful daughter Addisyn...don't be fooled by the look on my face, the picture was taken at an inopportune moment.

Mykel and I also took a trip to Las Vegas for my friend and old roommates wedding. My good friend Nicole also carpooled with us.  We had a great time. It was so great to get together with my roommates from my freshmen year.  I was really apprehensive about taking the trip because it was only 4 weeks from my due date and I was super paranoid about going in to labor early and having our baby in Las Vegas and not in Cedar City where family is close.  It took me a long time to talk myself into going and that it would all be ok!  Haha, luckily Abby didn't come for another two weeks.

I didn't think my belly got that big, but woah! (also my chubby face!)

The next big thing, well GIGANTIC thing, that happened was the birth of our amazing and beautiful daughter! I'll just share a short version of her birth, without all the gross hospital stuff that goes along with it.  By mid-June I was done with school and work, but Mykel was still working mornings so we would go for a walk every day when he got home.  Part of it was so I would get some exercise, and part was in hopes of getting our baby here sooner than expected. I'd heard that walking can help induce labor, but I'd also heard that it was an old wives tale and wasn't true, but I had hopes! As we'd go walking I'd start to feel some contractions tightening on my belly and when we got home I'd be exhausted, yet every day we'd go a little farther on our walk.  We were walking about 2 miles a day, and for a pregnant woman who never exercises that's a LOT.  Anyway walking worked! Well who really knows, I actually just think of it as a huge blessing from Heavenly Father.  He knew that Mykel and I were super stressed out about having a baby and then having to pack up and move to a new state shortly after (especially if she would have been overdue), so He answered our prayers and gave us some more time to adjust to a newborn before shipping off.

Anyway, on June 26th, Mykel and I went for our routine walk and walked for what seemed like forever! We also went to my friend Jessica's so we could watch Gilmore Girls and finish the 7th season (love that show!). While we were at Jessica's (around 4:30) I felt a little leak and thought that maybe I had peed my pants a tiny bit (what? it hapens to prego ladies!) so I brushed it off, but a little bit later I felt a little more wet.  I started to think that my water broke and was a little antsy about it, BUT I wanted to finish the episode we were watching haha.  I secretly said to Mykel that I thought my water broke and he got really concerned and wanted to leave, but I told him my contractions were hardly noticeable and that we could stay a little longer.  We had plans for the Jackson's to come over to our house for dinner and after we left Jessica's I text her and told her we'd have to reschedule because I was pretty sure my water broke!

I knew that I wouldn't be able to eat after being admitted to the hospital so we stopped at home to grab our hospital bags and then ran through the Wendy's drive through so I wouldn't starve for who knows how many hours of labor!  We finally got to the hospital around 6:30 p.m. and called our parents to let them know what was going on.

 Hospital Waiting

My contractions weren't too bad for a few hours, but around 1:00 I decided to get an epidural, and things were much nicer.  The nurse told me to try to sleep and get some rest, so I tried, but it seemed like every time I'd doze off they'd come in and make me rotate to the other side.  My blood pressure decided to drop (which is pretty common with an epidural I guess) which messed with the baby's heartbeat so around 4 a.m. I had to be put on oxygen and my epidural meds were adjusted.

At 6:00 am on June 27th when the nurses changed shifts my body was ready to have a baby! My mom was called and the doctor was called and by 6:30 I was starting to push.  At 6:59 our beautiful Abigail was born and she weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. She was (and still is) amazing. I was in shock a little bit, I couldn't believe I had just given birth and it was pretty easy (Thank you epidural!!) was officially a mom, and Mykel was officially a dad!  I couldn't stop staring at her the rest of the day and was so confused about how to even be a mom, but I figured it out and I love it!

 This is the only picture we have as a family at the hospital.

I didn't even think about it!

 She's finally here!

family that visited us at the hospital

My beautiful baby girl

Can't get enough of her!

(I didn't change her diaper until we got home, Mykel was on top of that job!)

Ready to go home!

The rest of these pictures are ones that were taken during the last few days of June.

Our first few days with our baby girl.

Spending time with Daddy

 First Bath

June was a good month.  It was amazing to meet our precious Abigail. 

She is such a sweet spirit and brings so much joy with her.

Hope you enjoyed our flashback to June!

5 months already? No way...?

Today my little girl is 5 months old.

I can't believe how fast time flies! I know it's not something more significant like a 6 month mark or anything, but I'm still flabbergasted by the fact that 5 months ago today my little sweetheart was born.  I can still remember that day in the hospital hearing that you could see hair and her head was almost out. I remember them laying her on my stomach and rubbing her with towels so ferociously that I thought they'd rub her apart (like that's possible) and finally getting to see her face in real life instead of those creepy 3D ultrasound pictures. It's like it was yesterday!  I really need to write it all down before it turns into a "when was that? what happened?" memory.

Abby is growing so fast! I still have a hard time remembering that she was so small when we cuddled that her whole body fit between my shoulder and mid-stomach.  Now her still little body goes over my shoulders and her feet hit my hips.

Weight: 

16lbs 3oz 

(according to Wii fit who thinks Abby is a cat)

Woah she's chunky! 

Sleeping:

 10-11 1/2 hours at night

Oh boy I'm lucky!

Naps: 

2-3 naps per day and usually 1 1/2-2 1/2 hours at a time 

(depending on how many naps she's had that day)

Eating:

All sorts of food! 

We started with rice cereal and have added applesauce, bananas, pureed mushrooms, pureed brussels sprouts, and she's sucked on pineapple and cantaloupe

She also enjoys eating paper, water bottles, and spoons (as seen below)

Teeth:

 Not yet

She slobbers and slobbers AND SLOBBERS but we can't feel any yet

Activities:

  Abby has so many activities!
She smiles a lot (and by smiling I mean mouth wide open).  
She grabs her feet and pulls them toward her mouth.
She scrunches up and rolls from her back to her side. 
She LOVES looking at books and turning the pages.
She sits up on her own and hardly ever topples over anymore!
She reaches for her toys while she sits up and pulls them closer, then to her mouth.
She grabs her toys then shakes them violently.
She laughs at her mom and dad when they make funny noises.
She loves toys that make noise or can be shoved in her mouth.
She's not rolling over yet, but can tollerate tummy time a whole lot more than she used to! 
She can suck her knees and feet up under her belly and hold her head up high during tummy time.
She falls asleep on her own during naps (sometimes after crying for a couple minutes).
She stands really well with the help of someones hands.
She takes steps when someone holds her hands!

Talking: 

She makes all sorts of noises! She squeals, grunts, coos, giggles, spits/gurgles, and babbles.
She even says mama when she's really angry and crying (or at least it sounds like it!)

I'm so excited my little girl is growing and learning!  She's so big and there's just more and more to come...although I do wish it would slow down just a little bit.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks:

Her onesie says "My Dad's a Geek!" She knows it and she loves it!

Sitting up on her own, pulling grass. And yes, she's still in her pjs

 

"Girl Pa-lease"

 

I love my family!

HAPPY 5 MONTHS ABIGAIL!! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Flashback to May

So here's my flashback to May in pictures!  

During the month of May I was finishing up my last semester and working at the SUU Post Office.  My last semester was pretty laid back since I had already finished my student teaching.  I was working on a few online classes as well as taking a photography class (if I added those pictures, we'd all be in trouble).

Here's the majority of my co-workers (and some spouses) from the post office at our end of the year party.

Mykel and I also took our last camping trip.  I was 7 months prego and it was SO uncomfortable!  It probably wouldn't have been as bad if the wind wasn't terrible and shaking the tent all night.  The wind would wake me up and I wouldn't be able to get comfortable enough to fall asleep for a while, then cue the wind again!  Other than having a terrible night sleeping I had a great time with my husband, eating tinfoil dinners and smores :)  We camped at Quail Lake (or Quail Creek) and it was BEA-U-TIFUL!  The next time we go camping we'll have a baby with us! Definitely a change!

BIG event that happened in May and it was GRADUATION!! It's still hard to believe that I'm done with school and moving on with my life.  I've been in school forever..most of my life and now I'm done.  Maybe one day I'll have the desire to go back to school and get my masters, but for now I'm done.  That's it..it's over.  I'm a mommy with an education degree (that one day I'm sure I'll use, but for now I LOVE being a mommy).  Being a college graduate is a big accomplishment and I'm glad I was able to do it! I'm proud of myself, but I owe it to more than just myself.  I had amazing people who helped me to do this.

My husband :) He's helped me stay focused when I need it most.  He stuck around for a whole year and waited for me to finish school.  I'm so grateful for his willingness to push grad school back so I could finish school, without having to jump through hoops or being apart from him.  He's helped me with ideas and motivated me when procrastination was getting the best of me!

My Mom!  She has encouraged me and supported me all of my life and helped me in so many ways during school.  She's helped financially and emotionally. She is an inspiration to me. She's an amazing mom!

Jessica & Andrea* I took this picture from Jessica's facebook and she had the caption "I wouldn't have made it without these 2 amazing ladies!!" and I'm going to have to agree with that statement.  These two have been in the majority of my classes and we've created a great friendship!  We survived so many things together including the block, a week in Price, and student teaching! We've all become mothers within a couple years of each other and they are such great examples to me.

I also received the fantastic graduation gift of my camera!  I knew I was getting one because I asked for an upgrade so I could document our lives especially as we gained a new addition to the family!

Baby Shower!

Another big event in May!

My amazing friends Jessica and Whitney threw a baby shower for me in Cedar City.  It was casual, low key, no silly games, but delicious food! I wish I had gotten a picture of the smorgasbord of food they put together, it was beautiful!

 

Jessica & Whitney~my two fantastic hostesses 

 The guests! Thank you all for coming and making it so fun!

I was going through these pictures and saw how many odd faces I made so I thought I'd take a moment to make fun of myself! You have to have a sense of humor when you get caught looking so weird! (I also want to say that these faces are in no way associated with the gifts I received)

Gift pictures below:

One more exciting thing from May was our trip to CO to look for our future apartment! It was a long drive for a pregnant woman! We had to stop a few times just so I could walk around and get my blood flowing, and as you can see from the picture, my feet were GIGANTIC! I dealt with swollen feet for a while, but during the drive it was ridiculous!

So this last picture is obviously not from May, but I'm working on this post while Abby naps and I just had to take a picture of her.  I love how she sleeps with her arms straight out or with them tucked behind her head.  She is is adorable and peaceful.  I just love her :)

How Do I Even Begin??

My new project is to pick all the pictures off of my camera by month and decide which ones to post on this blog.  Which stories to tell and what I just want to show off.
THIS IS SO HARD!
I'm going through my pictures and it starts off pretty easy, and then my sweet little Abigail is born and BAM! Pictures galore!  How do I choose which ones are the ones to share!  I have so many pictures!  I'm going through them and I LOVE all of them, but I shouldn't put them all on the blog...right??  I mean, I'd be a crazy person to put up so many pictures and when I think about it, I'm her mom so I'm probably the only person who appreciates every single picture...well maybe her dad, and grandparents appreciate them too. 
What to do? What to do? 

I'll keep sorting is what I'll do!

Wish me LUCK!

The Past Couple Days

For my first real blog post I wanted to focus on my amazing family that keeps me busy while here in Colorado, and the little things we've been doing.  Ok, I guess it's just the past couple of days I want to focus on.

Mykel is really busy with pharmacy school and it demands a lot of him, but I love that he comes home and spends as much time as possible with Abigail.  He loves her so much and you can see it so well in the way they are together.  Abby is just starting to laugh and he can make her laugh more than I can.  I love him so much and I especially love how much he loves his daughter.

(click on pictures to see them larger)

I love these two so much!


 Since Abby is now four months old (with a few days added on) we fed her some rice cereal today. We waited until Mykel could be home to help, since he's gone so much I want to include him as much as possible in the things I can control (unlike Abby rolling over, which still isn't consistent).  
Abby was getting cranky because she was SO hungry and we were taking so long.  She's used to getting food shortly after she cries for it...a lesson of patience is in her future haha.  

As soon as she realized the spoon would give her food she was loving it! Her little tongue kept pushing most of it out, but that's how all babies eat right? It was so cute and so fun to give her something new.
I love that she's growing and learning new things (at the same time I don't want her to grow up).

Here are some pictures of tonight's adventure.

(I am definitely a camera mom)

The many faces of a hungry Abigail

As I was putting these pictures together I realized there are so many pictures on my camera and so many memories that are just sitting there. (I automatically thought of that commercial of the pictures on a memory card talking to each other about whether or not they'll ever get used or if they'll sit there forever)  I kept thinking of how much I want to share those memories, so be ready for a picture overloaded blog and a few stories.  I think I'll take the pictures off my camera by month, and hopefully I do it quick enough that I don't forget the stories behind them!

Until Next Time :)