Update

I haven't blogged consistently for so long, and I miss it. But, I also don't miss it in a way. Right now, I would rather curl up and read a book, try a new recipe, or just relax with a cup of tea (or lemonade!) when I get some free time. I know that I'll be back to blogging eventually, but for now I think it's just going to continue to be sporadic posting! 

On a different note, I love the stage of life that I am in right now. It is hard, but so worth it. Actually, it's more than just worth it.. it's a huge blessing. Sometimes I feel like all that I do all day long is pick up mess after mess, do dishes, change diapers, chase a very fast crawling baby, nurse baby to sleep, do more dishes, and go to bed. And honestly, that is what I do a lot of days (plus some fun stuff like going to the park, and playing with friends!). But I'm realizing that it matters. These mundane tasks actually mean something. I'm raising and creating a loving environment for our sweet baby boy, and I truly couldn't feel more privileged. It is such a joy to be Jude's mama.

And a quick update on us.. because I feel like I haven' t filled everyone in for a while.

 Lee is working hard at his courier job while he finishes getting his degree online. I'm not quite sure when he'll officially be done, but I believe it will be sometime in 2014. It's a lot of work, but he's doing great.. and I fail to tell him that enough! 

He is a fabulous daddy to Jude. I've said it before.. but Jude thinks his dad is the funniest guy ever. They rough house all the time.. and I try to hold back my nervous mom comments as best I can.. because really, Jude loves it! ;) 

I turned 22 last month. 22 feels good, I still feel very young, and I love it. 

Like I said above, I am loving this mama thing .. even though it can be hard. I'm learning that surrounding myself with other mama's is soo helpful and encouraging in this journey. I found Becky through her blog a long time ago (while we were still living in PA) and met up with her for the first time several months ago.. she lives just a few blocks away and has been a total God-send. I love her! Through her, I have met a few other mamas that are awesome, too. I feel so blessed to know them.

Jude turned one last month! I can't.believe we have a one year old! I will write a post (with lots of pictures!) about that special day soon! It was a pretty emotional day for me. I love him so very much.

My mom and little brother just left a few days ago after visiting for a week. We had so much fun and were busy busy doing fun stuff the whole time. It's so hard living so far from them, but makes our visits that much sweeter (I guess. Even though when they leave it sucks!). Jude loved having them here. We all can't wait until the next time we see them.

Anyway, I better go.. nap time will be over soon!

Mother's Day

It's hard to believe that last mother's day.. Jude was in my belly & just a few weeks away from being born! The thrill and excitement of knowing that our baby boy would be with us soon made that day super special. 

But, nothing is quite like actually having your baby here for mother's day!

We woke up bright and early and headed to Ruth's Diner.. apparently it's a very famous diner here in SLC. We didn't think hardly anyone would be there since we got there so early.. but we were wrong! It was packed. Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long to be seated. We had a really yummy breakfast.. and Jude enjoyed himself.. (he is finally eating.. err making huge messes!) ;) I'm new with this babies and food thing.. so I forgot to pack a bib.. his church clothes were a mess. Oh well! 

After breakfast, we went to church. When we picked Jude up from the nursery after church I could tell that he had been upset. The nursery worker said that he got sad after he saw a mom pick up her baby. Once I picked him up he was perfectly content. That made me feel awesome!!! He loves me! Haha

While Jude was napping at home, Lee and I made homemade gnocchi together for the first time! We used my friend Becky's recipe .. and it turned out really good! It's a super fun thing to make together. 

After Jude woke up, we went to the park and had lunch on a blanket and played. It was beautiful out (it seems like everyday has been gorgeous lately). Welcome, summer!

Thanks to my man for a special day AND for the delicious chocolate covered strawberries! 

Also, thanks to MY mom for everything. Seriously... I think that when I became a mama I learned on a whole new level the love my mom has for me. So, to the most sacrificial, loving, young, problem-solving, beautiful momma in the world- I love you!

And, to the boy who made me a mama. Goodness. I love you more than anything. You are my sunshine sweet boy. 

Forever, mama.

11 months

Jude, 

Yesterday you turned 11 months! Goodness! 

This month has been a doozy.. you went from teething to a runny nose then to a nasty stomach virus then back to a cold and teething! Throw in a bunch of sleepless nights and we're all feeling exhausted. That silly stomach virus scared your mama. It was the first time you've actually been sick sick, and I hated feeling so helpless when my little boy was so sad and miserable. 

But, thank goodness.. it seems like we are finally coming out of the sick tunnel!

Here's a few things about you: 

-You still are not a fan of food. Basically you've only actually eaten a few things.. and you really don't like any of it. But, last week we went to a friends house and I gave you some chocolate frosting off of my cake... and you loved it! You silly boy! I've been trying to get you to eat all kinds of things.. and what do you know.. chocolate frosting takes the win.

Also, just today I gave you some yo-gurt and you didn't hate it.. so that's a step up ;) 

-You think your daddy is hilarious. He has you giggling all the time.. it's just so adorable.

-Whenever you're feeling especially sad and pitiful (which has been a lot lately) you crawl over to me and grab onto my legs until I pick you up. It's the sweetest. 

-You love playing with anything that is not a toy.

-Everyone says that you are the happiest and smiliest baby in the world. And, you really are! That's why it's been especially sad to see you so miserable. 

-You really like men! You seem to gravitate toward them whenever we are somewhere. And you always have tons of fun with them!

(Ha.. I realize this sounds funny.. but you all know what I mean :) 

-You loove to nurse. And I love it too.

-You started this new little smiling thing this month.. it's the biggest smile I've ever seen and it makes your eyes really squinty. You haven't done it for a little while though. But it is so so adorable. Your dad and I both love when you do it.

-You can pull yourself up into a standing position on any furniture (you've been able to do this for a while now).. but you are not walking or standing unassisted yet.

-You are a verrrry fast crawler.

-You hate getting your diaper changed or your clothes put on so much. It's a fight every time, you strong boy! ;)

I can't believe that you are going to be ONE year old next month. My sweet boy, where has the time gone!? I swear it feels like I just gave birth to you yesterday! 

 I love you like crazy my baby Jude,

Mama

Easter 2013

A bit late, but Jude's first Easter was so fun! 

Even though he probably didn't really know what was going on.. we got him a basket with some plastic eggs and bath toys. 

We had a big breakfast, went to church, and went to the park to enjoy the gorgeous weather.

I did the She Reads Truth 'Holy Week' study the week of Easter, and I felt like it really reminded me of why we celebrate. Sometimes I feel like I forget and get caught up in the festivities.

 But truly, what a gift we have been given!  

Utah

We've been here in Utah for close to 3 months and so far we really love it. I've never been to a city quite like SLC... it's so clean, beautiful, and feels very safe. It's not too huge and yet it has a lot to offer.

We live downtown and we really like it. Lee works a lot.. so that leaves Jude and I car-less a lot of the time. I still need to get used to using the buses/trax.. but there are still places that we can walk to that are close by. There's a super cute coffee shop a few houses down from us (which is seriously dangerous!) and then we have a organic grocery store down the road from us. There's also a plaza a little further away with several stores and restaurants that we can walk to if we're feeling especially ambitious.

Probably in the summer we will take advantage of the buses more. 

Anyway.. there are lots of organic grocery options (which is a big deal for us!) and there are lots and lots of young families with babies. 

People are super friendly around here. When we first moved in .. our neighbors brought us potato soup and came over to meet us. And then for Valentines day our landlords (who are also our neighbors) brought us cookies! It was so sweet of them both! 

Another awesome thing, is that we found our church through one of my blog friends, Meredith! We are really loving it there.. and are so grateful that we found such a great home church so quickly! (Thanks, meredith! :) 

It's so beautiful here.. the mountains are seriously breathtaking. I can't wait to do some camping in the mountains with my little family in the summer!

Utah, we really love you!

Oh, and we're ready for some more Spring-y like weather whenever you are... 

A letter

 Dear Jude, 

My sweet boy. How is it that you are already 9 and half months old? How is my tiny, helpless little babe crawling and giving kisses? I don't think that I ever realized just how fast you would grow. Sometimes at night when you fall asleep so peacefully in my arms, I cry. I cry because I'm gonna miss you when your big and old and don't need me quite the same way that you do now. I cry because I want to protect you from every bad thing out there. I cry because, well, because God entrusted me with you. And you're perfect. You've blessed your dad and I more then you know.

But enough with the sad part, because seriously you are the happiest boy I know. You love people. You'll pretty much always give a smile to anyone who looks your way. I love that about you. Everyone always comments on your beautiful smile and your perfect blue eyes. 

You're daddy makes you laugh harder and smile bigger than anyone. You think he's so funny. I for see lots of rough housing and silliness between you two in the future.

You just recently started giving kisses. And oh my goodness.. they are the sweetest. I really think you actually know what you're doing when you do it, too. I look at you and make a kiss-y noise and ask for kisses and most of the time you bring your face right over and give me a open mouthed kiss. You sweet boy.

Oh, Jude. Never ever forget that your momma loves you so very much. No matter what. And I mean that, no matter what you decide to do in this life or where you decide to go. 

I love you regardless, 

Momma

When grandma came to visit!

 My mom just left after spending 10 days with us. We had soo much fun... I wish she didn't have to leave! It was so nice having a extra set of hands when Lee was at work. It makes everything feel so much harder now that she's gone!

We went shopping, checked out Temple square, visited the Great Salt Lake, and had so much fun just hanging out together! 

We already can't wait for Grandma's next visit! 

{The great Salt Lake}

{Jude looking at some Bison}

 {Daddy being crazy}

 {Grandma and Jude at the Great Salt Lake}

{LBJ}

{Grandma and a chubby Jude}

 {SLC}

 {Grandma bought Jude a new stroller and he absolutely loves it!}

 {Great Salt Lake}

Thanks for everything, Grandma. 

Come back soon!! We love you!

Jude's first food- avocado!

Ignore the mess.. we're still unpacking. I won't be able to hide behind that excuse for much longer. ;)

The other day, Jude had a taste of his first food!

 I mashed up an avocado and tried to give him some on a spoon.. but he didn't really get it. Lol so I just let him have at it.. it was quite the mess (the first of many, I'm sure!) The little bit that actually did get in his mouth made him gag. So I'm not sure avocado was a success... we'll try again soon! I let him try some banana today and he didn't seem to enjoy that much either.. I think he just needs to get used to it or something. Or maybe he'll just be breast fed for the rest of his life .... ;) 

Jude's first Christmas

We are moved in and getting settled.. hopefully this means back to blogging! I'll do a post about Utah soon. We are really loving it here! 

  Anyway, I figured I'd post some pictures of Jude's first Christmas.

This Christmas was a little bit crazy because of our move.. but it was still so special because it was our little man's first Christmas! Everything is so much more fun with a little one. 

So blessed to have him!

Our next adventure!

So I thought I should fill you all in on something... 

We're moving to Utah!

In January, we'll be making our big journey across the country. We picked a place on the map to have our next adventure.. and Utah was the winner. And to those of you who think we're crazy... we are ;) 

We're so excited to see what God has in store for us. 

Wish us luck as we clean and pack up our apartment in these next few weeks.. and for our trek across the country with a babe in tow ;) 

Thankful list

{via}

Thankful for... (in no particular order)

a husband who works (and studies!) hard to provide for us

a perfect, healthy baby boy 

clean water 

freedom to worship Jesus 

my mom, dad, and brothers 

my SIL, nephew, and (new!) niece 

Chipotle ;) 

clean diapers 

a big, exciting move coming up

new beginnings
people who stand up for what's right

a momma's bond and nursing

a Saviour who knows everything and yet loves anyway

Christmas lights

the excitement that the holiday season brings

family gatherings and games

a sleeping baby after a long day

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! 

Happy Tuesday!

Jude will be 6 months in one week! How did this happen?!

I'm hoping to slowly start getting back to posting regularly.. not sure if any of you are still out there?? :)

Happy Tuesday!

2nd Anniversary

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary on Tuesday! 

I can't believe it's been two years already! Lee planned everything and it was so nice to not have to worry about anything. My mom came over and watched Jude while we went out for a couple of hours during the day.. it was my very first 'real' time away from him! Ahh.. am I crazy or what?! He is nearly 5 and half months old and this was the first time I have gotten out! 

We had a ton of fun together.. it felt so weird not having a baby attached at the hip ;) It's amazing how refreshed you feel when you get out alone for a little while. 

Anyways, when we got back we hung out for a little while Jude finished his nap. And then we went out to Firebirds.. our town just recently got one and goodness it was SO good AND super fancy!

Then we went and spent the night at a really beautiful hotel on the lake! My man knows how to plan a fun day ;) We swam in the hotel pool, it was Jude's first time swimming .. he looked so cute in that big pool!

Love our life together.. and can't wait to see what year three brings!

My Birth Journey- part 3

Read part 1 here

Read part 2 here

Wowzers. It's about time I finish this up. Has this been drawn out or what? Ha. Life of a momma is buuusy.

I decided to not to go into too much detail about the day of Jude's birth. I want to keep some things just special for us .. but here is the main parts of the day.

My due date was May 31st. I guess everyone thought that I'd probably go late because my mom did with her babies.. and this was my first. Our little boy threw us for a surprise!

On the morning of Sunday, May 27th I felt weird. Something was different and I was having some type of pains in my stomach. Lee and I went to church and during the service the pains hurt, but I could deal with them. After church, I told Lee that we needed to go pick up some disposable newborn diapers (we were cloth diapering, but decided to have some disposables on hand for the first few weeks)

 If I remember correctly, the pains tapered off as the day went on. And I didn't think too much about them. For some reason, I don't remember what we did that day. I can't remember really anything about it. 

I woke up at around 6:30 am the next day (May 28th) to contractions. I was totally in denial.. I just figured I was having pregnancy pains or something (ha!). Lee wasn't convinced that they were 'just pregnancy pains' by the way that I was acting and how they came on exactly every few minutes.

Lee kept saying we should call Jen (our midwife), but I said no.. (still in denial!)

After a little while I think that it finally hit me that this was real! I guess I thought there would be angels coming down from heaven or something when it really happened. Ha.. no angels .. just some serious pain!

We called Jen, and told her what was going on. She told us that it sounded like this was it! We decided that I would labor at home with just Lee for a little while. I remember I was in so much pain as each contraction came. Lee got a bag of our stuff together (oops! so much for being prepared) and wrote a quick letter to Jude while I was laying there. It's something I will always treasure.  Finally we decided that we wanted Jen to come. I was really really anxious for her to get to our apartment.
Although they were still so painful, I felt calmer through the contractions with her there.

Toward the beginning of my pregnancy, we decided that we wanted to have the birth at my midwifes place (her practice is in a cute little country home) rather then at our apartment (a lot of her clients choose to have their births at home). I can't even really pinpoint why I didn't want to have the birth at our apartment.. I think maybe because it just didn't really feel like home.. (probably doesn't make much sense) but we just decided to do it that way.

So when Jen got to our apartment that morning, she told me that if we wanted to go to her place that we should leave soon.
So we got everything together, and I wobbled down the stairs in major pain. I was totally dreading the drive there, but Lee did a great job avoiding all the stinkin' pot holes in this town.
It was weird, even while we were in the car on the way there it still hadn't even really hit me that we were going to be meeting our son. I just really couldn't even believe it.

We finally made it and I went right into the back bedroom and laid on the bed.

I had extremely painful back labor and the only thing that brought me a tinge of relief was when they would apply a ton of pressure to my lower back. It saved me.  I labored for a total of 16 hours with my sweet Lee, doula, and midwife by my side in the sweetest little country home that will always be close to my heart. It just felt right and perfect to have a natural labor and birth in such a cozy and normal setting.

There were points where I felt like I just couldn't do it. But the awesome thing about our bodies is that they just keep on keepin' on- whether we think we can make it or not.

My mom came shortly before Jude was born. It was wonderful having her there.

At 10:05 pm our Jude Arroh was born.

I can't explain all the emotions you feel in that moment. It was unreal and perfect.
The little boy that I had dreamed about, wrote letters to, felt kick me throughout the days of my pregnancy was here. The sweet baby that I had shed so many tears for before he even existed because I wanted to be a mother so badly was really here.

There he was, laying in my arms, in all his sweet perfection.
And in that moment, with more love than our hearts could handle, we became a family of three.

3 months

Our baby boy turned 3 months yesterday! Goodness sakes.. I just love getting to know him better as time goes on. 

He's just the sweetest baby and his perfect smile never fails to bring me such joy. 

Still can't believe he's really ours.

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. 1Samuel1:27

A birthday

Happy birthday to...

my best friend 

and best daddy

in the whole world.

We love you

His smile

Jude boy and his many faces. 

this cute boy has got his papa and I wrapped around his little finger. 

Jude, 

You're smiling now. Like really smiling. Your dad and I melt every time you do it.

 It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. by far.

I didn't think it was possible, but I'm finding that every day my heart falls in love with you even more then the day before. 

I love you precious boy, 

Momma

My Birth Journey- part 2

Read part 1 here

We decided to move back to our hometown when I was around 12 weeks pregnant. We thought it would be nice to be close to family for the pregnancy and birth. And also, Lee had a more stable job here. I'm so glad we made that decision, because we seriously found the best midwife ever :) and of course, it's been great being close to family.

My very first appointment was at 14 weeks. I wrote about it here. I remember feeling so nervous- we hadn't had any other appointments up to that point .. and I was just so nervous that there would be something wrong with the baby ..and we wouldn't hear the heartbeat or something.
We got to her place (office, I guess you could call it). It was a small little home in the country. Super cozy and inviting. I loved it the first time I saw it.
Jen (our midwife) was so, so sweet. She offered us tea when we first came in (I feel the need to mention this detail ;)
Once we started talking, I was thrilled that we had found someone that really shared our same views about pregnancy and birth. It was a breath of fresh air.
While we were there, one of her clients came in to give birth. Lee and I never saw the couple.. but we heard their baby's first cry from the room that we were in. It was unreal and such a cool thing. In that moment, I was overwhelmed by how natural, calm, and normal birth could be.
It really solidified that this was how I wanted our baby to come into the world.

Our appointments continued throughout the pregnancy, and they were always something that Lee and I looked forward to (who doesn't look forward to baby appointments??) :)
I was never once harassed about weight gain/loss. In fact, I was never even weighed once! I never had any invasive tests done. It just felt right to let things be natural.
I felt so comfortable knowing that Jen trusted my body to handle a pregnancy all on its own. Really, there was no need to do anything, except just wait for our sweet babe to come!

Jen really and truly became a friend to us. I would call her anytime I ever had a concern or question. She was always so helpful and I knew she would always be there if I needed her. We never felt like a bother to her and she never once made us feel like just another patient.

Lee and I did decide that we wanted to know the gender of our babe. So at 21 weeks, we went in to a imaging center. It was really exciting to find out, but its something that I don't think we'll do again. I've learned a little more about the dangers of ultrasounds, and to me, its just not worth it to expose the baby to something like that for the excitement of something silly like a gender reveal.


Next up.. the day of Jude's birth!


Thank you so much for reading. I've really struggled with how to write all of this. I truly don't want to make anyone upset, but I realize that I need to stay true to what I believe and sometimes that means that people will be upset. And that's okay.
Regardless, I love you all and the blessing you are in my life!

Love

This little boy has our hearts. How is it possible to feel this much love?