Married with a Baby

When you get married, everyone tells you to appreciate the 

time you have along together now, because when that baby comes, 

you're gonna wish you had more alone time. 

They tell you your relationship will never be the same, 

and that it'll be hard not to fight and argue all the time. 

Kind of sad that most of the world sees it that way.  

As an inhibitor of a free expression of love between 

husband and wife.  I personally think that since having

 Madeline I've fallen even more head-over-heels in love with my husband, 

in ways deeper than I ever imagined.

There's something very intimate about

 bringing a child into the world together.

I don't know of any way to accurately describe it.  

It's a leap of faith that you take together, relying on the 

Lord that together the three of you can make it.  

You don't know how much you love someone

 until they offer to let you go to sleep because you're tired,

 even though they've had as much sleep as you.

You don't realize what a keeper he is until he, with out thinking,

 helps your two-year-old sister as she throws up on

 the way to the airport. Especially when you know 

such an act would make his stomach turn.

  {I don't think he would have done this before Madeline got here}

Loving him was never so easy as when he 

volunteered to get her ready for church because you're running late.

The words 'green eggs and ham' never sounded so

 melodious until you've listened to them rolling off 

of your husbands tongue and into your daughters tiny ears.   

I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't worried about our relationship being so different after the baby came that we felt like complete strangers working day in and day out over the needs of a tiny demanding human.  And I'm not going to say that our relationship is exactly the same as it was before.  But we're still the same people.  We still love each other.  We are simply, now, working as a companionship to help meet the needs of a daughter of God.  And there is no greater work that this.  

The other night as we were cleaning up dinner, Jeremy took me in his arms, dipped me, kissed me, and then danced me around the kitchen floor, complete with his own singing for music.  And in that moment I knew that we could still be our fun, spontaneous old selves.  It's true that there's a lot more to be done before we have time for kitchen romancing, and it requires a lot more effort to make sure we still have husband and wife time.  But I'm glad to know that it can still happen.  

Because I sure love spending time with my hubby.

Happy Anniversary

A week before Christmas was our one-year anniversary.

I can't believe its been a year! And yet I can't believe its only been a year!

With out doubt its been the best year of my life.  It may sound kind of crazy to some, but I'm so glad I decided to get married when I did {see the We Fell In Love tab above for more juicy details}

In the past year we have laughed together and cried together.  There have been good times and bad times. I've fallen even more in love with this wonderful man and loved more than I ever thought possible.

We've shared some incredible experiences - 

the biggest of all bringing a daughter of God into this world. 

I supposed most people don't think of spending their first anniversary with a baby.  But soon after we got married we knew it was not only what we wanted, but what Heavenly Father wanted.  We are so happy to have Madeline in our lives.  Life is a little bit brighter with her around. 

Marriage is definitely a beautiful and sacred gift.  I'm so grateful for a kind, loving Heavenly Father who provided a way for families to be sealed together, forever.  I can't say I know what would have happened if Jeremy and I had waited til June 2011 to get married, but I'm afraid that it would have been hard to stay morally clean being engaged for so long.  This picture (above) was taken just after we walked out of the Temple.  It shows my feelings so well, "Hurray for making it to the Temple!"  

Because spending an eternity without these two:

sounds like a miserable life to me.

We celebrated our anniversary by taking a quick date out to dinner.  

My parents were kind enough to babysit.

{Madeline was babysat by her other grandparents a couple nights

 before while my family went to see a production of A Christmas Carol.}

This is the remains of the big cupcake on top 

of the cupcake tower we served at our reception.

Originally it had our initials in chocolate - obviously its a little pathetic now.

We had planned on taking a bite, but it was pretty disgusting. 

 So we took a tiny lick of the frosting.  

Yeah it was pretty nasty.

Here we are on our first anniversary with our cupcake and our baby - HA.

I think the number two thing I've learned this past year is marriage is hard! 

It requires ultimate selflessness, patience, and lots of work.  

The number one thing I learned: it's definitely worth it.

Thanks for the wonderful year, Jeremy.  I love you so much.  Thanks for your patience with me and your willingness to let me try again over and over.  You've taught me so much by your bright and shining example.  I can honestly say I am proud to have you as my husband.  

Here's to the next eternity of anniversaries!

Love always,

                       Your Sarah

  

You know you're a mom when...

You don't mind getting out of bed in the

 middle of the night to feed a crying baby.

Dirty diapers aren't such a chore because it means

 your little girl doesn't have to sit in her own mess.

Being spit up on and thrown up on for some 

weird reason doesn't bother you because you're

 more concerned that this little angle of yours is ok.  

I could probably benefit from a shower, 

but holding this sleeping baby and making sure

 she's alright is more important.

Growing up all of these things sounded so horrible - 

but now that I'm the mom I could care less about the stink, 

the work, and the tears because I love her so much.  

And I would do anything for her.

TWO-sided love

One-sided TWO-sided love

Sarah doesn’t know that I’m writing this, and I'm not much of a blogger or a good intriguing writer, but I always read her blog and feel like everyone that’s reading this should know that she doesn’t just love me, I love her too! I promise it’s not a one-sided marriage.

She always talks about how grateful she is for the things I do, but for once I want everyone to know that I am grateful too. I loved how on my birthday she had to get a sparkly card just to rub it on my face. I loved how much time she spent trying to decide which of Madeline’s outfits to put in the hospital bag. When I’m at work she always sends me texts letting me know how and what she’s doing. When I get home I find a note that she’s written me telling me how much she missed me and then goes on to tell me what she did/didn’t do that evening. I love those notes!

Here they are on the wall behind my computer. I love reading them

I love coming home and finding her asleep, but a note saying how hard she tried to stay up and wait for me, but just couldn’t. I love how she tells me all about her day; the ups and downs, funny things that happened, and the spiritual ones too. I love how she calls it “rambling” even though I love to hear it. I love how she really tries to do as many dishes as she can before she gets tired of standing there with swollen feet. I love watching her as she sits and stands and lays in awkward positions trying to accommodate an already needy baby, knowing that after Madeline is born she will be just as needy, but Sarah will be a wonderful mother and just as (if not more) accommodating. I love how selfless she is and constantly strives to be.

We have these pictures hanging up in our living room, 

and sometimes when she’s not home (or when she is and just not looking) I stare at them and wonder how I got so lucky to marry that beautiful bride. But then I look at the pictures of my beautiful eight-and-a-half month pregnant bride and think the same thing. As you all know, she’s so excited to be a mom and she tries every day to convince Madeline to come out so we can see her kick and move and cry and dress her up and take pictures or undress her and take pictures too.

Lately we’ve both been worried that after Madeline is born our relationship with each other will change. It probably will to some degree, simply because babies are needy! But I still hope and pray that we can still laugh and joke and talk and watch our favorite TV shows and go on walks and do a lot of the same things that we do now, but with a baby.

I am so grateful that I get to spend eternity with this wonderful woman. She helps me every day to be a little better, a little more caring, a little more Christ-like. I wouldn’t want to endure and enjoy the struggles of mortality with anyone else. I love you Sarah!

Sporting the Bjorn

Somebody's excited to be a 

{DADDY}

Isn't he cute?!

{Mommy and Madeline think so too}

I sure love this guy

I know that probably half of the posts on this blog are about how awesome my husband is, but that's because he is!  Funny story:

Lately I've been having a lot of more painful contractions {still not regular unfortunately...} Anyways, I'm wincing on the floor in major pain, can't even stand up straight, and Jeremy thinks it would be a fantastic idea to tell me about a scripture in Genesis about how God told Eve, "IT'S GONNA HURT!" He then proceeded to pull out the scriptures and show me the exact reference {You know, just incase I wanted to look it up later or something? We're still working on the whole when Sarah is in pain we jump to her side and massage/hold/do whatever she commands thing}  As the pain began to let up he showed me another scripture in John saying that 'I'll forget all about it once I hold her in my arms'.  Thanks honey haha. HA.

BUT he redeemed himself by giving me a long overdue mini-pedicure.

{ L O V E }

Hopefully not much longer :) We can't wait to hold you Madeline!

Little Pink Shoes

It seems like time keeps moving faster and faster!

{Which is totally ok with me - until she gets here.  

Then I just want to enjoy every second of her little existence}

Today I went to the doctor {I get to go every week now!} And everything is looking good.  I'm 70% effaced and almost 2 cm dilated.  I can't believe we're on our way! I seriously thought we'd never get to this point haha.  Also, we are going to the hospital today to pre-register, and I have a 'just-incase' induction scheduled for December 2nd.  Can you believe it's been 9 months!? I can't... Well I guess it hasn't been, it's been 8 ha.  

Last night we re-organized Madeline's clothes and sorted them out by size and let me just say, its ridiculous how excited we both are :) Jeremy randomly gave me the biggest hug and said,
"WE'RE GONNA HAVE A BABY!"
And he's right! We are! 25 days til her due date! ahhh! so exciting!

Can you believe that soon these little feet

Will be tottering around in these little pink shoes?

so.excited.

kluvyoubye

Last Weekend {Including a recent picture of the 8 month pregnant me}

Last weekend was simply F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!

My Dad, and two of my sisters, Hannah and Rachel, and my brother Joshua drove down to Utah for my cousin Stephen's wedding.  It was so fun to see them and celebrate Stephen's special day!

They were married in the beautiful Salt Lake City Temple.  It was such a special sealing :) Reminded me of ours (10 months ago! Where does the time go?) I've never seen Stephen so happy!

Joshua had a hard time warming up to me - perhaps because I look a little different than I did a few months ago.  Plus I think he was a little overwhelmed being in a new place with lots of unfamiliar people.  But he warmed up soon enough.

Here it is - a picture of me... I seriously don't see myself this big, well I do, but it always surprises me to see pictures of myself.  But it's officially documented! We're posing with the cardboard cut out of David, our cousin (Stephen's brother) who is on a mission in Florida.  

Stephen had this grin on ALL day! It was so cute! We're so glad you found each other

 Stephen and Amy :)

Don't you love the cake! I thought the Temple was a precious touch.

You'll notice that this picture has Joshua and I out of focus.  That's because I REALLY wanted a picture of the guy just over my left shoulder.  Can you see his mustache? Doesn't even do it justice! That thing was like 4 inches long on both sides! I knew Jeremy would appreciate it, and he couldn't come, so I had my dad take a picture of Joshua and I.  Dad had never done anything like this before and he was laughing so hard lol good times... 

Cutest wedding gift ever!

{Coming from the girl who absolutely loves Martinelli's}

Congrats Stephen and Amy! Thanks for giving us a reason to get together :)

HAPPY

I wish that every day were like yesterday.

At first I couldn't tell you why it was so great - I was just HAPPY.

Its not like it was an easy day, it was actually a harder day.  Nothing magnificent happened. So I didn't know why it was so great.  But when I went to bed I realized what had made it such a good day.  If I somehow knew when my last day on this earth was, 

I'd want it to be like yesterday. 

It was one of those days when I fell asleep even more in love with my hubby than when I woke up that morning.  Not because he brought me flowers, or whispered sweet nothings in my ear.

I just felt grateful for him. Grateful for all the little things he does each day that make my life a little easier.  Grateful for someone to talk to. Grateful for someone to laugh with.  Grateful for the chance we had to make dinner together, and cuddle on the couch together.  Grateful for someone to start a family with.

grateful for someone to spend 
ETERNITY with

When you count your blessings, you realize how much you have. Then the sun shines a little brighter, the sky looks a little bluer, and anything is possible. My day was so great because subconsciously I chose to count my blessings. And it made me HAPPY. Sometimes its hard to see all the blessings we have, 

but we each have many things to be grateful for. 

And when we choose to look for those blessings we will be 

{HAPPY}

What is LOVE?

I am officially six months pregnant! 

{pick up jaw now}

Hard to believe that its been six months since we found out our home would be blessed by a little child of God.  I can't believe all that we've been through, and yet all that we have to look forward to, too!

I must confess that pregnancy has started to take its toll on my poor body.  {How do people have babies when they are old?  I mean I'm a fairly young mother, and I am wiped out!} Its hard to look at yourself as beautiful when the first thought that pops in your head upon seeing your reflection is 'hippo' - as in hippopotamus.  Poor husband has been a trooper - always reminding me how beautiful I am, and how proud he is of me.   It makes me feel purty good :) 

Lately I've been thinking about love.  For the past few years love has meant starry nights, romantic dinners, martinelli's, and lots of cuddling with my hubby.  But my definition is changing - not changing, but gaining an additional definition.  While I still have a lot to learn about the love of a mother for her child, I'm starting to get a glimpse of it really means.  Love means that this emerging belly button of mine  shows I've chosen to sacrifice my physical appearance to create life. 

 And these stretch marks -- well I'm still working seeing the beauty in those... {Is there a way to make those go away, like after birth? Oh well, there's always the resurrection, right!}

The point is, being a mom is not just fun pic-nics in the park and cute happily-all-the-time children, but so far its been worth it.  And I am so grateful for the chance I have to take part in this beautiful miracle, even if I'm super duper not psyched about the picture above... haha

kluvyoubye