The Big Move

Welp, Tuesday September 6th was the big day. Aaron, Robert, Devin Curry, and Mom all loaded up the truck and car while Aly entertained Lydia and I got together everything from inside the house. It really is nothing short of a miracle that we got everything to fit in that 10 foot truck and the back of our Blazer. I wish I had gotten a picture of how full it was. There really wasn't an inch to spare. Side note: "I wish I had gotten a picture of..." that's a phrase you'll probably be hearing a lot of in the next few posts. I've been severely slacking in the picture taking department. Before I knew it we were on our way. Here's the 2 kiddos ready for the big drive ahead. They were both troopers the whole time!

We drove from Utah to Reno the first day and the rest of the way the next day. About an hour and a half before we got to Santa Cruz we drove through Danville. We're Phineas and Ferb (a cartoon on Disney Channel) fans so we had to take a picture by a Danville sign. :)

After months of anticipation and preparation, and a very long drive we finally arrived at our new home!

But boy did we still have our work cut out for us!

Aly, Mom, and Robert worked like machines! Before going to bed that night they moved all of the boxes into their corresponding rooms and got the kitchen unpacked enough that it could function, the whole while I was barking orders from a chair feeling lazy. They wouldn't let me work. Some nonsense about how I had just had a baby 10 days before or something. ;)

Aly and Mom's flight left the next afternoon, so after getting a little bit more work done Thursday morning we took a well needed break and decided to explore Santa Cruz a little bit before they had to leave and headed down to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Aly and I played in the water.

Mom eventually couldn't resist joining in on the fun.

I love these next 2 pictures. I feel like they could be posters advertising for a movie. Like this one "A woman, a sailor, and a love that spans the ocean." Am I right or am I right??

Then this one, "A baby, an ocean, and the diaper that would last through it all!" I think we have the makings of a blockbuster phenomenon ;)

Lydia loves the wet sand, and she loves it more and more every time we go to the beach.

After the beach it was time to say goodbye to Aly and Mom. They were SOOOOOOOO much help! They did in a few hours what it would have taken me days to do. We were so grateful. I have the best inlaws!

The Catch Up Begins!!

Hello world!!! Did you miss me? I missed you! I'll slowly be catching up on all of our past 2 months of adventures in the next few days. Already posted:

Out of the Box! Out of the Box! - Packing adventures
A Baby Story - Mary's labor and delivery story
3 Minutes - The scare Mary gave us in her first few minutes of life
Welcome Mary Eliza! - Pictures from Mary's first few days
A Week in Limbo - Our time between Mary being born and moving to California
Farewell to Provo - A shout out to our Provo experience and a few things we'll miss about it

Still to come: The Big Move, Hall Reunion, Mary at 1 Month, Our New Home, Santa Cruz Adventures, and more!

STAY TUNED!!! ;)

Farewell to Provo

I never thought when I moved to Utah after Robert and I got married that I would love Provo as much as I did and still do. There are so many stories I could tell about the people, places, friends, and family we love there. It's where Robert and I started life as a married couple. It's where we started raising our family. It's where I learned to appreciate, and even somewhat look forward to snow in the winter ;) I could go on and on and on about what we loved and what we miss, but instead I will just touch on a couple things that I don't feel like have been touched on enough yet.

Provo Peak 4th Ward

PP4th was our second ward in Provo. PP11th Ward was our first, and it was wonderful too and we made many friends in that ward that we are still in touch with. But PP4th holds a special place in my heart. We moved in to this ward less than 2 weeks before Lydia was born. Before we left church the first Sunday we were there we were asked to speak the next Sunday and the Relief Society President had given me a "Daddy's Hospital Survival Kit" for Robert which contained (along with snacks and other things) a card that had the number of who we needed to call once the baby was born to get meals organized for us. It's hard to describe how wonderful this ward was. I think the story that best illustrates this happened last summer 2010. We were struggling to make ends meet financially. We didn't know how we were going to make it to the start of school when Robert would start working for BYU again. Then one morning there was an envelope on our doorstep with our name on it. Inside there was $100. I told Robert that I had a few guesses who would have left this for us. Robert said he did too. We both listed 2 or 3 different couples/families. They were all from our ward, and neither of us guessed the same people. That's how AMAZING the people of this ward were. I'm so honored and grateful to have been a part of it.

Trent and Natalie DeVore

Trent and Natalie are great people and irreplaceable friends. They are the kind of people that will give you the shirt of their backs if you need it. They are there for you at a moment's notice and were for us several times. Their son, Logan, was Lydia's best friend. We will miss the late game nights and conversations we got to have with them on a regular basis and look forward to future ones even though they might be years apart. I'm crossing my fingers that our paths through life lead us to living in the same area again someday.

Robert's Professors

You might think this is random for me to love and miss, but I love Robert's BYU professors. They have given Robert work experience, recommendations, and put him in contact with people that will help with Robert's future education and career for the rest of our lives. One professor in particular holds a special place in my heart. I never met him in person, but I'm so thankful for and indebted to this man. During the same summer 2010 that I just talked about, he randomly asked Robert how Lydia and I were doing. Robert said, "Well, we're your typical starving student family, living off of mac and cheese, but we're doing alright." A few days later he gave Robert a personal check for $300. The professor said, "Consider this your 'Mac and Cheese' check." He continued to give us "Mac and Cheese" checks once a month for the rest of our time in Provo. There were several times that we would not have made it without his generosity. And I personally think that we have not yet seen the end of the blessings we will receive from the experience Robert gained from working for and with this man.

Provo was a wonderful chapter of our lives. I look forward to growing a similar love for Santa Cruz, which I'm sure we will. We were where we were supposed to be when we were in Provo, and now we are supposed to be in Santa Cruz. I can't wait to see what adventures and experiences Heavenly Father has in store for us here.

A Week in Limbo

We brought Mary home to our apartment Tuesday, August 30th. We had to be out of the apartment by 10:00am the next morning. So we packed up the remaining odds and ends, I finished cleaning the fridge :), and we moved in with our good friends, Aaron and Kaci Cardon, for a week while I recovered a bit before making the big move to California. We were so blessed to be surrounded by many friends and some family. Several people were willing and offered to let us live with them during this time that we were homeless (ward members, the DeVores, Aunt Mary-Jack, and others) and we are so grateful for all of them. The Cardons just ended up being the best, most convenient option.

Life at Casa de la Cardon 

Kaci is one of my best friends. We've been close friends since high school. She was my Maid of Honor at my wedding. Basically she's like a sister to me. Since I moved to Utah after I got married we haven't seen each other as much. However she and her husband Aaron moved to Provo at the beginning of this summer so Aaron could start flight school at UVU. It was so great to spend so much time with them this summer, in a way rejuvenating our friendship post both of us getting married. We capped it off by taking advantage of their friendship and moving in ;) That's a joke. They very generously offered, and we humbly accepted. In my opinion, it couldn't have worked out better. They were wonderful hosts, and a huge help in so many ways. Lydia absolutely loved them, especially playing with Aaron. I think Lydia got used to how great it was to have 2 mommies and daddies and went through withdrawals after we left. It was a great time.

As part of our "thank you for letting us live with you," we took them out to The Mayan Adventure Restaurant in Sandy, Utah. Robert and I had never been there, but Kaci and Aaron had and we'd talked about going there with them all summer, so we killed two birds with one stone and treated them to dinner :)

Mary enjoyed her first public restaurant experience

It is a cool place! Pretty good Mexican food (by Utah standards) but the coolest part was the atmosphere of the place. Basically, if you were to make a restaurant out of the line to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland it would be this restaurant, complete with the flickering lights. To top it off, all the tables surround a 50ish foot tall waterfall and pool that performers do a diving/acrobatic show off of every 30 minutes. Super cool! I recommend it. Kind of pricey, but the entrees are big enough that you can split a meal and still be satisfied. Anyway, it was a fun night.

Robert's Family Visit

Robert's parents and 3 youngest sisters came the weekend after Mary was born to meet the new addition to the family.

Grandma with the calm one

Grandpa with the not so calm one

Aunt Crystal

Aunt Kylee

Aunt Aly

It was a fun filled visit - Swimming at the hotel, frisbee at the duck pond, Los Hermanos, Pictionary Man, Buzz Word, Shaved Ice, and more!

Mary's First Sunday

I have to stick this picture in here, because I think it is just darling! My mom made the baby afghan Mary's laying on. If you look closely you can see that it says "I Am A Child of God" on it. Also, at one week old Mary was already cracking little smiles for pictures :)

Sunday night, while Robert's family went to have dinner with the parents of one of the sister missionaries that are currently living with them, we went up to Salt Lake to have dinner with and say our goodbyes to Katie, Mike, and Alena. I surprisingly kept my composure until we got to the car. Then I bawled like a baby for half the drive back to Provo. I miss living so close to them, but we look forward to seeing them over the holidays!

Farewell BBQ at the Park

Monday morning Robert's Dad, Crystal, and Kylee headed home. Mom and Aly stayed to drive over to California with us the next day, but headed up to Tooele to visit with Robert's Aunt Velma and stayed with her Monday night. So that night Kaci and Aaron invited us to BBQ with them at the park as kind of our last hurrah. Devin and Autumn Curry came too. After eating, Lydia, Mary, and I chilled on the sidelines while everyone else played frisbee.

Then we headed back to Kaci and Aaron's to visit and play games. It was great to squeeze in one last game night and a wonderful relaxing end to the Provo chapter of our lives. :)

Welcome Mary Eliza!

And now for a flood of pictures of Mary's first couple days of life. A few of them I already posted in the quick post I did a week after she was born, but no harm in seeing them again :)

7 lbs 13oz - 19 1/2 inches long

Finally holding my baby after the first little scare

Happy parents!

My wonderful support team!

Proud Daddy :)

Aunt Katie and Baby Mary

Getting all cleaned up

Proud Momma

Natalie was so wonderful to watch Lydia for us, and bring her to the hospital to meet her sister

First family picture

Ready to leave the hospital

Happy to be home :)

3 Minutes

(continued from last post)

"Now if we could just get her to breathe..."

I looked down at my baby. Mary was still in the doctor's hands. She was calmly, slowly looking around, but not crying, not breathing. She was still the dead looking purple-white color that babies are until they breathe. My baby wouldn't start breathing.

The doctor coolly said, "I'll massage the umbilical cord (it hadn't been cut yet). Sometimes that gives them the jump start they need."

No change.

Dr. Jacob, "Don't worry. I'll hand her over to the nurses now. They'll get her going."

Mary was taken over to the baby table. I was holding Robert's hand. Both of us were frozen with worry. Thank heaven Katie was there. I think she could sense I was on the verge of panicking. She remained completely calm and kept saying, "It's okay. They're taking care of her. She'll be okay. They'll get her to cry."

One minute had passed. They gave Mary her first APGAR score - 1 out of 10. I could hear them call out what her heart rate was, down to 40 beats per minute and dropping. They called in the respiratory team. Dr. Jacob reassured me that they always have the respiratory team standing by just in case this very situation happened. He said again everything was under control and Mary would be just fine. They came in, put an oxygen pump mask on Mary's face and continued massaging/stimulating different points on her little body.

I felt like there were 2 dimensions of reality in the room. One was the actual one, filled with medical personnel, Katie, and us. Then the other one was the one I felt more a part of. Everything else blurred away and there was just Mary fighting for her first breath and Robert and I holding hands worried for our baby's life.

My thoughts turned to my Heavenly Father. I plead to him, "Please! Please don't take her back. Please don't take her away from me." over and over. Within moments after my pleading began, I felt a calming comfort come over me and a phrase entered my mind. "Whether I take her now or decades later, she is yours forever." My testimony was reaffirmed once again in God's Plan of Happiness. I know that since Robert and I were married in the temple and sealed for eternity that as long as we live faithful to the covenants we made in the temple, our family is forever.

Then at 8:10pm, Mary gasped and let out her first cry.

Just after they got her going

She turned pink right away. Her APGAR score at 5 minutes was 9 - practically perfect and she's been that way ever since. Dr. Jacob joked that sometimes it just takes a couple extra minutes for babies to learn how to breathe. Dr. Holmes/Uncle Rick, our pediatrician explained to us later that sometimes when the pushing goes as fast as mine did (again, I was only pushing for 5 minutes) it makes the baby go into shock when they first come out. It's not super common, but it does happen. 

I will never forget those 3 minutes. They've given me a whole new appreciation and gratitude for the opportunity and blessing I have to be a mother to my 2 beautiful daughters of God. It is the most wonderful calling in the eternities.

I love being a Mom!

A Baby Story

Well this labor was A LOT different than Lydia's. With Lydia, I never had consistent contractions or dilated or effaced at all until I was already in labor and then the actual labor lasted 42 hours. With Mary, I started having regular contractions a couple months before I was due and at my 36 week check I had dilated and effaced more than I was the day I went into labor with Lydia. This was very encouraging because the earlier I had Mary, the less time we would have to live with/impose on friends before we made the big move to California. My doctors' office knew of our time constraints and agreed that as long as I had progressed enough they would induce me a week early. My mom had come in town for the induction date, but unfortunately even after getting my membranes stripped twice, I had barely not progressed enough. The day my mom left I bawled like a baby. I wanted so badly for her to be here when I had Mary, but it wasn't meant to be. Friday, August 26th, I had another doctor's appointment and they decided I had finally progressed enough and scheduled my induction for Monday, August 29th - my birthday. As happy as I was that the end was officially in sight, I still wished that I could go into labor on my own since there's less risks that way. I also felt bad that Mary would have to share her birthday with her mom. I would rather she have her own special day.

Saturday was crunch time for packing and moving our stuff. Friends were over all day long helping us, and by the end of the day there was just a little work and packing left. I figured I would save it for Monday so that I would have something to do other than twiddling my thumbs while we waited for the call to come to the hospital for the induction.

Sunday we got ready for church like normal. Robert had Elder's quorum presidency meeting so I took him early went back home and got Lydia ready then started loading her in the car to go when I felt a gush of liquid (10:45am). I assumed I had just wet myself a little bit, and it was enough to need to change my clothes. I'm pretty sure my exact thoughts were "SERIOUSLY!! I just went to the bathroom before I came out! Being pregnant is so lame sometimes!!"  I ran in, changed real fast, and then left to church. When I got out of the car there was another little gush. Again I thought, "Come on! Enough already!!" I went inside and sat down with Lydia and waited for Robert to get there so that I could go empty my bladder AGAIN so I could hopefully avoid any more accidents. While I waited several people in the ward came up to me and made comments along the lines of "No baby yet?" I answered that she'd for sure be coming the next day if not sooner. Robert got there and I let him know that I needed to go to the restroom. I got up to go and, you guessed it, another gush. Finally, (yes, maybe I am a little slow) it occurred to me that maybe my water had broken. As sacrament meeting started so did my contractions. By the time the congregation stood for the intermediate hymn they were 7 minutes apart and hurt too much for me to stand and join in the singing. When the meeting was over I told Robert I needed to go to the car to lie down and would text him if I decided we should go home. Within a half hour, I texted him and we went home.

We got home, called my mom to tell her what was going on, she agreed that my water had probably broken and I was in labor. So I hung up and did what any lady in labor would do... I started cleaning out my fridge :) It needed to be done before we moved, and I needed a distraction. I wanted to attempt delivering without an epidural, and I knew once I was at the hospital I would be extra tempted to get one. So I wanted to labor at home as long as possible. I called my sister Katie and let her know what was going on. As I was talking to her my contractions were coming about 4 minutes apart. She rightfully scolded me for not being at the hospital already, reminded me that I was Group B Strep positive so I needed to have the time to get the 2 rounds of antibiotics, and so on. I stubbornly assured her that I was fine, and would go when I thought I was ready. In the mean time I had a fridge and freezer to clean. We hung up and I continued to clean the fridge. This is when things started getting really fun. The contractions picked up and were coming every 2 minutes or so. Robert started freaking out (he'll deny it, but he was). At about 2:30pm, Mom called again. Katie called her worried and may have told her important details, like how often I was contracting, that I may have "accidentally" left out when I had talked to Mom. Robert answered it and said, "Her contractions aren't stopping!!" He handed the phone to me. My mom said, "Heidi! I didn't realize your contractions had started already. Once the hard contractions started after my water broke with Logan, he was born within 4 hours. You need to go to the hospital!" You can't argue with Mom, so we got ready to go, but not before I had Robert take one last baby bump picture. (If I may say, I think I look pretty good for someone who had already been in labor for almost 4 hours)

Trent and Natalie DeVore were going to watch Lydia while I was in the hospital but they were in church right then, so Robert called Kaci. His panicked conversation went something like this:

Kaci: Hello
Robert: (Talking kind of fast) Kaci... uh... Hi. This is Robert. Um, Heidi's in labor. She's contracting A LOT. We need to go to the hospital. Uh, Natalie's going to watch Lydia but they can't come right away. Um Heidi's contracting again. Uh, Lydia's napping...
Kaci cuts him off: Robert! What are you needing me to do? Do you need me to come over?
Robert: Yes, that way Lydia can finish napping.
Kaci: I'm on my way.

Kaci got there, we left, and arrived at the hospital at 3:00pm. The nurse at the front desk couldn't find my paperwork, and asked if I was supposed to be induced because then my paperwork would be in a different file. I said I had been scheduled for one the next morning. She laughed and said, "I guess the baby just didn't want to wait." After they made sure that my water had for sure broken, they hooked me straight up to my antibiotics for the GBS. They checked me and I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. The nurse then asked if I wanted an epidural and I said, "No... Actually, yes I do." That's how fast I changed my mind. A million thoughts went through my mind in the 2 seconds it took me to change my mind, but the one that won the debate was that an epidural would help to slow the labor a little bit so that I could get my 2 full rounds of antibiotics (they have to be given 4 hours apart from each other). So by 4:00pm, I had my epidural. I really think epidurals are WONDERFUL!! I would just love to do it completely natural sometime to experience both sides.

Back tracking a little bit to tell a story of how Robert doesn't think things through sometimes. As we were waiting for the epidural my contractions were pretty intense, and I it felt like I was only having a 30 to 60 second break in between them. I was really needing Robert to help keep me relaxed through them, and for the most part he was doing awesome. Then, right after one contraction Robert says, "Heidi, I'm going to call my home teaching companion real quick and let him know that I'm not going to make it to our appointments." I gave him a "you better be joking" look, and said "Um, okay." Sure enough he wasn't joking and he called his companion. Just as they started talking, the next contraction started coming and I yelled for Robert. He came and held my hand but still continued talking on the phone. For those of you who have labored before can imagine how NOT okay I was with this. So at the peak of my contraction I screamed at him, "JUST HANG UP, NOW!!!!!!!" He obeyed ;)

Continuing with the story, Katie got to the hospital at about 5:00pm. When they checked me just after 5:00pm I was dilated to a 4 and 90% effaced. I warned the nurse that with Lydia I went from a 4 to complete in less than an hour. She got everything ready just in case. At 6:00pm they checked me again and I was 4 and 100% then just after 7:00pm I was complete. Here's my "Yay for being complete!" picture.

Yes, that is a barf bag. I was super cold, thirsty, and nauseous the last couple of hours of labor and through the delivery

Since I had the epidural I was still comfortable enough to wait so they said as long as I wasn't in unbearable pain I should try to wait until 8:00pm to push so that they could do the second round of antibiotics at 7:30pm and it would have time to get into my system. So we sat and visited for another hour. Just before 8:00pm Dr. Scott Jacob came in, set up, and I started pushing. Less than 5 minutes later, our beautiful Mary Eliza came into the world at 8:07pm. Yes you heard that right. I pushed for less than 5 minutes. It happened really fast!

Our happy tear-filled faces seconds after Mary was born

She was finally here!! The moment was indescribably joyous. Then Dr. Jacob said something that made Robert and I freeze, time stop, and my heart sink.

"Now if we could just get her to breathe..."

Out of the box! Out of the box!

(Does anyone remember that show?)

In an effort to be prepared for the unexpected as far as when Mary would arrive, I slowly started packing a month and a half before we had to move and planned on being completely packed 2 weeks before her due date/our apartment contract expiration date. Needless to say, having a toddler slowed me down a ton, so we still had to rush packing and cleaning at the end.  Finding different ways to entertain Lydia while I tried to pack was... fun... Things that I thought would entertain her for at least a half hour would last 30 seconds, and vice versa, but we managed.

Fun with boxes

Tape on the face - This is one I thought would entertain her for a few seconds, but she kept that tape on her face for almost 45 minutes. She kept looking at herself in the mirror and laughing.

Playing pretend for example, the crib frame became a jail :) She didn't fall for this one for long.



And singing the Blue's Clues Mail Song over and over because Lydia loves it



There were lots of sentimental things that I wanted to do before we left this second home of ours. Take pictures of the outside and inside and the surrounding neighborhood etc. but life got too crazy. Suffice it to say that mine and Robert's second home, the home we brought both of our first 2 kids home to, will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Special thanks to Aaron and Kaci Cardon, Devin and Autumn Curry, and Trent and Natalie DeVore, for all of the help they gave us cleaning and moving and for all others who were willing to help but couldn't because of time constraints and what not. We are blessed with wonderful friends!