A+L Chronology

Monday, October 22, 2012

Wild-man.

Spending time on this blog is really the very last thing I should be doing right now. I've got a big big midterm paper due tomorrow that I have barely thought about, suitcases overflowing with clothes on the floor after a weekend getaway, and a handful of family flying into town in 48 hours (!!!).

It's just that procrastination is soooo easy with this delicious babe around. I mean, when the choice is between cuddling with a little wild-man or paper writing, is it really a choice? I mean just look at him:

I mean, come on!
Wild-man wins.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Life lately in phone pictures.

Things have been busy/fun/tiring/stressful/great during our first month in State College. Visitors, school starting, weekend adventures, a roly-poly baby, and just getting settled have made me a bad blogger. Some day soon I hope to upload the millions of pictures from my real camera onto this here blog, I also hope to fashion some sort of time machine in order to find the minutes to accomplish this feat. Until then, thank heaven for cell phones with cameras and internet so I can show my momma that we are still alive. So, hi, momma! Hope you like the pictures! Wish I could talk more but that blasted time machine isn't going to build itself.

ox.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

We've Moved.

Whoa.

If there are other words to say right now, I can't think of them.

The last two and a half weeks of our lives have been crazy. Actually, let's just go ahead and say that the last two and a half months have pretty much made my head nearly explode. New baby. Big/huge/ENORMOUS move. Etc.

However, today I write this post with so much gratitude in my heart. To be honest, it's a really surprising feeling. The blessings have been overflowing for us lately, and although it's been tough, like the TOUGHEST thing ever, here we are, all together, in Pennsylvania in our new little home and it's really something.

You see, a few months ago I mentioned that Adam had applied for a number of PhD programs around the country, and I can't believe I haven't announced until now on this blog (I blame a hefty amount of denial) that from the number of offers he received, he chose Penn State's program, in State College, Pennsylvania. 1,944 excruciatingly long miles from Logan. From family. From friends. From Utah.

The time between Adam making this decision and now has been the most wild of roller coaster rides for me. The kind that go from 0-1000 mph in a split second. The kind were your feet dangle and there are loops and hills and your eyelids stretch out from the speed. The kind where you definitely could throw up. The kind where one second it's fun and the next you want them to stop the ride because it's just too scary. However, somehow, just when you think there's no way that you will get through something, a roller coaster ride or something else altogether, before you know it, through God or moxie or family or friends, you do that thing and you can hardly believe it.

So, I squeezed each of my siblings and parents goodbye, cried harder and more than I ever have, and we packed up all of our belongings into 16 feet of truck and drove from Logan through Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and made it to Pennsylvania. There was the strangest moment of realization there when we got into Nebraska, a place of uncharted territory for both Adam and I, where we looked at each other with our eyes glazed over and Adam mentioned how we were really, really, grown ups, doing this big grown-up thing together as a little family with a kid (a kid!) in the backseat. Just crazy.

Now here we are, at our new home in State College. I miss my sister. I miss my Mom. I call my Dad too much and text my brothers constantly, but somehow it's not as empty as I expected. We have each other, Ad, Redd, and me, and we think State College is where we are supposed to be, far as it may seem from every freaking thing we know. It is pretty, too. Real pretty. That helps a lot.

Feast your eyes on some gems Ad took:

The outskirts of State College

Penn State

The now infamous Paterno Library

Penn State's Beaver Stadium

Penn State's Old Main

Downtown

More Downtown

Now, when are you coming to visit? We have 3 bedrooms. I'm sure the fall in the East is lovely. Think about it.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Because I'm obsessed...

Oh man, he's delicious.

I could eat my computer. Serious.

Also, isn't Ad talented? He took all of these suckers. What a catch.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

That time we had a baby.

I think about the day Redder got here every day. It was crazy, and exhausting, and scary, and so wonderful. I won't be putting an in-dept birth story here, but here are some thoughts I've had since:

1. In an attempt to get baby to come on his own, in the day or two prior to his scheduled induction date I resorted to the following tactics to try and bring him here naturally: Mowing the lawn, hiking up and down the Old Main Hill steps, accupuncture, accupressure, spicy foods, pineapple, bouncing on a medicine ball, squats, walking walking walking, and PLENTY of others. This did NOT bring a stubborn, week over-due baby out faster. Don't try them. You will just be tired after. And your mouth will be on fire.

2. Since he wasn't coming on his own we got to the hospital a little before 6 am on May 10 to start the induction. Baby boy came just a short {NOT} 14 hours later at 9:19 pm. Two hours of which were pushing. AND PUSHING. Have mercy.

3. I took every drug they would give me. Every. One. And I still screamed my head off during all that pushing. People who do that nonsense naturally, you are crazy, and awesome, and I'll never understand it.

4. When I saw that little sucker's face I knew I would've pushed for another million years if I had to if it meant he would be mine. With the help of an epidural, obviously, but I would've done it, nonetheless.

5. Due to a stupid fever I spiked while in labor, poor little baby had to be admitted to the NICU for a few extra days. It was torturous. We couldn't wait to get those cords off him and get him home. This resulted in hours spent in that little NICU room with Ad, staring at our little babe and at each other, wondering what the heck had happened to us, what we were going to do with this little thing, and how we got soooo lucky.

Here's a picture or two from the day. I'm sure there will be millions more to come.

We can't help snapping the heck out of everything he does with our cameras:

Just checked in, so blissfully ignorant.

Brand new babe

Proud Daddy

Sweet sleeping boy

Thrilled Grandparents #1...

...and #2

Poor little head IV

First day as a Mama

The days since have been tough, and tiring, and a total roller coaster, but holy cow he is a precious little thing, and I'm certain I'd do it all again and again {like I said, with the assistance of heavy medication. Mean it).