Running in Circles

January

  Started my wellness internship at ScenicView Academy, ran the St. George half marathon with Martin Wright and PR'd, went to the Jazz game, felt different, took a pregnancy test..or two or three.

   Went to basketball games, worked on the Jetta, kept running to ease morning sickness, had to wait and see if insurance would cover my pregnancy, and survived morning classes (barely).

March

 Told our families we were pregnant, baby had her first picture taken, celebrated my 22nd birthday

April

 Finished a semester of classes, found out our baby was a GIRL, Melanie and kris got hitched, Brice started his internship in Iowa, we missed each other, started Spring classes, and taught Pilates four hours a week

May

  Lots of Skyping and missing one another, my stomach grew bigger, obviously forgot to take any pictures

June

  Reunited and it felt so good, had a lot of free time while Brice worked, enjoyed the days with family, watched Brice play on a softball team

July

 John Deere party of all parties, baby kicked a lot, sweaty in Midwest humidity, still running 40+ miles a week

August

 Road trip back home, 18 hours in the car, celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary in Bear Lake with our friends Matt, Emily, and Eli, spent three long days welcoming freshmen to BYU via New Student Orientation

September

  Started Fall semester, wondering if we would both survive with a newborn, kept running along, cut my hair..couldn't decide if I liked it, belly grew even bigger!

October

   Due date comes and goes, spent hours bouncing on stability ball, got induced, had a baby, welcomed Hazel Rae Johnson into the world and into our family. The best day ever!

November

 Learning how to be a parent, fell so in love with our sweet babe, enjoyed Thanksgiving, started running again after taking 3 weeks off, Hazel is mostly sleeping through the night.

December

  Survived finals, made lots of chocolate chex mix, visited Temple Square, spent a week in California, got spoiled rotten from Santa, enjoyed a few days with Doug & Lucinda and Hannah & Andrew

2012 
... a year of ups and downs, learning and growing, small trials and incredible blessings. 

Tonight we say Adios 2012 and hola to 2013!

On Wednesday night Hazel got to join us at her first BYU Basketball game. She slept through most of it, except when we started scoring a lot- she would wake up looking very concerned. It was really fun to get out and do something fun together.

Thursday morning we woke up and hiked the Y. 

For the first half I carried Hazel in the baby Bijou. It felt like I was pregnant all over again and traded Brice for the backpack. Hazel was wonderful and fell asleep for most of the hike. I couldn't believe how exhausting the hike was for me...and I was quick to tell Brice..probably too often too! I've been running more and more each week but oh boy!! It felt really good to be sore the next few days!

I didn't get any pictures but we really enjoyed spending our Saturday night with Hannah and Andrew and the Wright Family. They made our favorites for dinner and spent the evening playing games with us. We played a few fun paper games and then played a few rounds of Murder in the Dark in the basement. Playing that game brought back a lot of fun memories for Brice and I. 

(Thanks Davo and Whitney for the weekend at the cabin.)

We were really grateful for the few days off from school. Two more weeks and then its Christmas Break! 

 I've been on the wait-list at the library for this book since early July! Finally this week it was all mine. I finished it in hours. 

I  couldn't put it down. 

It made me so grateful for life.

So grateful for family. 

So grateful for my sweet babe who looks at me with such innocent eyes. 

So grateful for my body. It may not be what I want it to look like, but it is so capable of so many things- especially the everyday things that I take for granted. 

So grateful for my husband-for loving me and promising to spend eternity with me. 

So grateful for the gospel. For a loving Father in Heaven who loves and protects his children.

Read this book and you will walk a little taller and have a smile on your face all day- it just makes you feel good and want to be better.

I cannot believe how fast the last few weeks have gone by. Hazel is already a month old and we are a week away from Thanksgiving break. I just finished my application for April graduation from BYU and will only have 8.0 credits next semester to graduate. I will also be teaching Pilates again for BYU. Brice continues to work hard at his job, in his classes, and on his motorcycle! 

It is so fun for me to watch Brice with our babe. As I type this he is giving her a bath and telling her how beautiful she is. He is a wonderful husband and father. Life seems to be keeping us busy and on our toes! 

 The timing belt on the jetta broke so we were forced into using most of our savings to pay for it.  I guess those "rainy days" come and we'll start saving and preparing for the next one that is sure to come!

Hazel at ONE month

- Goes to bed between 9:00 and 9:30 and sleeps until 3:00. Eats and goes back to sleep until 6:30-8:00. We are so grateful she is a good sleeper! 

- Comes to classes with me on Weds and is so good!

- Smiles a lot now, but mostly at Brice :)

- Recognizes our voices

- Outgrew newborn diapers last week

- Is eating well and takes a bottle easily when we need her to

- Can hold her head up for quite a long time

- Loves being outside and falls asleep in her stroller as soon as I start jogging

- Has a pretty sad case of baby acne

Looking back I realize the last few posts have only been about Hazel, but what can I say... she is my best buddy and the most important (and time consuming) thing in our lives!

I am in awe in how our lives have changed in the last week. We had a baby- and we fell in love with this perfect little girl!

I spent the week missing classes, resting with my bebe, learning what she needs and wants, and becoming completely smitten with this little person. I feel so grateful for her. She is a very sweet tempered baby. Every night this week, Brice and I have gotten at least 8 hours of sleep! Not what I expected. If we get her in her pj's, lotion her up, feed and burp her, and swaddle her tight around 10:00-10:30 she sleeps until 3:00 am. I feed her, burp her, change her diaper and she goes back down until almost 7:00 am. Repeat routine and she sleeps again until 10:00. Perfect! I get up when Brice leaves at 9:00 and shower, get dressed, make the bed, etc..and am so happy and prepared for the day when she wakes up!

Our days have been a mixture of feedings and naps, walks, errands, and snuggle time! I'm almost a little mad I'm in classes but a wonderful friend has volunteered to watch her so neither one of us have to miss our classes.

This week has changed our lives- but so much more for the better! Happy one week birthday Miss Hazel!

* I did write this on Friday and forgot about posting it. oops!*

I know its been a long time since I blogged, but I was really getting tired of being pregnant and talking about being pregnant! I want to document the birth of our first baby so I never forget and hopefully you'll enjoy some of the details. If not, skip the writings and stare at the pictures of our cute babe!

My due date was October 1st, and that day came and went without any signs of labor. I know it isn't common for a first-time mother to give birth early or on the actual estimated due date, but I was hopeful...really hopeful! After a few ultrasounds and fetal non-stress tests my doctor decided that my amniotic fluid levels were getting too low and I would be induced on Friday, October 5th, 2012. Friday morning we woke up early at 4 am- showered and got ready and drove to the hospital to be there at 5:00 am. Turns out they had a lot of mothers come in and the floor was busy so we just waited in our delivery room for about two hours before they started my I.V. The nurse checked me and said I was only 1.5 cm dilated but about 85% effaced. Pitocin began at 7:00 am and we both napped and read and watched every early morning talk show. you know- real important things! 

Brice has a I.T. Lab on Fridays that he really couldn't miss. So he left to go to campus at about 10:30 and would be back at 1:00. We were pretty sure nothing too exciting would happen in that time. Well about 11:00 contractions started and I realized quickly I was miserable. Laying in bed alone wasn't going to work. I figured out standing up was more comfortable and during a contraction I would take deep long Pilates breaths and push my arms against the cupboards containing all the monitors. I also realized contractions were coming a lot more frequent than I expected- only about 2 minutes apart. I thought this was way too frequent this early- but they lasted like that the entire labor. One o'clock came and went and still no Brice. I was really wanting help there and was so grateful when he got to my room about two. I figured that the lab went late or something and didn't hold it against him. He realized quickly I was in real pain and jumped right in to help me. The nurse checked me again and I was about 4 cm dilated and totally soft. Brice helped me breathe through contractions, he used counter-pressure on my knees, he rubbed my back, and told me how great I was doing and kept reminding me we were going to get to see our baby girl! Of course he had a football game on to glance up on though :)

I was wanting to go without medicine as long as I could so we kept trudging away. At about 5:30 my contractions were lasting so long and becoming so intense I started to lose it. I remember finally yelling "OWWWWWW.. and I don't want to do this anymore. I remember saying I'm done- I'm done with all of this!" We said a prayer real quick and Brice asked Heavenly Father that I could find the strength to continue and receive the relief that I needed. Two more contractions came and went and I decided the pain relief I had prayed for would come from an epidural and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. The anesthesiologist was quick to come and the nurse checked me one more time. I was 8 cm dilated. I knew I was so close but couldn't find the words to say I want to keep laboring. The epidural was placed, instantly I felt numb and relief and got the shakes. The nurse checked me again and reported that I was complete and the baby's head was so low she could actually see it. I was so excited to be almost done, but a little said that I was so close, but had gotten the epidural. 

A few minutes later my sister showed up with dinner for Brice and a smile and encouragement for me. After I saw her I was so thankful for the epidural and the chance to talk with her and call my parents. I know they were sad to be msising out on this experience and it really helped me to see the end was in sight. We ended up waiting over an hour for the doctor to arrive from another delivery and again thanked Brice for helping me and reminding me that getting pain relief was totally okay! We really enjoyed those last minutes of our family only consisting of the two of us. After a few practice pushes with the nurse, Dr. Judd came in. He gave me a pep talk and we got to work. I pushed for about 20 minutes before our little babe came out, cone-headed and squealing. She was born at 8:12 pm. Weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces (big enough to surprise us all) and was 20 inches long.

Immediately I felt the Holy Ghost so strong as I realized we had just been given a gift so precious. I looked at Brice who looked a little shocked but mostly fascinated and I broke down in tears. The rest of delivery happened, jokes were told, my sister was devastated and has sworn off children for a while longer. After a few minutes they gave Brice the baby and he looked at me with tears in his eyes and I just lost it. I cried so hard and when I held her for the first time I just felt a warmth all over my body. She latched on quickly and ate well and we enjoyed every minute together until they gave her a bath. She hated it and she screamed and it made me so sad.

We enjoyed the rest of our evening thanks to company, pain medication, and a dinner from Chipotle. I couldn't fall asleep until almost two in the morning but it was a wonderful night the three of us. We came home Saturday night and have enjoyed Hazel in our home and the love she brings to both of us. I love seeing Brice be a dad. I feel so grateful for life, for our baby, and for the trust given to us by a loving Heavenly Father. 

Hazel has been asleep in her crib for the last two hours and I keep checking on her hoping she'll be awake so I can snuggle her, but instead she is sleeping well- a perfect baby really!