Weekend Update: Campfire, 24 hour shifts and a perfect Sunday

This picture happened on Tuesday, but it's still super awesome...

 Our good friend Anna (check out her stuff) is a photographer and was asked to get a picture of someone praying to be used in devotional. This is a picture of the picture they used! Famous husband.

Moving on...

Friday:

+We did the usual school and work
+Campfire with the Muench's! We finally hung out with our friends the Muench's! Tom and Bob's parents have a firepit in their yard so we went out there and roasted hot dogs and made s'mores! Tom and Kimberly have an almost 10 month old boy, Kyler, and Bob and Shaini have an almost 8 month old boy, Will. Maelie is barely 5 months old and already has boyfriends! Just kidding, they mostly just stare at each other.
+Friday night ended with a fun little allergy attack before going to bed. Thank goodness for Benadryl.

Saturday:

+David had a 24hr. fire station shift starting at 8am in Idaho Falls.
+While on shift he got to watch the swift water rescue training!
+This 24 hour shift was so much better for Maelie and me because we had friends to hang out with the whole time! My roommate Meagan was in town visiting and spent the whole day with me!
+Meagan, Carrie and I went to the temple in the morning (Kimberly and Tom watched Maelie--THANK YOU!)
+After a quick lunch Meagan and I got our hairs trimmed
+Then Cyndi, Carrie, Meagan and I watched Les Mis, per Meag's request. It came out one month after Meagan went to the MTC. Such a good movie.
+Michael Metcalf came over to meet Maelie and to hang out with us for a little bit.
+I was able to recruit Meagan to sleep at my house so I wasn't alone. We finally got to talk about her mission and just catch up!
+And another allergy attack

 

 

 

Maelie watching Les Mis..... :)

She just stared at Michael Metcalf the whole time.

Sunday:

+Sunday was perfect. Early 9:30 church
+1pm Naptime!
+4pm USA v. Portugal with the Buys'
+Make tacos at half time
+ALMOST beat Portugal (ugh)
+Monopoly Deal
+Midnight Cookies
+4th Of July camping plans!
+Finally...you guessed it...an allergy attack.

It looks like she's really into it...she really just wanted to eat the cards.

David checkin' out Kent's veins

Weekend Update: Temple Day and Father's Day

Friday:

+The long drive to Boise. It didn't used to be that long, but with a baby it seems so much longer! She slept until Jerome this time.
+This night began a streak of sleeping through the night for little Miss Maelie...and that streak is still going! :)

Saturday:

+Preston had is last soccer game of the season. Their team was the Animal Ninjas (awesome) and Matt was the coach! The even got trophies!
+We did a whole bunch of relaxing and playing throughout the afternoon on Saturday
+Maelie's cousins loved on her, told her stories, and made her laugh. She loves them
+At 6pm everyone gathered at the temple to be with Kanon while he received his endowments. It was beautiful. This was also the first time I left Maelie for longer than 2 hours (3.5 to be exact) with someone other than David. I think I did pretty well all things considered. Pyper probably thought I was crazy when I gave her instructions before we left, but whatever!
+After the temple everyone came back to mom and dad's house for root beer floats and visiting!
+At about 10pm we all decided was the best time to do our Father's Day shopping......whoops! I was mistaken and thought Boise would have a better pocket knife selection than Rexburg...FALSE. Well at least not at 10pm the night before Father's Day.
+We then proceeded to stay up until about 2am (woof).

Maelie smiling and cousin Preston

Listening intently to Preston's stories

Sunday:

+Maelie and I gave David his Father's Day gifts, which was a bag of beef jerky and a card saying he can go pick out a pocket knife....fail.
+9am church (killer after staying up until 2am)
+Pyper gave a talk about the Book of Mormon, but she didn't tell anyone she was speaking! She did awesome.
+After church everyone came home and helped mom prepare a big lunch of all different kinds of pasta, pizza and salads! Plus a homemade pie and delicious brownies for dessert.
+We gave Dad his Father's Day gifts and then lounged around for a few hours.
+Around 4pm we were back on the road to Rexburg. Maelie only made it to Twin Falls this time, and needed food, but then she slept the rest of the way!
+She was SOOO happy to be back home and she let us know too. :)

All the fathers in my life!

She was loving Uncle Zach

Weekend Update: Pillsbury Dough Maelie?

Of course just when I think my weekends are going to be full of fun adventures, I have a weekend with no adventures at all. I'll still try my best....I made a commitment!

Friday:
+The only awesome thing we did was get Kari Anne's Italian Ice..again. Of course no pictures. Fail.
+I was in bed at 9:30...so lame.

Saturday:
+David let me sleep in until 10!!! Hallelujah. It was awesome.
+Meal planned on my trusty new dry erase weekly meal planner!
+Grocery shopped for said meals
+David had a shift at the hospital from 2pm-2am so Maelie and I were on our own the rest of the day!
+We went for a super long walk with our friend Anna

It's just a picture frame with scrapbook paper and stickers as the calendar part. So genius!

Sunday:
+Church
+The making of Pillsbury Dough Maelie
+Family nap time!
+Dinner with my cousin Jamie who I hadn't seen for 5 years!
+FaceTime with the family. My parents even FaceTimed with Mercedes. It was like a double FaceTime! Hilarious.
+This has nothing to do with me but KANON WENT TO A SINGLES WARD ACTIVITY. That's where the last two pictures were taken. He's supposed to still be a chubby little baby. 

David's hilarious discovery while changing Maelie out of her church clothes....HA!

Meeting cousin Jamie for the first time

So pretty Kanon

Ward Prayer thugs...or thung? Typo Spenc?

Note: As you can see the menu board says "HOME!" on Friday and Saturday. Yes---after a lot of convincing (me convincing David), we are going to Boise again this weekend to go to the temple with Kanon for the first time! Exciting times people!

Weekend Update: Graduation, Moving and an Elder!

Since most of the 'fun' things in our life happen on the weekends, I've decided to do a "Weekend Update" series. As most may know, I'm not a consistent blogger, but I want to get better. So why not start with a once a week commitment? Especially now that it's summer, I think we have something planned almost every weekend until we leave Rexburg! Hopefully this commitment also makes me remember to take pictures. 

Anywho--here's the update:

Friday:

+Drive to Boise--We didn't even stop once! Maelie slept until Mountain Home and just played with her toys the rest of the way! She didn't even make a peep until we took the Eagle exit. Victory!
+Play with and help the Ogle's and Garner's pack up and clean their house. I'll be honest, we got there at like 8pm and it was mostly done. We pretty much just played. :)
+Reunite with Meagan who just returned from her 18 month mission and moved to Boise to work as a Massage Therapist.
+Catch up with Josh and Brooke Millward- always a good time.

Saturday:

+Baby brother, Kanon graduates! Granny, Papa and Uncle Paul all came up to Boise for Kanon. Maelie did not like the fog horns people were blowing for their graduates; graduation was also right during morning nap time....grouchy baby.
+Lunch at the parents house to celebrate Kanon. Heather, Sunny, Brian, Jamie and Ryker came to party and congratulate Bubba too.
+Kanon was then ordained to the office of Elder and given the Melchizedek Priesthood. Dad, Papa, Uncle Paul and the brothers in law were able to be there to help in that ordinance (Uncle Kurt is on vacation in Florida!!! Lucky).
+Help Ogle's unload their U-Haul at their new house (in under 30 minutes) and start unpacking

Sunday:

+9am church, Mom taught Relief Society beautifully and used this talk as her guide.
+Drove back to Rexburg. This time we nearly made it all the way, but about an hour in Maelie had a little crying fit, we stopped and got her out of her seat, she had a huge burp and was happy as can be the rest of the way. Not bad.
+I also found these pretty pictures on my phone just as we left Boise....

Weekend Update: Memorial Day

We had our first long weekend of the semester and it was a success! Now just counting down the days until our next one (4th of July--37 days)!

Friday:

 +Mexican restaurant with Kent and Anna 

 +Wal Mart perusing

 +Kari Anne's Italian Ice (the best thing ever)
 +Back to Kent and Anna's apartment to watch funny YouTube videos

Hulk and Spiderman

TMNT...This pictures makes me die laughing every time.

Saturday:

+David had a 24 hour shift in Idaho Falls

+Maelie and I stayed home all day and did nothing (best ever!)

Sunday:

 +Church

 +Rest (I couldn't fall asleep and I was very grumpy about that)

 +Play cards with Kent and Anna

Monday (Memorial Day):

 +Mesa Falls with the Buys. This was the funnest little adventure and we couldn't believe none of us had been before...after 4 years of being in Rexburg!

 +Picnic on our way home

 +Naps/relaxing
 +Impromptu BBQ with the Buys

 +Kari Anne's Italian Ice...again. It's that good people.

 +More cards with Kent, Anna, Derrick and Hollie

I love my little family. (Photo Cred. Anna Buys)

PICNIC!!!

Kari Anne's round two. So stinking good. And my hair is crazy.

And there you have it. A successful weekend in the books.

Being a Mother

Hello again. It's been awhile. I've just been adjusting to life as a mom...and, to my surprise, a WORKING mother. To keep that story short, I was given the opportunity to work in the preschools on campus three days a week for just 2 hours a day. I'm actually using my degree! It's a great job and has been a blessing for our family.

Alright, the reason I opened up the blog today is because since becoming a mother I've learned so much and I just want to briefly list the things I've learned so far....

+IT IS HARD!
+The lack of sleep is really not as bad as I thought it would be, but still an adjustment.
+Any woman who has breastfed even one day in their life is my hero (hardest thing ever)
+You AREN'T a failure if you don't/can't breastfeed your baby (again, very hard to accept).
+Listening to your baby cry for an hour or more will definitely get your blood pressure up
+The first time your baby sleeps through the night, you won't. Paranoid.
+Traveling with a baby is always an adventure.
+Packing for said travels nearly kills me. I think I take her whole wardrobe with us every time.
+A sick baby is the saddest.
+Being sick along with your baby is the WORST.
+The thing I hate the most about having a baby is clipping the finger and toenails. So scary!
+Having a husband that takes care of you and lets you sleep while he gets up with the baby while you are sick is the BEST.
+Seeing your baby learn, grow and reach milestones is the coolest thing ever. Like it might be a little weird how excited we get.
+A babies laugh is always adorable, but when it's your own baby it's the most special thing on the planet.
+Slobber is a constant (why do they like sucking on their hands so much?)
+Shots are awful
+Tummy time provides some good entertainment for David and me.
+No matter how fussy she is, she's always the cutest thing in the world.

This is a video that I started making and never finished. David finished* it for me for Mother's Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFUJ-4Oy-1c

*We plan on adding to it as the months go by. :)

Maelie Christine Dominguez

This post is mostly for journaling purposes and may be too detailed for some of you. Proceed at your own risk....if not just go to the bottom and look at the adorable pictures of the baby. :)


Maelie Christine Dominguez was born January 18th at 1:07am weighing 8lbs 1oz and measuring 21.5" long.

It all started Thursday, January 16th, around 5:00pm. I had an appointment at 4pm that afternoon and my induction was scheduled for the next morning. We were hoping the Dr. would tell us that I was dilating on my own and would probably be in active labor before my scheduled induction time. I knew in the back of my mind that this wasn't going to happen because I had had maybe 2 contractions that whole day....and they were hours apart and not strong at all.

The Dr. did NOT tell us that, in fact he said quite the opposite. I wasn't even dilated at all and I most likely wouldn't start without a little bit of help. We decided we wanted to get that help sooner rather than later, so the Dr. placed a foley bulb and sent us on our way. It was about 5pm and as we were walking out of the doctor's office, I had my first real contraction. It made me have to stop walking and hunch over. At that point I kind of got excited because it was working so quickly, I figured I'd be admitted and have that baby in no time!

That excitement quickly left me as the pain of the contractions got stronger and they became more frequent. I was a little sad because my mom was on her way and I was planning on spending the evening with her finishing up the nursery (she had all of the crib bedding and some wall hangings), and just hanging out with my mom, but I quickly learned that I wasn't going to be much fun that night.

We got home and fixed some dinner, I was only able to take 5 or 6 bites before I got nauseous and couldn't even sit up comfortably. I was convinced I was in active labor (I think I'm just a big baby). My mom got to Rexburg around 7pm, I was just laying on the couch starving and miserable. Contractions were coming about 7-10 minutes apart. I threw up twice. Around 10pm contractions were 5-7 minutes apart and I was convinced I was in active labor.

At that point David got home from work and I decided I'd try to lay down in my bed and sleep it out. Two hours and no sleep later my contractions were about 5 minutes apart consistently and I had had it. I got up and went to the bathroom with every intention of putting my shoes on and going to the hospital right then. While in the bathroom I noticed some blood coming from the foley and quickly told David we needed to go. He called the hospital to tell them what was happening, they said come on in and we were off.

We got there about 12:30am, they got me all hooked up and I thought we were good to go, this baby was coming! FALSE. I was only dilated one centimeter, they said the blood wasn't worrisome and sent us home. RUDE. Let's just say I was pretty frustrated and in pain! As we were leaving the nurse told me to take a warm shower or bath and some Tylenol....nothing sounded worse than standing or sitting in a shower or bath. So I was very disobedient and just got back in bed.

All night long contractions were coming every 5 minutes consistently, but I was so discouraged from our visit earlier that I was convinced I was probably still at 1cm, maybe two. So I just sucked it up and stayed home. At 5:30 we called the hospital to see if they were able to get us in for an induction, they told us to call back at 10 (KILL ME). We called at 10 and I actually got to talk to my doctor. He was very sympathetic and told me they might not be ready for me until around 1 or 2pm (BLAH!), but he also said if I absolutely can't stand the pain anymore, to come in and they'd get me going. I said to David, "I'm probably only like 3cm at the most, so I guess we should just stay here until later" (yes...I was very grumpy and starving). So we waited. We called at 1pm and the nurse very frantically said, "Call back in 15 minutes". So we called again at 1:15 and they FINALLY said we could come (best news ever).

We got to the hospital about 1:40 (I was moving pretty slow, alright), got checked in and all hooked up, this time it was finally happening! Dr. Codd came in to check me, to my pleasant surprise I was at 6 almost 7cm!!!! When he said that I didn't believe him...I even said, "Wait, are you serious?" And I made him say it again. I was SO happy. He removed the foley bulb and in the same movement broke my water...I was officially having this baby!

I got my epidural, and the waiting game began. At this point I felt better than ever and hungrier than ever, but of course I couldn't eat. Ice was my best friend since I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before (because I threw up my dinner...sorry). I tried my best to get some sleep, but with the Dr. and nurse coming in so frequently to check on me, that didn't go very well. Honestly, I was just so happy to not be in pain anymore that I didn't really care.

I was slowly progressing, but at about 11pm, I was only dilated to a 9.5 and there wasn't any way that last 1/2cm of cervix was going to dilate. This was the case because little girl decided to be posterior, which I know isn't impossible to deliver that way, but she was also transverse...meaning her head was turned to the side making it impossible for her to engage and help that 1/2cm dilate. 

I have the greatest Dr. in the world and he tried everything under the sun to get little Maelie's head to turn and to avoid a c-section. I even pushed for about 45 minutes to see if me adding that little bit of pressure would help at all--nothing. So into the O.R. I went. 

To my surprise I didn't even cry when the decision was made! My whole pregnancy I was so scared and thought I'd be so sad if I had to have a c-section, but when it all came down to it, I knew it was the right thing for me and the baby. I felt so at peace while the whole thing was happening, it was kind of weird, but so good for me, because of how much I didn't want it to happen.

At 12:45am I went into the FREEZING operating room (I think they put like 4 heated blankets on me before I was comfortable), the nurses got me and the room all prepped and 20 minutes later (it seemed way longer than that), at 1:07am, I had a beautiful little girl with TONS of spiky black hair! It all seemed so surreal. For 9 months I had picture my delivery being lots of pushing, intense work, and maybe some screaming on my part, but I just laid there as calm as can be and the next minute I had a baby. It was beautiful.

They held little Maelie up for me us to see her, then whisked her away to the NICU (standard c-section procedure). As the docs sewed me back up they were just chatting away, guessing the baby's weight (when they heard she was over 8lbs they were both shocked!), talking about doctor things, and I just laid there listening in a state of happy delirium. The nurses brought our little girl to us and we could not have been happier. She looked just like her daddy.

Then David got to go with her and the nurses to giver her a bath and get her cleaned and bundled up for our first night as a family of 3. We got back to the recovery room around 2am and all I wanted was food and to hold my baby. The nurse would only let me eat jello and a piece of toast....I could have eaten a 7 course meal.

Family!!!

After her bath, she hates them....well mostly after bath coldness makes her angry! 

Maelie Christine Dominguez. Middle name after David's mom, Grandma Christine, who passed away 5 years ago. 

They both passed out hard one day...also, they are twins. She looks just like her Daddy.

David always tries to tell me she isn't a dress-up doll...but it's too hard not to!

She smiles in her sleep. I love it.

Wide awake! Her hair kills me.

We helped my friend, Anna, with a school project entitled "Mother's and Daughters". David snapped this 3 generation picture while we were there. I feel so lucky to be in the position of daughter AND mother in this picture.