a ONE year old

I cannot BELIEVE my baby is turning one next Tuesday!

I know everyone says that... add me to the choir. But really, it's shocking. 

I have been reminiscing a lot this summer, thinking about how I spent the whole 2014 summer in the hospital pretty much. Between hospital bed rest before Dylan came, having him, and then him being in the NICU for 7 weeks, I got to know the UVRMC like the back of my hand.

This summer is the total opposite. Every night there is something going on, whether it's going for runs up Provo Canyon, swimming at 7 Peaks, taking Dylan on strolls around the neighborhood... we have had so much fun. 

Dylan update: 

He is really a slow poke on his milestones. He started army crawling around 11 months and has started normal crawling in the last few days, although he is still slow and resorts to army crawling if he really wants to get somewhere fast. He was sleeping 11-12 hours per night for 2 months or so, but lately I can hardly get him to eat anything and he's waking up once at night hungry. He has his 2 lower incisors and is working on his upper incisor right now.. it's just starting to poke through which may also be waking him up. He is very chatty, very ticklish, and I just adore him.

I have decided to post some pictures of when Dylan was first born because I love these pictures, they are so special to me. I love seeing Dylan's progression and remembering that time of my life. It was hard and scary, but also full of tender and special moments. I remember being so scared when my water broke and I knew Dylan was coming 6 weeks early. Looking back on it, I am SO glad he came 6 weeks early. Because of that, the surgeon who is very well known for improving gastroschisis surgeries and who worked at Primary Children's (and still does) did his surgery. And I think he did such an amazing job. His scar is small compared to some others we've seen, and his bowels are working perfectly. In fact a little TOO well lately if you ask me..

This was taken a few hours after he was born.

This next picture was 3 days later, the day of his surgery. Most of the intestines had gone back inside his body just from gravity, although Dr. Downey did come by every day and twist a little more inside, poor buddy.

This last picture is a few days after his surgery was done. It took another 8-9 weeks before that scab fell off. 

He was a tiny 3 pounds in those pictures. Here's my robust, healthy boy now.. 

I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us. All I know is that it will be a blast with my favorite little buddy by my side!

But now I must go.. because Harry Potter awaits me. I'm rereading all the books again and it just tickles me every time. JK Rowling really outdid herself. I chuckle every few minutes as I'm reading and Taylor always makes fun of me. There are just so many little funnies in there! 

Anyway, goodnight friends. Until next time, which will probably be another few months if we're being realistic :)

8 months for my D-Trace and Easter Sunday

I have an 8 1/2 month old! It has been the best 8 months (and hardest of course) but really the best. Dylan lights up my days so much, and I am overwhelmed with love for my sweet boy. I tell him he is "so cute" probably 20 times a day, because I just can't help myself.

Dylan performed an Easter miracle last night and slept 11 hours, going 12 hours without being fed. THIS. DOES. NOT. HAPPEN.
at our house... ever.

He was doing pretty well going 8-9 hours without being fed at night, and then BAM. Teething rocked all of us something fierce. He started waking up 1-2 times a night having absolute meltdowns. He would cry for like 1-2 hours and Tylenol wouldn't help. Only milk would finally calm him down. But the worst seems to have passed, and last night was definitely his best night ever. Crossing my fingers it might happen again?? But trying not to get my hopes up too high...

In other milestones, he sits up well, is enjoying solids (sweet potatoes and pears are his favorites so far) has started sleeping mostly on his side and sometimes his tummy, doesn't have any teeth yet but the bumps on his gums are gigantic so it's gotta be soon..and babbles like a banshee. "Dadadadadadada and gagagagagogogogoo" are on repeat over here all the day long lately.

He weighs 16 pounds and hasn't been sick since before Thanksgiving. I just knocked on wood because I really don't want to jinx that! It's been wonderful! His belly looks so good too. He still totally has a Buddha-belly, and I don't know if that's from a belly full of intestines all over the place, or if it's just his baby fat. Usually your intestines are in a very specific place in your body, but there's no way for the surgeon to put them back in like that, so he pretty much just stuffed them in. There is a risk of an obstructed bowel or the bowel looping wrong, but so far so good.

For Easter, we spent the day at Taylor's sister's house in West Jordan. It was so much fun- all of his siblings and their spouses were there (and the kiddos)-- we were just missing his parents because they've been sick :( We ate the most delicious dinner, went for a walk, had a mini Easter egg hunt, and listened to our dear prophet and general authorities speak to us at general conference.

 I love hearing from the wonderful men and women who lead our church, and was inspired by the messages shared. I really loved the talk about the men in our lives--the fathers, brothers, spouses, etc. who have such an influence in our homes. I felt such gratitude in my heart that I married a man who puts God first, and invites the spirit into our home. Since Dylan was born, we really can't go to the temple together anymore because we don't want to get a babysitter more than we already are for me to be able to work. So Taylor schedules in our temple trips every month into his planner, which day he will be going and which day I will be going. I miss going with my husband, but I love that he makes sure we both can go on our own at least while the other stays at home with Dylan.

Yes, we did try to match for Easter :)

My heart is full for the many blessings that I have. I love my Savior and am thankful for his atoning sacrifice for all mankind. Because of Him, families can be together forever. Because of Him, I can become more than I am today--I can become the person that I want to be with His help.

On another note, I am pleased to say that Taylor has 1.5 weeks until he is DONE with his first year of Physical Therapy school. I am so proud of his hard work and the sacrifices he makes to get good grades. And in 3 weeks it's off to Pocatello for us for his first clinical! Woohoo!

a baby transformed and 2015 goals

I am kind of loving this blog post idea that everyone is doin, so I'm going to jump on the bandwagon. But first I have to do a little Dylan update, because let me tell you... things are going well my friends. He goes to the doctor tomorrow morning so I can't wait to see what his stats are!

I seriously feel like I have a whole new baby on my hands! Dylan is HAPPY! He squeals and makes little giggles, but won't full on laugh yet. But he is the smiliest little guy and has finally decided life is pretty fun. And getting Dylan to nap and go to sleep at night has drastically improved over the last two weeks. It used to be that he would just cry and cry if I just put him in his crib. He demanded rocking and he basically had to be completely asleep before I laid him down, otherwise he'd get very angry and wake up repeatedly. But all the sudden he is okay with me helping him wind down a little bit with a book or lullaby, and then I swaddle him and put him in his crib and half the time he doesn't cry at all, and the other half he cries for 1-2 minutes and then goes right to sleep. 

This is big I tell you! Everyone in our household is better rested and happier, especially me. Haha! My day is honestly ten times easier without the struggle to get him to sleep. 

Some things I'd like to remember: 

 He grins at everyone who grins at him now. He loves to talk and squeal and make himself heard. He loves to help me hold his bottle, and sometimes will hold it on his own for one or two minutes before he jerks his hands away and it falls. He is REALLY wiggly and will hardly ever just be still so I can burp him--he has to have his head up looking around. He grabs at anything and everything, most often my fingers, my hair (and it hurts) his clothes, my clothes, the burp cloth, and all toys. Everything goes to his mouth and he goes to town exploring things with his tongue. He LOVES bath time now that it's in the big tub, and kicks his legs like crazy as he coos and smiles. He made the jump to size 2 diapers last week after having 3 blowouts in 4 days. Before that, I could count on one hand how many blowouts Dylan has had. He's still wearing some newborn pants and 0-3 month pants, and mostly 3 month onesies now. He will be 6 months old on January 21st, but his adjusted age is almost 5 months!

Taylor has had the not-so-good fortune of discovering most of Dylan's blowouts... hahaha. This picture was not staged.

 After bath time!

Intense licking session. With his cousin's toy no less.

Ok now on to our new years goals. Taylor and I took these VERY seriously this year. We printed out calendars to help us keep track of scripture study, prayer, dinners, etc. We have our family goals posted on our fridge. We both felt like we were kind of in a rut and wanted to make some changes, and so far we are doing awesome! I won't give you all the boring details, but I am going to fill out this fun little diddy that everyone is doing, so here we go. 

A Bad Habit I'm Going To Break:  Getting on social media 20 times a day. My goal was to only be on social media two times a day, and it's hard!  It's so easy every time I'm bored to pull up instagram or facebook. I haven't been perfect at this goal yet, but I'm way better and quite proud of myself. My house is way cleaner too :) 

A Destination I'd Like To Visit: With gas prices so low, I really am pining to take a road trip. And after reading the news on KSL today, I've found out all the free entry days to national parks in Utah. Haha, I'm such a Burnham. But really, I would love to take a trip to Zion this year. Ultimately I am dying to go see the Grand Canyon though. I went when I was young but I really don't remember much. And my patient this week was telling me all about his trip there and how awesome it was. So that's definitely on the list. 

I'm Going To Work Harder At: Exercising! I mean really... pumping is pretty awesome exercise, and takes care of all those sweets I love to eat, but I don't think it entirely counts (even though I wish). I need to get my heart pumpin! I didn't exercise much at all towards the end of my pregnancy, and hardly since. So, my goal is 2-3x/week to exercise purposefully :) So far, Jillian Michaels has been kickin my behind on her videos. It's great though! I feel better already and still want to get back into running when it warms up a little more.

A Project I'd Like To Finish: If you've been to our apartment, you know we have about 2 million wedding pictures all over the place. There are pictures of Dylan in his room, but other than that there is only ONE lone picture of Dylan elsewhere in the house. So my project is to print out our family pics and replace some of those wedding pictures. And to do a little picture collage for our front room that I've got in mind. One of these Fridays I don't work, that's on my to-do.

A Class I'd Like To Take: While I was at BYU I took beginning and intermediate clogging. Turns out, my teacher at BYU is actually in our ward and he's the primary chorister and I'm the primary pianist. He owns a clogging studio with his wife and they have an adult clogging class and I want to take it! Unfortunately I work during the time the class is... but someday. I think it'd be a blast. Especially if my sister Jan takes it too :) Right Jan? She's clogged a lot more than I have... so she'd definitely be showing me up! 

I'd Like To Spend More Time Doing: Music. I really miss having a piano. One day we will have a piano, but probably not for awhile. So I'm enjoying my calling, because I at least get to play at church once a week. 

A Food I Want To Eat More Of: weeeelllll. I am not a vegetable lover by any means, but I am trying to like them. I have successfully turned myself into a brocolli-liker, so there's that. I am trying to like beans too, that's kind of my next project... wish me luck :) But if I'm being perfectly honest, I would love to eat more cookies, ice cream, and Cafe Rio. Lol.

I Want To Wear More: All the things popping into my mind are summer things. Shorts... swimsuits... flip flops... because if I was wearing those, it would mean it's warm. Can you tell I'm looking forward to spring? Today was really warm here and I loved it! 

Books I'd Like To Read In 2015: I'm reading the Book of Mormon currently (started on January 1st) and plan to read it twice this year maybe. At least once, and then maybe I'll work on some D&C, but we'll see. Entertaining books I want to read... I'm curious to read Jim Gaffigan's books.. he's a comedian who I find quite amusing...and I'd also like to read Paper Towns by John Greene-- he wrote The Fault In Our Stars, which I did love. And there's going to be a movie for Paper Towns too, so of course I gotta read the book first. Has anyone read it? I'm curious if it's good!

Cheers to an amazing 2015 with these darlings!