All Things Campbell

Happy Sisters and a Lack of Tantrums

2012-01-20T09:47:00.004-07:00

How I love my two sweet girls. It's such fun to watch them together. Maren gives big gummy smiles to Ivy, and Ivy gets so excited about it every time.

Amazingly, this week has been tantrum-free so far for Ivy. It probably won't last because she is one super emotional child right now, but for the moment, I am definitely appreciating it. I think my ears are especially having a good time because anyone who's ever heard Ivy scream will tell you how LOUD she is. But, for the past few days--nice, quiet sweetness. Maren's gotten to a less fussy stage too. She seems to like hanging out on the floor more than she used to. And now Ivy does too, which is fine, as long as she's not trying to hug (squish) Maren.

Another thing I'm happy about is that Ivy seems to be completely potty trained. I've been hesitant to say that though, because I'm afraid she'll have a setback as soon as I don't expect it. She wants to do every part of going potty by herself, including turning on the light and sanitizing her hands. She's only had one accident in the past two weeks. I taught a lesson in church that Ivy sat in on and as soon as I ended it, she loudly declared, "Ivy need to go poop!" Does that make her officially potty trained?

Dining Area Upholstery

2012-01-17T15:38:00.001-07:00

My sister Michelle and her family just moved to Wisconsin. And we're missing them so much already. But that's another post. Before she left, she had a huge whirlwind remodeling and fixing up her home project. She was crazy busy. So, even though I was 8 months pregnant at the time, I decided to lend what skills I could in order to help her get through the madness (four kids + husband already moved + complete house remodel + 1 month = absolute and most definite madness). I didn't help nearly as much as her sister-in-law Sam, who painted and sometimes repainted every wall in the house and more, but I'm just not quite that selfless.

Michelle had some chairs that had some pretty dirty/ugly upholstery. She also had a breakfast nook that her husband Ty built, but although Ty is a fantastic carpenter, he isn't so much of an upholsterer, so the fabric was looking a little sad. Unfortunately, I forgot to take before pictures. Since this was a rushed project, I had to just go to the store and choose some fabric, hoping she'd like it well enough. I chose Richloom Solarium Cirque in Spring and Waverly Evening Scroll in Stone. Both were 50% off, so it wasn't too bad, considering I had to buy about 8 yards total.

I spent about 5 hours doing the four chairs, including removing staples and taking off the old fabric, which is the least fun part of reupholstering. These chairs were the easiest upholstery project I've done so far.

The next day I came back and spent about 8 hours on the bench. I had sore hands from the staple gun and pretty much an entirely sore body from sitting on the floor with a great big belly, but I was determined to get it done. No matter what.

And I did.

But then, of course, Michelle had to move. I hope the new owners of the house are enjoying the blood, sweat, and tears of the pregnant woman who gave them a lovely new dining bench.

At least Michelle got to take the chairs.

P.S. If you go to Michelle's blog, check out the Monty Python inspired header (designed by me).

2011 in 10 Minutes

2012-01-14T09:35:00.001-07:00

Here's a little review of the past year . . .

Maren Flora Campbell

2012-01-05T08:52:00.013-07:00

2 hours old

1 day old

4 days old

With the family

With her biggest fan

Sleep smiling

Waking up

Sleeping again

Bundled up

Blurry but it makes me happy

Enormous eyes

Getting more social

First smile on camera

With Jared in the wrap

Getting cuter every day

2 1/2 Years Old

2012-01-04T17:18:00.003-07:00

Ivy, Ivy, Ivy.

She's not at her easiest stage right now, let me tell you. As I write this, she's ~~saying~~ yelling no because I told her she can't watch TV until she goes potty. But then, to prove that she's nice too, she says, "Hold me, Mommy" and then climbs onto my lap all sweet-like. She's a constant contradiction, pure sweetness one moment and then filled with hell's fury the next. One thing that is always great, though, is how good she is to her new baby sister. 2 1/2 is not the calmest time, at least at our house, but I do love her. Oh, and she finally has hair!

Gingerbread Fun

2011-12-31T11:19:00.001-07:00

On Christmas Eve, we decided to do something that we've been telling Ivy for months that we'd do at Christmas time . . . make a candy house! Thanks to her love for a little Hansel and Gretel book, she talks about candy houses a bit more than the average person. So, inspired by the picture in her book, we went about making a pretty little house.

Jared made the gingerbread dough and rolled it out and cut it. He glued the house together with royal icing that he made as well. Then, we all decorated it--except Maren, poor thing, she just had to watch. We couldn't quite stay true to the book because Ivy just wanted to do her own thing. But her ideas just made it more fun anyway.

Jared made a whole gingerbread family with the leftover dough. Husbands who bake are awesome. Like Peeta from The Hunger Games, only less fictional.

Maren's Birth

2011-11-13T11:00:00.003-07:00

On November 3rd, three days after my Halloween due date, I woke up at about 3:30 a.m. I couldn't fall asleep for a while, and by 4:00, I realized I was having contractions that ached in my lower back. By 5:00, we called my mother-in-law to come take Ivy just in case things sped up fast. Well, they didn't, so we stayed and talked until about 8:30 before we decided to go to the hospital. By this point, I had to close my eyes and focus during contractions, by they still weren't that bad. Before going to the hospital, I called my midwife, Jennifer Walker, to see if she thought I should go yet. I was lucky because out of a group of several midwives, she was my favorite and she happened to be on call that day. Everything seemed to be going so right. I was mostly just ridiculously excited to be in labor.

We left and said goodbye to Ivy, knowing that next time we saw her would be when she was meeting her new sister. I was really excited for that moment. Ivy had been anticipating the baby's birth more than anyone, I think. On the way to the hospital, Jared and I talked and I remember that the sky looked beautiful as the sun rose above the mountains. It was one of those bright, clear mornings that feel full of promise. I was thinking that when I remembered this day, the physical details of my labor weren't going to be nearly as important to me as the way I felt emotionally. I was so content and just enjoying the comfortable feeling that nothing could go wrong. I just knew everything would be okay.

When we got to the hospital, my midwife checked my cervix and said it was almost too far back to feel because the baby's head was so low. She thought that I was 90% effaced but probably only dilated one centimeter. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. She told me that they wanted to check again in about an hour. So, Jared and I walked around and ate cookies and the contractions still came, but were still not bad. I figured we'd be sent home soon and I wondered if maybe I was imagining that the contractions were stronger than they really were. I went back to get checked and the nurse said she couldn't reach my cervix very well either and that I seemed to still be only one centimer dilated. Then another nurse came in and checked me and said, "Okay, I don't think they were feeling your cervix because you're at least four centimeters!" Now I knew for sure that I was in labor.

When they checked again a couple hours later, I was dilated to a six. I was surprised that it had seemed so easy so far compared to my first labor, which was really intense by the time I was dilated to a four. But then transition hit and it didn't seem so easy anymore. I was relaxing and breathing like I had been, but it just wasn't enough. The back labor was so strong and counterpressure didn't seem to help as much as it had with my first labor. They checked me again and I was still a six. Then again. Still a six. After hours of no progress, I said that if I was a six one more time, I wanted an epidural. I didn't have particularly strong feelings this time about avoiding one because I just felt really confident that everything would be fine. They checked again and although I was feeling the urge to push already, I was still a six. So I got the epidural, mostly because wanting to push when you can't is so very unpleasant, and those last few contractions while they administered it seemed nearly unbearable.

As soon as it took effect, the midwife checked me again and said, "Guess what? You're a nine." Within a few minutes I was fully dilated and feeling pretty great. My head suddenly felt so clear and I was so emotionally there in a way I hadn't been able to be when I was having Ivy because my whole body and mind were overwhelmed with the intense urge to push. It was a little weird not feeling the urge, but I pushed anyway and it took about a half hour to get her out. When she was coming out, the cord was around her neck pretty tight, but the midwife was able to cut it quickly and free her.

When I saw my little baby girl, I got teary and emotional and I just felt so happy. She was adorable, but the first thing I said when I looked at her was, "She doesn't look like Ivy." The epidural had almost completely worn off and I could move easily, but I still felt hardly any pain. No tailbone injury like the first time, no stitches, hardly any tearing. It was so nice. It really couldn't have been better. Maren weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was beautiful, even with a crooked squished nose. It was strange having another baby, but I fell in love with her in no time.

Everything afterwards went extraordinarily well, too. Breastfeeding has been as easy as you can imagine. Maren nursed great from the first time. We left the hospital after 24 hours because I know now how hard it is to sleep there. The first few days after she was born, I kept wondering if I really had just had a baby. I felt that good. Most importantly, Maren is healthy and adorable and cuddly and everything that a newborn should be.

Ivy's Upholstered Bed

2011-07-05T14:33:00.002-06:00

First, let me start off by saying that this upholstery project was SO much easier than the last. Instead of a month, it took less than 2 days. Mostly one day, really.

So, we decided it was time to move Ivy into a regular bed. However, as usual, I wasn't willing to pay the price for a cute bed.

After seeing this bed from Ikea, I thought it would make a perfect frame for upholstering. I googled "upholstered fjellse" and sure enough, other people had already done it. (Manhattan Nest and Organized Design are two examples, but I followed a somewhat different process than they did, especially for the headboard.)

I wanted something bold and colorful for the fabric, but with some of the same colors as the crib bedding. I knew I wanted it to be a large scale pattern and I was drawn to forest-looking scenes, like this duvet and shower curtain from Urban Outfitters. If it weren't for the price, I probably would have bought a duvet and used it, but I bought 3 yards of this fabric instead. It had a similar color scheme and style and was much cheaper.

So, I did some planning.

First, I tried out different fabrics digitally (bed image from Serena and Lily). Here's the one for this fabric:

Then I took lots of measurements and planned the logistics of the headboard:

There needed to be another piece of wood on the upper part in order to make the headboard a consistent thickness all the way up.

Then I drew half of the headboard shape on one paper, then cut it out with another piece of paper in order to have a symmetrical shape:

Then, for the most important step (building the headboard), I got the help of my brother-in-law, Ty, who has killer woodworking abilities. He happened to have some MDF scrap boards around that worked perfectly for the job. First, I used my paper template to trace the pattern on wood. Ty cut the straight lines on a regular saw, glued the two boards together, secured them with lots of screws, and then used a jigsaw to follow the line for the headboard. Then we glued and screwed the now connected boards to the original fjellse frame. (Side note: The frame's two edge wood pieces came up half an inch higher than the top of the headboard, so we just sawed them off in order to avoid cutting notches in the back piece of wood.)

Front:

Back: (The board had a groove down it already, but it didn't get in the way.)

Ivy was already loving it.

Next, I used my paper template to cut the headboard shape in some 1-inch foam.

Then I used hot glue to put it on the headboard. In order to make sure the mattress fit, I ended the foam right where the mattress started (it's pulled away in this picture, so it looks lower, but it's not).

I also put two small pieces of foam on either side of where the mattress would fit.

Next, I stapled batting over the foam. Here's the back of the headboard with two layers of batting attached (I attached the two layers at once to save the effort of stapling it all twice).

And here's the front:

Next came two layers of batting on the side and bottom rails. If I hadn't been concerned about the need to disassemble the bed later, I would have cut off the part of the legs that sticks up and upholstered that as well, but I'd rather be able to take the bed apart later.

Here's all the batting done. I used one bag of queen size batting and it was exactly enough.

My little helper checked that the fabric made a good blanket too.

Then I stapled the fabric to the rails. First, I sewed two strips of fabric together for the side rails so I'd have a less noticeable seam.

Starting the fabric on the headboard:

This next picture shows that I had to add extra fabric to the sides because I bought quilting fabric instead of home decor fabric. I knew it would cause this problem, but I decided it was worth it. Home decor fabric is traditionally 54" while quilting is only 44" so I had to add a bit in order to have enough. Also, in case you're wondering, quilting fabric is NOT as good as upholstery quality fabric. I would never put this on a chair or anything that gets pushed and pulled a lot. For the bed, I think it will be okay, but we'll see over time.

And it's all on!

Just in time for bedtime.

Here it is with Ivy's comforter (also from Ikea).

The full shot:

And no, I'm not going to bother to tuck it in everyday. Way too much work. So normally, the rails won't be showing much, but I like that they're softer now and it wasn't that hard to do. Really, this project was quite easy--besides how sore my hands are from pulling the manual staple gun over 1000 times in a few hours. All the upholstery itself was done in one day--yesterday, actually. The headboard is the only reason it was longer and even that only took an hour and a half. The other good thing about this project is that when I get tired of it and want new fabric on it, I could probably just put it right over the top and make it an even easier job. But for now, I love it.

I've got a lot more projects to show that we've been working on, so there will be more to come soon (for real this time).

Halfway There

2011-06-21T22:24:00.002-06:00

I assume everyone who knows me knows that I'm pregnant. If not, sorry. And now, finally, I'm at the wonderful point in pregnancy where I'm actually glad to be pregnant instead of wallowing in the misery of nausea 24/7. It was a hard time. I didn't care about anything but the next time I could sleep. Then, about three weeks ago, the clouds parted and I felt the motivation to live again. The only thing I managed to keep up on before that, besides taking care of Ivy, was keeping our finances in order. Jared did just about everything else, poor guy. It wore us both out. A lot.

But anyway, I'm having another girl, which we're quite happy about. I had my big ultrasound last week and she appears to be perfectly healthy. Amazing, isn't it, when you barely eat for four months? My due date is October 31, but if my last pregnancy was any indication, she'll be born sometime in November. Ahh, can I just say again how happy I am to be happy again?

I know all ultrasound pictures look the same, but here are a few anyway:

Above: 15 weeks, when we found out she was a girl

At 20 weeks, when we found out she looks healthy

P.S. My mom was the sickest pregnant woman I've ever seen, so, as a kid, when I heard her tell people she had morning sickness, I imagined it spelled "mourning" because it looked so incredibly miserable and it definitely didn't only happen in the morning. I'm so grateful that I don't have it as bad as her.

Happy Birthday, Ivy!

2011-06-15T10:00:00.002-06:00

We celebrated Ivy's second birthday last month. It was a pretty good time, if you ask me. Ivy loved it, anyway, and that's what matters most.

This was Ivy's face as we sang "Happy Birthday"

Because it just didn't look like the cold rainy weather was going to let up, we decided to keep it indoors. We planned on going to Incredible Pizza, but when we got there, it was called Planet Play. Still basically the same place, but it threw me off for a minute. I was afraid Ivy would be disappointed with being indoors. Not. At. All. She pretty much ran around for the entire party and couldn't have been happier. In fact, she was a little disappointed at first when we made her stop for a minute to eat cake and ice cream.

Ivy's store-bought, home-decorated cake

Our wonderful family came to celebrate with us. When each person arrived, Ivy became more and more thrilled. She yelled out the names of those she could say (especially for her new baby cousin) when they walked in the room. She was surprisingly gracious for a two year old.

In my obviously biased opinion, Ivy has become the sweetest child imaginable. Okay, so she throws lots of tantrums and has some attitude, but most of the time? Wonderful.

She loves, loves, loves people, which is, to me, her most important quality. She remembers everybody she meets and gets excited when she sees them again. She makes people feel wanted, and I just hope she does that forever.

Although she's a tiny one (just hit 22 pounds), she's a good eater most of the time. She loves steel cut oats with honey and can eat a whole lot of it in one meal. She loves toast with jam, peanut butter sandwiches, carrots, grapes, and chicken. Unlike most kids, she doesn't care for macaroni and cheese or any kind of pasta, really. But like most kids, getting her to eat green veggies is a challenge.

Nutella drunk

She's not a big talker yet. She's always saying more words, especially at home, but she's pretty shy about talking in front of other people. She's totally blown me away by learning all her letters, upper- and lowercase, on her own initiative. I didn't even think about trying to teach it to her yet, but she loves reading books and is just as interested in the letters as the pictures. A few months ago, she started pointing to letters and asking us to tell her what it is. So, we did, and within no time she was pointing out all the B's, then the O's, then the S's, then the I's (and always saying "I, dot!" for the lowercase i), and then I lost track because she just knew so many. She can't pronounce the names of all the letters, but she can identify all of them when asked. Since she doesn't say L, she just says "Mommy" because she knows L is for Lisa. When we drive, she points out letters on trucks and billboards. I'm probably a little too impressed, but mothers are allowed to be.

Say "cheese"

She has her own sign language and is very expressive. She mimes out everything, makes the appropriate sounds, and moves her body in whatever way it takes to explain what she's trying to say. Since I'm with her all the time and I kind of get to see life through her eyes, I usually understand what she's saying. If she makes a monkey sound and jumps, she's telling us about the trampoline place we went where there was an inflatable monkey. If she squishes her cheeks hard, she's telling us about the time her cousin squished her baby sister's cheeks and got in trouble. When we talk about eggs, she acts out throwing an egg on the floor because of the time she dropped an egg at her aunt's house that was supposed to be hard-boiled, but definitely wasn't. When she sees pictures of Jesus, she taps her chest and pokes her hands and says "Ow, ow, ow" thanks to the BYU Carl Bloch exhibit. Oh, and one of my favorites is the way she grabs her stomach and says "baby, ow!" when her stomach hurts or is too full. She learned that one from me.

Demonstrating what happens when you squish a baby's cheeks

Her favorite movie is Ponyo ("Monyo," according to her) and she wants to watch it everyday. Or more, but we try not to give in. She loves talking about the mommies and daddies in it, and she gets really worried when the kids are alone for a while without parents. She still likes Sesame Street, but she's starting to prefer other shows. I think she's craving real stories now, and I don't blame her. I've always been very excited to share the stories with my children that I loved as a kid. And now I can start.

She always wants to carry a purse to church

A cold day at the zoo

I've always loved whatever age Ivy's been at, but right now is pretty awesome. I love to see her imagination open up and watch how much she enjoys life.

Vampire Fever

2011-02-17T15:33:00.003-07:00

That's right. We've caught it.
And no, it's not of the Twilight variety.

Ivy's fallen for Count Von Count of Sesame Street.

Lately, when Jared and I (or anyone else) are talking about finances and various other topics, Ivy suddenly breaks out in her Count laugh. We sit there for a minute, thinking back on what we just said, because Ivy listens to everything we say, so we know it must relate. Inevitably, we realize we just said the word account, discount, or even councilor. Is she just listening to every word we're saying waiting for us to mention her vampiric muppet crush? She never even misses a beat.

If the video doesn't show up, click here.

But Ivy's not the only one who's caught the fever. For me, it manifests itself in my desire to listen to Vampire Weekend songs over and over again. I love it when music makes you, or practically forces you, to get up and dance. I just can't resist a good rhythm.

2010 Year in Review

2011-01-10T13:54:00.004-07:00

January:

We buy a new home.

February:

We're still reveling in the joy of our new home.

We celebrate our first date 5 years ago on Valentine's Day. (Yeah, I know, what kind of loser goes on a first date on Valentine's?)

March:

We receive a $12,000 tax return (Thank you, federal tax credit!)

April:

We pay off $8000 in student loans.

I write on this blog for what turns out to be the last time for the year. I'm a pathetic blogger.

May:

Ivy starts to walk and say her first real words. (First one after Mama and Dada: bunny)

Ivy turns one.

I get an iPad for Mother's Day/early birthday (And yes, it has changed my life and I love it. Only downside: Ivy now thinks it's hers.)

June:

My grandma celebrates her 100th birthday in style, with BYU football players making an appearance because she's their biggest fan. (Coolest grandma in the world, right? Don't even get me started on her awesomeness.)

Jared gets an iPhone 4 for his Father's Day/early birthday (Yes, we're geeky.)

July:

Jared gets pneumonia.

We take a trip to Bear Lake with my brothers and sisters.

We go to an awesome Paul McCartney concert.

August:

I turn 25. We eat sushi.

My younger siblings, Matt (15) and Jen (17), get a new home with my sister Stephanie. (It's complicated; if you want the details, email me.)

My 35-year-old brother Daniel is last seen by family members. (And is still missing now. We're working with the police trying to find him.)

September:

We go to Snowbird during Oktoberfest. We eat the best German chocolate cake ever and run into the sweet people who adopted our old cat.

I start to sew for the first time since high school and realize I'm not so bad at it.

Ivy becomes obsessed with Sesame Street.

We play. We explore.

October:

We take advantage of the last of the semi-warm weather.

I quit breastfeeding and feel surprisingly sad about it at first.

We have a close call and barely avoid a terrible car accident. Two people were killed and another woman was critically injured (You've got to read her story. It's amazing.)

November:

Jared turns 32.

We decide to start trying for baby number two.

My sister Michelle gives birth to her fourth beautiful daughter.

December:

We celebrate our 4 year anniversary. We eat sushi again.

I spend most of the month upholstering in my spare time.

We have a great Christmas.

New Year's Eve is pretty fun too.

Anything else?

I went the entire year without a car while Jared's at work. My great little truck died and we donated it to Cars for Veterans. Having only one car can be a pain, but it's a great money saver. I just hope it doesn't last too much longer . . .

I grew herbs on our little balcony. Better than nothing, but having a garden is the one thing I miss about our old apartment.

I cooked more than any previous year. I made several new things I'd never dared to do before, like whole chickens, beef braciole, and pickled bok choy.

I learned the true meaning of entertainment while watching Ivy play.

I experienced heartbreak by seeing that the family I grew up in is a long distant memory and that things will never be the same, or even close.

I prayed a thousand times that I won't die before my children are grown, like my mother did.

I felt joy in knowing that the family I'm creating is solid, loving, and happy. So happy.

Now bring on 2011.

DIY Torture (i.e. Reupholstering a Wingback Chair, Part 2

2011-01-04T13:46:00.004-07:00

Day 10

Sew seat piece together with pleating

Day 11

Staple seat piece to chair

Day 12
Staple left arm piece to chair

Day 13

Staple left wing, start right arm

Day 14

Finish right arm, right wing

Day 15
Staple on inside back and piping around sides and back

Day 16

Remove fabric from little front of arm pieces (meant to cover up staples, and no, I have no idea what they're really called)

Day 17

Trial and error with nails on arm fronts. It may seem silly, but these little arm pieces gave us a lot of grief. The first time, I tried to use nails that were too small, so they bent when we tried to put them in and we had to start over since the nails had to go in before it's covered in fabric. Bigger nails were used next time around. Also, since they are curved, the fabric must be put on while the pieces are tightly curved. We ended up wrapping them around a rolling pin while stapling on the fabric for a nice tight bend.

Day 18

Attach sides of chair using ply grip, metal teeth, and staples (see this video on how to use ply grip)

We had to use a mechanical pencil tip to push the little spikes out on the ply grip since we just reused it from the original upholstery.

Almost there . . .

Day 19

Attach outside back using ply grip, metal teeth, and staples

Day 20

Staple fabric onto arm fronts & nail to chair (Success, finally, with two larger nails on each piece)
Staple piping along chair bottom

Done!

I can finally move on and get the visions of upholstery to stop dancing in my head now. And I've got a nice chair and an ottoman to show for it.

If you actually made it to the end of this post, congratulations. I think that means you have what it takes to get to the end of an upholstery project.

DIY Torture (i.e. Reupholstering a Wingback Chair, Part 1)

2011-01-03T22:24:00.006-07:00

End Result:

The Torturer (given to us by relatives; 20 year old chair + ottoman):

Victims of Torture: Me and my helpful, staple gun-wielding husband. I seriously can't express enough how much my husband saved my sanity and my hands from our clunky, non-electric staple gun.

Fabric: Bloomfield Sunflower from fabric.com. Originally $17/yard. I bought it for $8/yard on clearance. I can't find it for sale anymore, so it's probably been discontinued.

Inspiration: My sister-in-law Mindy, whose house is decoration perfection, had some furniture in this fabric and I loved it when I saw it. Chairs like this one from Pottery Barn also inspired the color choice.

The $700 price tag inspired the DIY upholstery idea.

Lifelines, or, where I found useful information before starting:

All Things Thrifty: posts like this and this. I just love this girl's resilience. She actually goes back for more upholstering again and again!

A Mormon Chic tutorial

This Sew, Mama, Sew tutorial was excellent for doing the seat cushion.

This YouTube video was good to see how the mysterious ply grip is used.

Little Green Notebook: This post showed me how beautiful wing chairs can be. This shows different yardage charts for upholstery. I love this blog. I'm pretty sure I could be best friends with the blog author if I met her.

Creative Maven: This detailed tutorial is better than mine is going to be.

Tools:

There are special upholstery tools that people say you need, but I didn't want to buy any, so I just worked with what I had.

A staple gun is essential. We didn't have an electric one, but people say that's the way to go if you can.

They say to use a mallet, but I just used a hammer and covered it with a rag when necessary.

Staples: I used 3/8" most of the time, 1/2" occasionally, and 1/4" on the "front of arm pieces" that you'll see later.

A screw driver if you don't have a staple remover

Needle-nosed pliers for pulling out staples

Scissors

Sewing machine

Price:

8.5 yards x 8 = $68 (I had about a yard and a half left over, so 7 yards would be a pretty accurate total for the chair and ottoman together.)

$10 in staples

$10 in foam

$3 in piping cord

= $91 total

For those of you who are interested in the torturous process, and may actually be planning to do something like this yourself sometime, read on. It may not be pure fun, but it IS totally doable. I knew nothing about upholstery before starting, but I just followed how the chair was done before, for the most part, and it turned out. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.

I'll put it in days, because that's how I kept track. Each day, unless otherwise indicated, was only about 2 hours of work since I had to wait for the little girl to be asleep before working on it. Also, these days aren't consecutive, unfortunately. I started 7 weeks ago.

Day 1
Examine chair closely, see how it looks with fabric on
Remove staples and old fabric (8+ hours)

Day 2

Finish removing staples and old fabric (6+ hours)

Day 3

Glue boards under ottoman for extra support (It had nothing under it but foam and fabric originally, so it sagged a lot in the middle.)
Spray paint legs of chair and ottoman: two coats of primer, two coats of black

Day 4
Lay out original pieces on top of new fabric
Cut out pieces

Day 5
Cut bias strips following this tutorial
Sew 17 yards of piping (Actually one of the easiest parts of this job. I bought a 1/4" cord and sewed the fabric over it using a zipper foot.)

Day 6
Sew piping onto cushion pieces, trying to stay in the right shape for the foam insert
Sew zipper (using this tutorial again)

Day 7

Sew cushion pieces together with piping between seams
Finish cushion

Day 8
Sew piping onto ottoman piece
Sew ottoman pieces together
Cut foam for ottoman

Day 9

Put foam under ottoman batting
Staple fabric to ottoman, add piping
Finish ottoman

Almost halfway. . . . On to part 2!

A Sewing Project

2010-11-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

As you can see by my lack of posts on this blog, the decorating process is going very s l o w .

However, I did manage to pull together my first sewing project since I was in high school. I really wanted Ivy to have some bright colored bedding to go with the decorations from my previous post. Her other bedskirt and bumper, although cute enough, were pastel pink. I think the colors are more fun now:

Ivy's crib has these little diagonal metal bars on the edges for raising the mattress, so I had to keep a slit and put buttons on the edges in order to make the skirt fit right.

I got all the fabric from fabric.com (made by Premier Prints) for about $5/yard after using discount codes (I like using retailmenot.com), but the regular price was cheap to begin with. I took a little shortcut by buying a plain white IKEA bumper and sewing my fabric over it. Altogether, I spent about $35 on this project. Not bad. And I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Ivy's room is the furthest along in the house. I'll post more pictures next time . . . which will hopefully be soon.

Springtime Stroll

2010-04-19T16:34:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, we took advantage of the beautiful spring weather to explore the little village of Eagle Mountain . . .

Daddy's shoulders is the place to be.

Taking in the new sights

Our church building and condo community

Ivy giving me a flower

View to the west

Is this a smile?

At the playground

The little girl behind Jared gave him a nice helpful push down the slide.

Jared liked the slide more than Ivy did.

First time on a swing

Ivy wasn't sure about the slide.

But she sure loved Daddy.

Ivy's Best Friend

2010-03-30T20:40:00.002-06:00

Gift Bag Project

2010-03-30T10:41:00.000-06:00

What do you do with all the cute bags and cards you get when you have a baby shower?

Well, here's one option . . .

I used these $5 IKEA frames, nailed on old leftover mat board, and glued the pieces of bags and cards onto the board. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

What made me laugh lately

2010-03-10T10:54:00.002-07:00

My dear cousin Jen has the wonderful habit of reviewing in her mind whatever made her laugh that day as she's falling asleep at night. If you have the fortune of falling asleep in the same room as her, be prepared for spontaneous laughter. Like Jen, I'm reviewing some things that have made me laugh lately.

*Warning: I have a strange sense of humor.*

My old roommate and great friend Marci was over recently. I was showing her our new iPhoto feature called Faces. You start by tagging a person's face, then it proceeds to find all the other pictures of that person in your photo album. It does pretty well most of the time, but sometimes it brings up some, well, bizarre matches.

This is Marci (in her zebra snuggie, which also makes me laugh):

This is NOT Marci, but Faces thought it was:

I hope Marci has forgiven me for laughing ridiculously hard at this. By the way, the picture is of my brother-in-law Ty in the middle of taking off his elaborate orc makeup from Halloween one year. Here's the full get-up, done by Michelle:

This is my sister-in-law Ashley with my brother Joe:

This is not Ashley. Faces got it wrong once again:

I never would have noticed that face in the original picture. Now it makes me laugh every time I look at it.

My nephew Noah is the cleverest future brain surgeon I know. This little bit of art he did on my computer the other day made me laugh (see full size). He only just turned six years old. In case you can't read it, "Docter-J" is Noah's "growinup name."

Ivy is by far the funniest person in our household. (Sorry, Jared). She's started to do a funny fake laugh. She's also started doing a happy dance, victory dance, or good-taste dance, as we like to call it. Whenever she gets food in her mouth, a toy she wants, or if she's just happy in general, this little wiggle happens. I love it. It never fails to make me laugh. About halfway through the video you can hear her real laugh.

I was trying to remember who the fake laugh sounded like. Then Jared reminded me:

I often laugh at things that happened a long time ago that come to mind for no particular reason. For example . . .

Jen, the aforementioned cousin of mine, received a card from her Relief Society presidency once. Apparently, they decided to give a card to every woman in the ward to pay them a compliment.

Jen's card: "Jen, we really admire what a good person you are. You are the epitome of everyone."

Jen (fuming): "What, so I'm the most average person in the world? Thanks!"

We never got around to telling the sender of the card to look up the definition of epitome. I just hope they haven't given that "compliment" to too many people.

When you are a member of my family, there are too many hilarious memories to name them all, but to get an idea of how great my family is, try reading Michelle's blog post. Ashley's too. They make me laugh on a very regular basis.

These last few things aren't exactly humorous, but they certainly made me happy:

1. We have a new home! We love our little condo. It's in the Ranches in Eagle Mountain. By the way, it's not that far away, despite what you may have heard. Only 30 minutes to Jared's work in Orem (20 if there's no traffic) and 25 minutes to Draper. It's much better than our previous apartment. I haven't even seen a single spider here yet. Now THAT makes me happy.

2. I've been planning meals weekly and making dinner regularly for the past six weeks. I know for many people that's not a big deal, but for me, it's an accomplishment. Some of these meals have been quite good too.

3. Ivy finally eats something besides breastmilk. I can give her food and she actually swallows it instead of gagging on it. She takes a sippy cup too, so I feel a little less worried about leaving her with someone else for a couple hours. She's never liked bottles, so she's been very dependent on me for the past 10 months.

4. Jared. I know everyone claims to have the best husband, but I really do. He's the most reliable person on the planet and we have such fun together. He gives me nothing to complain about--honestly.

5. My life in general. It's simple, but I love it.

Now for some Ivy pictures, just because she's cute . . .

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T12:06:00.007-07:00

Butter vs. Margarine

2009-12-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

More and more lately, I've been hearing women say, "I gave up a career to be a mother." Before I became a mother myself, I never questioned this. But now that I'm slightly more experienced in motherhood, I have to say that I simply don't understand this statement. To me, this is like hearing, "I gave up margarine for butter," or "I gave up my apartment for a mansion," or maybe, "I gave up cocoa powder for Swiss chocolate." Who thinks a career is better than motherhood? I see it the other way around. Women should be telling everyone, "I had the opportunity to leave my career to be a mother."

I know I haven't made it very far yet in this motherhood journey, but I'm confident that the further I go, the more I'll believe it to be the worthiest goal in life. I honestly believe it's better than the glory of being the most respected businesswoman in the world. Most women say that being a mother is the hardest job of all. If "hard" is defined as rigorous, never-ending, demanding, exasperating, and heartbreaking, then yes, it's hard. But what I think of as really hard would be spending day after day away from my child. In fact, I feel bad for Jared that he has to spend his days away working on something that doesn't mean much to him beyond making money. Mothers don't get paid because there is absolutely no monetary value you can set for the worth of being a mother. I know there are instances when mothers must spend a lot of time away from their children to work. I understand when it's a necessity, but I would never choose that if I ever had any other option.

I hear women complaining about how people don't respect motherhood enough. Then I hear that same woman say that she "gave up her career to be a mother." I think that it's comments like this coming from the mothers themselves that keeps some people from fully respecting motherhood. If women respected motherhood and were proud to be mothers instead of apologetic, I really believe the world as a whole would give it a much higher value than that of any career.

I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but I've only just realized in the past seven months how great it is to be a mother. It's so much better than I expected. I wasn't much of a baby lover before I had my own, but now I'm completely head-over-heels for mine. When I used to hear people talk about how much of a joy it was to have children, I thought they were just saying that to get other people to have children so they weren't alone in their misery. Now I know that they meant it. Motherhood is like butter--inimitable, irreplaceable, and just better.

The Past Month

2009-11-03T15:20:00.004-07:00

Here's what Ivy's been up to lately:

Getting to know Grandma Campbell

Hanging out with her cousin Felicity

Almost crawling. She pushes up into this position and walks her feet forward, but she doesn't quite have the arm coordination yet.

Playing with her new favorite toys (cups, spoons, and canning rings)

Falling asleep on her own

Jared's been working hard, as always, being a great dad, and playing his bass a lot. He and his band are working on some pretty cool songs right now. He has won Ivy over completely. I swear she gives him bigger smiles than she gives me now. I can only assume that it's because I'm always there and Jared's more of a novelty. Right?

I've been working on getting us into our own home 24/7. We're waiting to hear back from a seller about an offer. There will be more to come on that later . . .

Our (Soon-to-be) Old Apartment

2009-09-24T23:11:00.006-06:00

We're moving! We put an ad up yesterday for our little basement apartment and I got about 30 interested people in the first 24 hours. Our contract is officially sold. Most of all, I'm just happy that the swarm of people coming to look at it is gone. That got old fast. I thought Jared did a great job at the photography for the ad. He made it look the best it was capable of looking. Anyway, we don't know where we're going to live yet. We're hoping to buy a townhome if all goes well. In the meantime, we're going to live with Jared's parents. We've been trying really hard to avoid that, but it's only temporary. Very temporary.

Sun & Sky

2009-09-16T21:12:00.001-06:00

My wonderful sister and amazing photographer (Stephanie, of course) did some family pictures for us on the 12th. Here are a few of my favorites:

Yeah, I know. It's more than a few. I'm just so crazy about my little family that I can't help myself.

Perfection

2009-09-08T14:51:00.010-06:00

Perfection is . . .

a crooked smile

making a new friend

little cherry lips

finding a moment to think

seeing yourself in your child

this face.

Thanks for the pictures, Steph.

My Childhood Obsession with Love

2009-08-22T11:27:00.006-06:00

Next week, we're heading up to Aspen Grove with the Ricks side of the family, which got me thinking . . .

Aspen Grove means being in a forest nestled under scenic Mount Timpanogos, spending time with family, laughing all the time, playing sports, staying in cabins, swimming, hiking, fishing, climbing, meeting new people, and eating three good meals a day without having to plan. It means birthdays, since I've spent at least three there, including my 16th and 18th ones. It reminds me of my carefree childhood and my mother. Perhaps most of all, to me, Aspen Grove signifies romance.

My parents, James and Marjorie, when they first fell in love

This idea of romance stems from the fact that my parents met each other there at a college activity. When I went for the first time, I was already thinking in my 7-year-old mind that I would meet my future husband there. (I used to be a romantic, until I started dating). So, when I met a cute boy named Brody, I was smitten with the biggest crush of my life yet. He had a twin named Sean who happened to have a scab on his face, which was the only way I could tell them apart. Naturally, I expressed my interest in the 7-year-old way of tormenting him, giggling at everything he did, and constantly fighting over the ownership of a little playhouse in a field. I had my sidekick, a girl named Jerrilyn, who helped me guard our domain faithfully. During mealtimes, we'd compete by seeing who could eat the fastest and then race to the playhouse to bar the door with sticks and rocks. As you can see, pure romance.

Later, when I was 10 years old, my family went to Aspen Grove again. This time, I was sure that it wasn't only a crush, but deepest love. His name was Royden (seriously, why do parents name otherwise perfectly cute little boys such ghastly names?). I spent most of the week following him around trying to show off how outdoorsy I was. I even pretended to like fishing, since he spent so much time doing it. At the end of the week dance, I burst into desperate tears during the Proclaimers song 500 miles and took off to sit on a bench outside. As I cried, I saw Royden slowly approach me. I sat there with a stomach full of butterflies, pretending not to see him. This was it. He was coming to tell me he loved me, I just knew it. When he got to my bench, he shyly said, "Um, I never got your name." I was shattered. However, this didn't keep me from thinking we'd one day find each other and express our undying love.

My cousin Jessica and me at Aspen Grove in 2003

At age 16, Aspen Grove completely lacked the romance I had expected before. My mom died only a week before we went, so my mind and feelings were otherwise occupied. It was fun, as always, but I can't remember even one attractive boy. At age 18, I had a little Aspen Grove crush, but it was soon forgotten about when I moved away to college a week later.

Now that I'm married and already in love, I wonder what the experience will be like this time. The excitement of infatuation may be gone, but more meaningful things can take its place, like the security of knowing that you are loved in return. I used to think that when you got married, your opportunities for new love were over, but when I had my baby, I fell in love all over again. Even though it wasn't romance, it was still wonderfully exciting.

I didn't end up meeting my husband at Aspen Grove; I met him at the most mundane of places--a church activity. It wasn't a beautiful forest environment, but I know now that the quality of the love doesn't depend on the surroundings. Romance can still exist in a shabby basement apartment. Nope, I must say, love isn't what I expected it to be when I was a child, when I followed boys around, showed off, and cried over them. Thankfully, it's much better than that.

Sisterheads

2009-08-15T17:14:00.006-06:00

I cut my first 'fro today. After 5 years of doing hair, you'd think I would have done one by now. But alas, we just don't have enough black people here in Utah. I convinced my little sister Jamie to let me do this to her amazing naturally curly hair. We took off at least 12 inches.

I love it. I hope she does. I know it's different, but that's why I think it's so cool. She'll be the only white girl at BYU with this hair, I bet.

My beautiful naturally blonde sister Jennifer had me chop off about 8 inches from hers. Cute, huh? What do you think?

Lake Shore Safari

2009-08-14T12:01:00.017-06:00

Last Saturday, we went to my friend Cindy's exotic animal farm in Lake Shore, which is west of Springville. Steph and Steve came along with their cute kids too. We saw zebras (including a little baby one), a herd of bison, gemsbok, ostriches, emus, a camel, llamas, horses or donkeys that look a lot like this, miniature donkeys, a miniature yak, an enormous wild boar, and some friendly young water buffalo.

My niece just loved the animals. Ivy wasn't old enough to enjoy them yet, but if she's anything like me as a child, she'll be obsessed later.

Photography once again by Stephanie Wells

Triple Take

2009-08-06T15:14:00.016-06:00

Photography by Stephanie Wells

Painted Dresser Knobs

2009-08-05T16:49:00.006-06:00

Although I'm an artist, I don't give myself much time to create. I love to paint, usually on canvas, but lately my artistic talents have been devoted only to cutting and coloring hair. But I did manage to do this right before Ivy was born.
My grandmother used this dresser for her children way back in the 1950s. I gave it a few new coats of white paint, removed the old clunky metal pulls, and drilled new holes. I painted damask patterns on wooden knobs, glossed them up, and this is the result. The only problem is that this is the only place I have to put all Ivy's clothes; it's not so pretty inside.

To those who inspire me

2009-07-20T17:20:00.001-06:00

My sister Stephanie just had a baby boy on July 4th. Although Stephanie's pregnancy was considered high-risk and she had to be monitored very closely to make sure she didn't have her baby too early, the little boy turned out perfectly healthy and was only 2 weeks early. She had one of the easiest labors that I've ever heard of (and I've read a LOT of birth stories). I thought she'd be a good inspiration for anyone else interested in natural childbirth. You can read her story here.

After hearing about Steph's experience, I realized that I never wrote about the people who inspired me when I was preparing for a natural childbirth. It's a little late, but I'd like to give credit where it's due. I first heard about hypnosis for childbirth from Sarah (the cousin who did our previous photo shoot). Although she had a great labor experience, at the time I thought an unmedicated labor wasn't for me. After reading about a dozen books on childbirth, I decided to give it a second thought. Around this time I came across Amy's story. She was so easy to relate to that I contacted her and we went out to lunch. What inspired me about her experience was the simplicity. She was honest and straightforward. She did a Hypnobabies course, but she didn't feel the need to use the techniques during her labor. I imagined that I'd probably be that way too, which ended up being the case.

Although he ended up being my number one support, the hardest part was convincing Jared. He thought I was going off the deep end when I said, "You know, I'm thinking about not getting an epidural." Then, when I admitted I was interested in hypnobirthing, I think he heard something akin to "I've decided to become a stripper." Exaggerating? Well, maybe a little. I realized later it's because of the way childbirth is viewed in our society. That's what Jared had mostly been exposed to, so he thought childbirth without an epidural was the equivalent of a root canal without anesthesia. Surely only crazy granola women who shun modern medicine would choose that, right? Anyway, he ended up saying he'd support me in whatever I chose, and he definitely did.

A month before I had Ivy, my cousin Jen had her baby. She, like me, was induced at two weeks past her due date. This was the final test for me; if she went without an epidural, I knew I would too. She was ecstatic after her experience, so I wanted even more to do it myself. A few days later, her husband even said he was sad it was over because it was such an amazing thing for him as well.

Jen and her baby. Check out those natural highlights.

Now that I've had the experience of natural childbirth, I feel like I should pass on the inspiration to anyone else who could benefit. I know not everyone wants to know what its like, and that's totally fine because I don't think it makes you superior (but it does make you feel strong). So, I will encourage and support my sisters Michelle and Ashley (I'm just going to call her a sister now instead of sister-in-law, because she's as much a sister to me as the rest of them) when they're pregnant with their next babies because they've both expressed an interest in natural childbirth. Funny girls, they can run miles and miles, but think that a few contractions will be painful. Alright, they might be, unless you're Stephanie.

Now I need to be inspired by others again to accomplish my future endeavors. If only I could look and dress like Jared's stunning sisters. Or play the piano like my little sister Jamie. I totally admire my cousin Becca and sister-in-law Jen, who have both climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. This one is on my list of goals--as soon as I can conquer waking up in the morning.

A few of her favorite things

2009-07-18T13:00:00.013-06:00

Now that Ivy's 2 months old, I have her figured out just a little. I know, at the moment at least, what makes her happy. Here's the countdown:

10. Burp cloths & bibs: Just look how happy she is! OK . . . so this is more accurately one of MY favorites. It saves our clothes from spit-up catastrophes at least half the time.

9. Blankets: A swaddled baby is a happy baby--some of the time.

8. Water: Ivy already loves the bath, the shower, and the pool. Now I just need to get her a swimsuit so she doesn't look like a boy.

7. The swing: I can rarely put Ivy down without her protesting, but when she lets me, it's usually in the swing, but music must be playing. Does the video make you dizzy?

6. Diaper changing: For some reason, the minute we lay Ivy down on the changing table, she gives us enormous smiles. I guess she likes her bum wiped.

At a baseball game

5. Outdoors: If I can't make her happy any other way, taking Ivy outside nearly always cheers her up.

4. Music: Car rides just aren't happy without a little rhythm to them. Sometimes she'll fall asleep within moments of a song starting. She especially loves to hear Jared play his bass guitar.

Watching fireworks on the 4th of July. She stared intently at the sky the entire time.

3. Wraps & Slings: The best baby accessory. Ever. My back is saved because of these and Ivy is much happier being carried around like this than in my clumsy arms. It also frees my hands so I can eat, clean, and use the computer every now and then.

2. Daddy: What more can I say? Jared is so good at cheering up our little baby. He has impressive bouncing endurance too, which is helpful when I'm worn out after bouncing Ivy 4+ hours a day.

1. Breasts: No picture necessary here. Let's just say that our little chunk LOVES to eat.

A Fussy Baby Photo Shoot

2009-07-11T18:21:00.056-06:00

When Ivy was three weeks old, my cousin Sarah took some pictures for us. I'm a little late posting these, considering that she's now eight weeks old, but at least I'm updating my blog. You've got to give me credit for that much. By the way, I've been forced to accept the fact that I am a Mormon mom with a mom blog. Yikes. That was hard to write. However, I'm pretty sure my grandma (who has given all her grandkids journals for Christmas for as long as we can remember) would approve.

We started outside, but soon were being attacked by swarms of mosquitoes. I felt pretty guilty watching them land on Ivy's head, so we soon headed inside for safety.

While there, we got a few nice calm pictures.

Until she got tired.

Then we got about 80 pictures that looked like this, so we gave up. Since then I've been waiting for her baby acne to clear up a bit so we can try again.

What we've got so far . . .

2009-05-28T16:21:00.006-06:00

The chubby little newborn

Yes, I was as tired as I look.

Nursing Ivy for the first time
Looking at Daddy

Jared, the proud new dad

Cute little feet

My brother Matt with his new niece

Three days old

Four days old now (and I still look tired)

Such cute little eyes

After her first bath at home

Ivy's Hospital Portrait

2009-05-27T12:50:00.001-06:00

We just thought this picture was so cute that we had to buy it, even from a way overpriced hospital photography company. Ivy is only one day old here, so now you have proof that she really was born looking good.

Ivy's Birth

2009-05-26T12:13:00.004-06:00

Our sweet little baby was born Sunday, May 17th at 4:12 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 21 inches long. She was two weeks overdue, which is probably why she was a lot bigger than we expected, but she's as healthy as can be. Her name is Ivy Marjorie Campbell. The name Ivy was inspired by her Grandma Campbell, whose name is Vie. Her middle name is after my mother, who passed away in 2001. From the moment Ivy was born, I thought she was the most perfect thing I'd ever seen.

A little background information: During my pregnancy, around 5 or 6 months, I became curious about natural childbirth. I had never really thought about it before, probably because most people I knew had epidurals and their labors went well and their babies were healthy. Still, I wondered what the experience would be like and I knew that most women throughout history had done it, so I figured I could too. After doing a lot of research on the subject, I felt even more sure that I wanted to go without an epidural because, in addition to just wanting to experience it, I also wanted to lower the risk of complications as much as possible (although the epidural itself is very low risk, a higher rate of c-sections, forceps, etc. are associated with it). I also liked the idea of having more control during the birth and being educated on every intervention. After talking to several people and reading even more, I decided to do a Hypnobabies home study course. Don't worry, it's not as weird as it sounds. It's just a very effective way to learn relaxation, to gain confidence about childbirth, and to become free of fear.

I was due on May 3rd, but of course, two agonizingly slow weeks went by. I chose to wait two weeks to get induced because, once again, being induced raises the chances of a c-section and all that, plus I had read and heard everywhere that getting induced is much more painful. However, I decided that the risks of my baby being too overdue were higher than the risks of getting induced, so I set the date for May 17th.

We went into the hospital at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday. After taking a while to get things started, they put me on Pitocin around 8:00. I went for about two hours just trying to rest since the contractions were very mild at this point. Around 10:00, I was dilated to a 3 ½ and almost completely effaced, so I called my doula (a labor support person, very helpful) at this time. By the way, her name is Michelle Pate and she didn't charge me because it was the first birth she had attended, and she was great. From here, I completely stopped looking at the clock and just paid attention to relaxing through contractions. When I was dilated to a 4, I agreed to have my water broken. I hadn't wanted it done before, but my nurse assured me that it would help things go faster and I decided I felt fine with it because the baby's heart rate had been fine through contractions so far. From this point on, the contractions were very strong and very close together. In fact, the Pitocin was turned up too high for a while and I began having continuous contractions with no break whatsoever for several minutes. I got really nauseous around this time and threw up, but then I felt much better. I asked the nurse to turn off the Pitocin to see if I could continue on my own. She did, but after about 45 minutes, my contractions had slowed down too much, so they put me back on, but at a much lower dose. This is where my husband Jared and my doula became essential. The only pain I felt during contractions was in my back because the baby was posterior (face up) and her head was pushing against my spine. I didn't feel a thing in my belly the entire labor besides tightening—not even menstrual-like cramping, like most people describe. I was lying on my side most of the time and every time I had a contraction, Jared and Michelle would push against my knees and my back. I can't tell you how much this helped to relieve the back labor. So, it continued this way for several hours, but it felt much shorter to me. I felt like I was dreaming. I didn't really want to think about anything except relaxing and breathing deeply. Relaxing was the easy part for me; it was very automatic. I got another cervix check and was told I was at 6 1/2. I got spasms in my legs after this, which I remember thinking was a good thing because it meant I was in transition. Then sometime later, I was checked again and told I was at 8 1/2. I asked the nurse to turn off the Pitocin again, and almost immediately after that, I felt like I needed to push. I stopped wanting my knees and back pushed on too, so I knew something was changing. The nurse checked me again, and in only 10 minutes I had gone from 8 1/2 to 10. I couldn't believe it. It had felt so short to me and I had never even thought about an epidural. Once I started wanting to push, I kind of woke up from my dreamlike state and let my body push when it wanted to. The doctor and nurse were telling me to push, but I pretty much ignored them and pushed when it felt right. The pushing wasn't exactly easy, but it wasn't very painful either. Jared would disagree, because the sounds I was making seemed painful, I'm sure. All I knew was that it helped to make noise. I was glad to have a way to release the pressure built up from so many contractions, and pushing, along with making noise (i.e. yelling), was a relief. The doctor was concerned about Ivy’s heart rate at this time, but I never felt afraid. In only 30 minutes from the time I started wanting to push, Ivy was born. She had to be suctioned because there was meconium (baby poop) in the amniotic fluid. Then I was able to hold her, but I think it took me a while to realize that she was really my baby because she looked too big and too perfect to have been inside me. I couldn't believe I had done it; it felt completely surreal. It only took 8 hours, which is pretty short for a first-time mother, but even better, it only felt like 2 or 3 hours to me.

Ivy was very alert for the first few hours after being born, which was great because we were able to see her beautiful eyes staring at us right away. I was also able to nurse her in the first hour, which she did wonderfully. My doctor told me he was surprised that I did it, but that I was great. By the way, pretty much everyone who knows me didn’t think I could go without an epidural—most of them let me know. It was definitely an adventure that I enjoyed having and I'd do it again. Everything was perfect to me.

One more thing: Although I enjoyed my experience, I don't think that it was superior in any way to a medicated labor. When a baby is born, it's an amazing miracle, no matter how it happens. The one birth I've witnessed was my sister-in-law Ashley having her daughter Isabella with an epidural. It was just as special, and in fact, it made me cry although my own daughter's birth didn't (I think I must have had too much of a rush to cry). I guess what I would like people to get out of my experience is that if you have a desire to have a natural childbirth, it's completely possible. I knew I could do it because any woman can do it. But even more importantly, I believe women should educate themselves to find out what their options are. I really liked being able to make an informed decision whenever I was asked if I wanted something. I didn't feel any fear at all going into it because I had learned everything I could and had prepared myself in every possible way.

Our Trip to Belize

2008-07-29T19:18:00.088-06:00

We arrived at the Belize International Airport at about 3:00 p.m. on Friday, June 6, 2008. From the plane, we had seen that most of Belize was covered in a lush green jungle. Here at the airport, it was hot, humid, and a little windy. There had been a tropical storm only a week earlier, so the wind was expected. After going through customs and all that fun stuff, we climbed into a small plane that would take us to our real destination: Ambergris Caye, a little island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean. Ashley and I were stuck in the skinny seat in the back where they put the smallest passengers. Almost immediately after the plane started, Ashley's face was in her hands. Joseph was the lucky one and got to sit in the copilot's seat, grinning the whole time. Jared sat in front of me, taking pictures out the window enthusiastically. During this bumpy ride, we got our first glimpse of the "cayes" or small islands of the coast of Belize. They were green and marshy and the water ranged from bright turquoise to deep blue. It was enjoyable for me, despite the shakiness of the plane.

When we landed on Ambergris Caye, our first sight was the narrow, busy streets of San Pedro. Golf carts tore around corners, pedestrians narrowly avoided being hit, bikers wound between other vehicles, and we just watched it all. The buildings were colorful and a little rundown, but in a charming kind of way. The streets were cobblestone in some places and sand in others, but it was sometimes hard to tell because of the bustle of the locals and tourists through town. We met the caretaker for the house we would stay at, an older woman named Christina who had lived on the island her entire life. She and her daughter took us through the streets on a golf cart. We grabbed some ridiculously overpriced groceries and then headed to the beach. There, we saw beachside restaurants, palapas (small grass huts) on docks jutting out into the shallow turquoise water, and more people, some of them selling sea shells, jewelry, and things they made by hand. We stepped into a speedboat, which we would do many more times on this trip, to take the last part of our journey to the house we were staying in called Villa Aurora.

Later that evening (it wasn't really that late, but it seemed that way because the sun went down at 6:00), we went out to have our first dining experience on the island. The restaurant was called Mata Chica and had a thatched roof and no walls facing toward the sea, enabling the nice breeze to come in freely. It all felt a little dream-like to me, but that was probably because I slept less than two hours the night before. Jared and I ordered a seafood sampler dish, which was delicious, especially the snapper and crab. While eating, we watched big red and blue crabs walking around the floor of the restaurant, climbing onto shelves, and scaring the servers. I made sure to keep my feet out of reach. We assumed it was always this way, but it turned out that they were more active than usual because of the stormy weather earlier on the island. After dinner, we came back to the house, where we swam in the pool and discovered that the third floor balcony was great for jumping into the 11-foot deep pool below. This discovery led to a nightly jumping ritual, which was very refreshing after a long day of sun and salt water. Jared and I slept wonderfully that night with our five floor-to-ceiling windows open out towards the ocean and no blankets on.

The next day, we left early to go on our first snorkeling trip. Our guide's name was Geni (pronounced like genie), a laid-back Belizean guy with a Caribbean accent. Belize's reef is less than a mile from the shore of Ambergris Caye and is the second longest in the world, which created an ideal snorkeling environment. First, we went to an area called Hol Chan. This was my first real snorkeling experience (after a failed attempt in Mexico). A great variety of fish swam around us and through the coral and there was never a dull moment. The water was very clear and it was deeper than anywhere else we snorkeled later. It felt as warm as a bathtub and almost as calm.

Next, we went to Shark & Ray Alley, which, as the name implies, is full of sharks and stingrays. Luckily, they were only nurse sharks, which are about as harmless as fish can be. Even knowing this, it was a little disconcerting to jump in the water with several 4-6 ft. long sharks fighting with stingrays over the food they were given. Geni went right into the middle of the feeding frenzy and grabbed one of the smaller nurse sharks, which was still pretty big, and brought it over to us. Its skin felt a little scaly, not slimy like I expected, but underneath the scales it seemed soft and kind of squishy, like it was hollow inside. I held it for a moment before it got away and it seemed almost fragile because of its strange hollow, soft body. Hol Chan and Shark & Ray Alley were my favorite snorkeling places of all we went to in Belize.

That night we walked to the most beautiful restaurant we ate at in Belize. It was called the Rojo Lounge and had unique, good (but of course, expensive) food. We ate outside on a fancy patio with the nice sea breeze coming in. Red curtains hung all around and the atmosphere was just perfect. Ashley got a frozen specialty drink there that she raved about for the rest of the vacation because she loved it so much. On the way home, we dodged crabs whose legs seemed to carry them sideways out of control into our feet. It was unpleasant, to say the least, but entertaining. We realized later, when the crabs weren't so active because of the weather, that we kind of missed them. Just a little.

On Sunday, we had a lazy, relaxing day. We had planned on going to church, but the island ferry was so expensive and we were in the process of getting a pass for unlimited use, so we couldn't make it, which was disappointing. I was really looking forward to seeing what the church and the members were like here on such a small island. Instead, we hung out around the house for most of the day and made our own meals. We finally got a pass for the island ferry, making the island open to us since we were too far away to walk and the roads were flooded from the earlier storm.

That evening, we took the ferry in to San Pedro and went to a restaurant called the Sunset Grill, which was very fitting since it was on the west side of the island and we actually did get to watch the sun set while we ate. The restaurant was built over a lagoon, so fish were swimming right beneath us. The fish there were huge—some of the biggest we saw on the trip. There were tarpons, big silver fish that fought over anything dropped into the water. At one point, an enormous white stingray swam right next to where we were sitting. It was the only white one we ever saw and was probably four feet across. It was amazing. I can't even remember the food we ate because I was so distracted by the fish.

Monday was a very eventful day. We got picked up from our palapa at 6:00 a.m. to take a trip to the Mayan ruins called Xunantunich (Shu-nan-too-neech) and to go cave tubing on the mainland. We went in to San Pedro first and ate a breakfast of Johnny Cakes that the tour group provided. When we were told we would have Johnny Cakes for breakfast, we all speculated on what they were actually going to be. They turned out to be eggs, cheese, and meat in a biscuit—not as foreign as we were expecting, but quite good. We took a small plane to Belize City, where me met Joel, a native Belizean with six children who loved to talk and was passionate about American politics and Belizean bananas. He took us all the way across the country to the western border where Belize meets Guatemala. On the drive, we saw beautiful jungles, houses, and lots of people, especially children walking to school in their uniforms. Most of the people were black, but there were many, like Joel, with tan skin who looked like most Central Americans. On the drive, Jared couldn't help but relate everything to Brazil because it looked so much like the areas he had been. Interestingly, we saw several Amish people in horse-drawn carriages. There is a city in Belize called Spanish Lookout that was colonized by Amish people, so there are many around the area. We even saw some of the "modern" Amish people who drive around in really nice cars but still wear the traditional clothing. It was amazing to get a glimpse of how the mainland Belizeans live and the variety of people and cultures there. I kept thinking about how most of the world actually looks more like this than the American suburbia that I'm used to and that people everywhere live like this with so little, but are content. It made me want to live like that—simply, gratefully, and in a less materialistic way.

When we arrived at Xunantunich, we met a different guide named Dino. He had lived in the small Belizean city of San Ignacio, here in the jungle, all his life. We crossed a river on a ferry and then walked up a road through the jungle to get to the Mayan ruins. Once there, we saw the remains of what was once a large Mayan city with a tall temple at its center. It was incredible seeing something built so long ago and with so much (mostly unknown) history. We climbed the long narrow steps to the top of the tallest structure in Xunantunich. From the top, we could see Guatemala, which was only about half a mile away. Dino told us all about the assumptions that have been made about the Mayan people according to the evidence they have from the numerous ruins throughout Central America. In the jungle here, we also saw avocado trees, long lines of ants carrying big pieces of leaves (which apparently signals rain), and some huge iguanas lounging on branches. For lunch, Joel took us to eat at a local restaurant where we had the best Belizean rice and beans with stewed chicken. I don't know if it was because we were so hungry or if this meal really was better, but the other rice and beans that we had on our vacation were never quite as good as these.

The next adventure was tubing down a river that went through huge caves underneath the jungle floor. On the way to the river, we walked down a path with cliffs and tall trees on the sides. It was slightly raining, like it probably always is in a rainforest, which made it all seem very fresh and alive. We could hear howler monkeys calling to each other around us in the tops of trees. We saw parrots and toucans from a distance. Our guide, Luis, was only about 4'10" and full of personality. He claimed he was a full-blooded Maya, a womanizer, and not afraid to jump off of any height as long as there was water at the bottom. He took us through the caves on tubes and entertained us the whole way. The river was slow, but the scenery was so good that it was exciting all the time. The caves had huge stalactites and occasional openings where light poured through the canopy of trees in the rainforest above. We saw tiny bats, only a few inches long, hanging from the ceilings of the caves. Long roots and vines came through the ceiling as well, adding to the mystery of these dark caves. The river carried us through a few different caves and sometimes out in the open. We were sad for it to be over. When we finished tubing, we all jumped off an overhanging rock into the river. Luis, however, swan dived fearlessly into the shallow water. Afterwards, we met up with Joel again to make the drive back to Belize City and to catch our plane to the island.

Back in San Pedro, we ate at a restaurant called Elvi's Kitchen, which is one of the most popular restaurants there. The food was good and I especially enjoyed the soft sand that was the floor of the restaurant. Walking around the busy streets was another fun part of the evening. There were always people to see and fun things going on in San Pedro.

Tuesday was a relaxing day—the first half at least. Then Jared and I had the bright idea of walking to San Pedro. It was supposed to have only been 5 1/2 miles, but walking in the sand on a curving coastline makes it seem much longer. It was fun to see all the houses and resorts along the beach, though. We walked through the outskirts of San Pedro, where life appeared to be a little more authentic and less touristy. Even after dark, kids played and rode their bikes in the streets, speaking Belizean Kriol (which is a creole based on English but not understandable unless you learn it) and Spanish. Jared and I ate at a little restaurant called Waruguma where a woman cooked Belizean/Salvadorian food on the street in front of us. It was surprisingly tasty for such a little place. Then we got ice cream at a place called Manelly's, which was delicious and had so many good flavors that we returned almost every day after. We sat out on the beach and ate our ice cream and built Mayan ruins in the sand. It was the first time Jared and I had done anything alone in Belize and we had a great time, besides the fact that I was covered in mosquito bites from our long walk to town.

On Wednesday, we went north up to a resort called Costa Maya, where we sat through a vacation club presentation in order to get discounts on a tour and to use the resort's kayaks. Off the coast of this resort, near the reef, was a place called Mexico Rocks. We kayaked out, Joseph and Ashley in one, Jared and me in the other, to snorkel around the area. The coral was impressive, but there weren't as many fish as the other places we had been to. For dinner, we went to a buffet restaurant called Jambel, which someone had recommended to us. It had a fun Jamaican atmosphere, with pictures of Bob Marley around and people singing. The food, however, was our least favorite, but it was a buffet after all.

Thursday was a very fun day. We left early to go on a tour to see manatees, a few smaller cayes, and to snorkel. It was the only tour that we went on that had other people in the group besides us four. The tour guide, a good-looking black man with a Caribbean accent, was named Willie. We rode his speedboat to an area near Belize City with a wildlife reserve for manatees. There, we got a few good looks at the elusive wild manatees, some of them very near the boat. After that, we headed to a really small island on the very edge of the reef called Goff’s Caye, with nothing but a few palm trees and a palapa on it. We snorkeled around and then had a delicious lunch that the guides had brought on the boat. Then we went snorkeling at one more place, called the Aquarium because of its clear water and abundance of fish and rays. At the end of the tour, we stopped for a quick visit to Caye Caulker, a lovely little island that had a similar style to Ambergris Caye, but was much smaller and less developed. The roads were only sand and there were clotheslines hanging up at almost every house.

That evening, we ate at a restaurant called Portofino, which turned out to be a very entertaining dining experience because of how much Joseph hated it. The rest of us thought it was fine, but the moment Joseph saw his food, it went downhill from there. He, Jared, and I all ordered the same dish. We knew it had crab in it, but none of us expected the gigantic claws covered in algae and black spiky hair to turn up on our plates. It looked frightening. I braved the ugliness and tasted it, though, and it was actually really good (to me and Jared at least). Joseph, however, wasn't convinced and not only griped, but went on an endless tirade about all the work you have to do for a little meat and how crab shells got everywhere, and black hairs were in his drink, and more. We laughed for most of the meal (except Joseph, who was seriously unhappy) and ended up having a good time despite the hideous crab legs on our plates.

Friday was nice, but a little sad because it was the last full day of the vacation. It was the clearest, least windy, and most beautiful day we had in Belize. We all relaxed, read, swam, and tried to get some of our last pictures and videos of the island. Later, we went into town on the island ferry, where we did some shopping around San Pedro. For our last dinner, we went to two places: first we made a stop at Waruguma for some pupusas as an appetizer, then we went to a restaurant called Wild Mangoes for a light, delicious meal. Then, according to tradition, we went to Manelly's for ice cream. When we got home, we all jumped off the balcony into the pool again, as usual. Only this time I made everyone do it without swimsuits on. Then we went to sleep early again because in only a week on the island, we were all becoming morning people.

The next, and final, morning, we packed up and took a ride on Christina's boat. Although we had seen it many times by now, we still admired the turquoise water and enjoyed the wonderful weather. It was a little sad leaving, but we all felt the need to return home and get on with our lives. We were able to drive around San Pedro and even get our last ice cream from Manelly's before getting on the small plane that would take us away from this Caribbean, cultural, and colorful adventure.

Jared & Lisa's New Blog

2008-06-24T14:40:00.001-06:00

Let's just write something for the sake of trying out our new blog.