Lessons Learned in Utah

I was a little nervous about moving to Utah, but I wasn't really prepared for what I've encountered. Sadly, I have discovered that Utah is not so much the land of milk and honey, but rather the land of pyramid schemes, plastic surgery, and an extreme competition for the title of "Best House-wife on the Planet".

Here are some myths that have somehow worked their way into the minds of Utah women.

#1 FAKE wins all in Utah

• I'm pretty sure Utah is right behind Hollywood when it comes to the amount of...shall we say... Fakeness? Fake eyelashes, fake body parts, fake tan, fake blonde hair, fake nails, fake EVERYTHING!!!!! Why is everyone trying to hide their natural beauty?

• I believe that women should take care of themselves. We should take care of our bodies, put on a little makeup, do our hair, and look presentable. Be careful though girls, we are meant to enhance our natural beauty, not murderously drown it.

#2 You aren't a cool kid unless you run marathons.

• Now don't get me wrong, I applaud anyone who has the guts to go run until their feet bleed; but I just don't see what the big deal is. Everyone that runs a marathon puts a big sticker on the back of their car. I mean....pregnancy is kind of like a marathon right? And the last leg of that race is not one everyone could handle. You don't see me putting a sticker on the back of my car that says, "Hey! I pushed a baby out of me! (insert completion date here)".
•  Yup....this is basically how I feel:

#3 Pyramid Schemes are the only way to make money.

• Puh-lease! I'm so tired of all this garbage. The worst one? OILS. I understand that natural remedies are amazing, and can help with tons of things. However, don't you think doctors would be using them regularly if they cured cancer? 

#4 Unless you are making EVERYTHING homemade, you fail as a wife and mother.

• Let's see who can pack the cutest lunches, make the most homemade wipes, make their own laundry soap, decorate purely from old stuff found at the DI, make the best pinterest meals, sew the greatest stuff. I mean...soon we'll all be making our make-up from household kitchen products and finding cheaper ways of wiping ourselves in the bathroom! 

• Face reality ladies, life is hectic. It's OKAY if you aren't the perfect wife and mother. Messes happen, laundry doesn't get folded, and sometimes we have to spend money on things because we just don't have enough time to make it ourselves. Life will go on.

I love Logan. This is where my family is. It is here that I have received my college education, and have made so many good friends. It just breaks my heart to see so many women succumb to the idea that unless you are the best at everything, you are worthless. We women are precious. No matter what you do, someone will always be better than you. Forget about it. Enjoy the things you do because they make you happy, not because they will make you look better than someone else.

NASH'S ROOM!

When you move into your new apartment 4 days before you have a baby.... it takes a while to get the nursery done! All I have left to do is finish the "NASH" sign and hang it. I have my awesome Mom and my amazing aunts to thank for all the help! I love it :)

Nash Lendel Jeppesen

Nash joined us on June 9th at 11:39 am. He weighed 7 lbs even and was 20 inches long. He has lots and lots of dark hair, and from what I've been told, looks a lot like his Daddy. He definitely got Lendel's coloring, which I'm grateful for because he has beautiful olive skin.

We had his 2 week check-up yesterday, even though he was 3 1/2 weeks. He was great for his PKU test and only cried a little bit when they pricked his heel to draw blood. These are his stats:

• Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz which puts him in the 33rd %ile
• Head: 14 in which is the 55th %ile
• Height: 21.75 in which is the 70th %ile

Our little boy is tall and skinny with a normal head! Yay he's turning out to be fairly normal! He does have Torticollis, a condition in which one side of his neck is stronger than the other. We can't get rid of the flat spot on his left side because that's the only side he lays on because it's more comfortable. He just has to go to a little physical therapy and the doctor said his head will straighten out within a month or two! 

Nash eats great and is a really calm baby. He usually sleeps about 4 hours, but occasionally we'll get lucky and he'll go for 6 or 7 hour stretches. (Last night was one of those so I am feeling great today!) No matter when he eats at night he is always awake bright and early so he's going to make me a morning person I suppose... bummer. Here are some of my favorite pictures of our little guy!

He is starting to smile so much!

Melts my heart :)

He loves his Daddy 

Getting measured at the Dr 

Bath Time!

The Things I've Learned....

Well, obviously a lot has changed in my life in the last month! I've got a lot of catching up to do, but I'll start with a list of random things that I've come to realize since having our sweet little baby:

1. You lose absolutely all dignity when you have a child. After being ... checked... by multiple people, having to be helped when you pee, being spread-eagle for quite a few hours, and having someone watch you feed your baby... all pride is gone. I say Bless Your Souls Nurses! I have a new-found respect for all the medical personnel out there...

2. Forget the car, phone, light bulb, atomic bomb, etc... EPIDURALS ARE THE GREATEST INVENTION OF ALL TIME! We checked in the hospital at 2:00 and I had that sucker by 3:00. I wasn't playing any games!

3. Closely following the Epidural comes the disposable diaper. My gratitude for these grows exponentially each time this little angel of mine has a major blow-out. All I can say is.... "ugggghhhh" *shutter*

4. It is a wise decision to make sure that internet and TV are set up before you bring the baby home. After working or going to school, or both most of the time; sitting all day long with just a baby as company can get pretty boring. I'm like a lonely puppy at home all day and just wait by the door for when Lendel finally comes home!

5. My mother is an absolute LIFESAVER!!! She came out and stayed with me for a week after we had Nash, and she helped me out so much! I couldn't walk... or sit down for that matter... for about a week, so having her out here was the best thing ever.

6. Post-Pregnancy Bodies are..... different. It's pretty hard to look in the mirror and see what I see, but I just have to tell myself it was worth it; which it totally was. I've still got 20 lbs to go, and about these stretch marks.... yeah not sure when they will go away! Pants have become my new arch-nemesis =/

7. My husband is the greatest guy ever! He's so good with Nash, and he helps me out whenever I need it. I'll admit, he's a bit pathetic late at night when he's tired, but I still love him ;) I always tell Lendel I don't want him to go to work, but I'm grateful he's working so hard for us.

8. A Baby's smile is the most beautiful thing in the world! Nash has just started smiling a lot and it melts my heart every time. He even makes the cute little 'cooing' sounds, which just adds to it. Of course when he does this I become one of those embarrassing parents: making ridiculous faces and talking in a high-pitched voice. Judge me all you want... remember I have no shame anymore!

That's really all I can think of for now... I'll post some more pictures and what-not within the next few days as I gather my thoughts.

Ultimate Nesting

-FULL TERM- That's right.... I am now officially considered full term. Although my due date is still three weeks away, I already packed our hospital bags. One reason: I love packing. Weird right? Oh well.... I do love it. The other reason I already packed is because we are moving this weekend. Since I am so close to my due date and progressing quite rapidly, the last thing I want is to go into labor in the middle of a move. We will keep the bags in an easy place to grab and be a lot less stressed when this baby does come. Also, what better way to "nest" than to organize a completely new apartment!? I'm super excited about that part :)

Yes....you can call me obsessed!

Lendel's snacks. He can't go long without food....

All the baby stuff! These are some necessities that I've found on random blogs and what-not. I am more than willing to hear any ideas from Mommies out there who have other excellent ideas for the baby's bag....or my bag for that matter :)

This is Baby's bag all packed! (Lendel doesn't like that I refer to him as "Baby", but seeing as we aren't 100% sure what we are naming him, what else am I supposed to call him?)

Unfortunately, my ability to control my stress levels has decreased a ton. I've found myself having quite a few anxiety attacks the last few weeks when I get stressed out. Last night I was starting to panic about how we are going to get everything moved, and I was being somewhat grumpy towards Lendel. In my defense, he was having some fun with it and teasing me. He finally ran to the store to grab a few last-minute items for our dinner. (Apparently in Lendel's world you CANNOT eat beef enchiladas without sour cream). I was about in tears when he left, and when he came back, he had this in his hand:

Yup. Oreos and a Mini Rose plant. Of course I immediately started crying and apologized for being grumpy towards him. I'm pregnant OK!? Cut me some slack! What a sweet guy I've got. 

P.S. I still have my belly button! Hallelujah! 

A Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was fantastic! I had a great day on Saturday just going to random shops with Lendel. We also stopped at A&W to grab a bite to eat and a root beer float. Since every single date of ours has to be followed by ice cream for me, it worked nicely to get them both at the same time. I was on my feet more than usual so they puffed up quite a bit by the end of the night. Good thing Lendel is amazing at foot rubs! Here are some pictures to sum up my weekend:

This is my BEAUTIFUL Mom that I love so much! She's the greatest Mom around, and definitely doesn't look old enough to be a Grandma. I can't wait to see her when this baby comes! Since I didn't shout her out on Facebook like everyone else did for their Mom's, it's her turn for that now :)

Lendel surprised me with a watch for Mother's Day and I love it! I was exhausted, and didn't even realize he had snuck it under my phone before my alarm went off. I simply grabbed my phone and turned off the alarm, then went back to bed. He decided to text me to get my attention again, and I told my phone to "shut up" before I realized it was a text. Once I read the text, I realized there was a box on my nightstand that I hadn't noticed before. Sorry I'm so lame Lendel!

We got to talk to this great guy yesterday!  My brother Kyle has been on a mission in England since March of last year. Notice his name tag is in Chinese, but his mission is English-speaking. He spends a lot of time up by the university in York, where there are a ton of Chinese people. He's such a great kid! He's so nice, and never says anything bad about any of his companions, or the people he meets. It says a lot about a person when they can get along with just about anyone, and not complain about all the crazies you can meet when serving a mission. I sure do miss him! Our little boy will be almost 8 months old when Kyle gets back, but he's going to be an amazing uncle.

Ha! I just had to add this picture. This is a snapshot we got of him as he was telling us that he's received tons of care packages with toothbrushes in them. He said,"I think everyone is trying to tell me I need to brush my teeth more". What a funny kid he is.

Getting There...

We had our first real weekly appointment today. For those of you who don't know what they do for these, let's just say they do some measuring. I am already at 2 cm and 70% effaced. Again, if you don't know what that means.... don't go look it up. If you do know what it means, you are probably a woman who has had a child and this won't gross you out :) Basically... I'm already starting the first stages of labor! I was fairly surprised when my doctor threw out those numbers because I'm only at 35 weeks. I was a little worried it meant this little man would come early, but she said she still expects him to come at 39-40 weeks. She also estimated him to weigh in at about 7 to 7.5 lbs at delivery. Glorious day! He won't be gigantic!

Lendel and I both had to resist cracking up while she was checking some things out because she kept saying, "Oh you have a wonderful pelvis" and "This looks great, your pelvis is fantastic". In normal words: I GOT ME SOME GOOD CHILD-BEARIN' HIPS! Hahaha sweet....

I bought some decorations for his room yesterday, and I got so excited! Now I just need to hurry up and move so I can set up his room. Yes.... we've decided to move. We found a great place that is still really cheap and sooooo much bigger so we decided to go for it.

Graduation was on Saturday, and I am officially a college graduate with a Bachelors in Exercise Science and a Minor in Psychology. It doesn't seem real yet, but I guess it will when Lendel has to go back to school and I get to stay home with Baby :)

On Sunday, we were sitting in a meeting and Lendel leaned over to me and asked, "How long has it been since you've seen your Dad?". I started bawling. Man I miss my family, but especially my Dad. It's been about six months since I have seen him and it's just not right! I can't wait for them to come out and visit when Baby is born. I love my parents and my brothers and my sister. I also love my in-laws. I know... that can be a rare thing, but I really do have the best family on both sides.