Peyton Daniel Condie

Well, Peyton Daniel Condie has officially made his out-of-the-womb appearance!

He was born on January 20, 2011 at 9:59 p.m., 8 lbs. 9 ounces and 20 inches long (yes, quite the big boy).

After about 22 very long hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing, we were finally able to meet our long-awaited baby boy. 

We love our little boy and find ourselves loving him more and more every day!

Since the 20th, my recovery has been ... well, not easy. I guess I didn't anticipate it taking so long before I was able to sit, stand, walk or just plain move. I've reached a couple landmarks though -- I can now carry Peyton from room to room, I can pick him up from the bassinet or ground, and I can walk around the apartment with him for a few minutes when he won't stop crying. I'm also almost entirely self-sufficient again (meaning I can pretty much take care of myself on my own).

We were super blessed to have my mom here until last Sunday, and Dan's mom since last Saturday. I don't know how we would have survived without them. Poor Daniel would have never slept or gone to class, that's for sure. Dan's mom leaves tomorrow, and I think I'm pretty ready to handle things on my own (now that I've regained most of my mobility). I'm a little nervous about it though. I still can't carry the car seat with Peyton in it. Just carrying him is a bit of a strain for me.

Well, that about sums up the last 1.5 weeks. Peyton is 11 days old and still the cutest baby in the world. Here are a few things my baby boy does that I love:

• He curls up into a little ball when you hold him
• He nestles his little head by your neck as he's falling asleep
• He keeps his little hands next to his face whenever he can
• He smiles in his sleep
• He curls his fingers in little waves on your skin when you hold him
• He's sprayed everyone at least once while having his diaper changed! 

Wishing. Waiting. Hoping.

... That's pretty much what I do now. Every day. Since I'm done with school and we had hoped the baby would have come, well, any time before NOW, all I can do is wish, wait, hope and craft. Yes, craft. Oh, and read too.

I've finished the baby room (pictured below). My mother-in-law sent me the scraps left over from the GORGEOUS quilt she made for baby boy Condie, and I put them to good use as part of the room decor. All-in-all, I only spent about $20 (excluding the furniture, naturally) on the decorations in the room. Awesome, right?

I made these wall decorations out of embroidery hoops, fabric and ribbon. The squares were actually pieces of cork board that I covered in leftover fabric as well. They will have lots of pictures of our family once this little man decides to vacate my uterus.

Here is our lovely crib (with the AMAZING quilt my mother-in-law made.

I used leftover strips of fabric to modge-podge this clock. I took the clock apart and covered a piece of cardstock with the strips of fabric. I used some of my scrapbooking supplies to modge-podge the numbers on and put the clock back together! Really simple, and I really like it!

I used the rest of the scraps of material from the quilt to make this valance. I didn't have a sewing machine, so it ended up taking me a whole day rather than 20 minutes ... I may or may not have been so determined that I hand-stitched the whole thing.

This is the beautiful afghan that Daniel's aunt crocheted for baby.

(Ignore my cheese-ball face here) This is the quilt Dan's mom made! Amazing, right? The back is really soft minky material. I LOVE this quilt.

And of course, a belly picture. Here I am -- big, uncomfortable, wishing, waiting, hoping that this baby will come SOON!  (38.5 weeks)

Well, there's a picture update for the baby room. Like I mentioned, I've also been reading. This book, actually:

 

It's quite interesting. I'm really enjoying it. 

I've also been crafting. I'm trying to make a reusable bag by crocheting strips of Macey's plastic bags. My mom did it before, and it turned out awesome. I'm not so sure how mine will do. 

And I've been making hair flowers. Not for the baby, obviously, because he is definitely a boy (our doctor has left no doubt in our minds. Of our three ultrasounds, the only image he shows us is of the little man's testicles. No joke. No cute little printouts of the baby's profile. Just his man-parts. Every time). These hair flowers are for me and my little sister.

Lastly, things I am looking forward too: 

1. Obviously, the birth of our little boy
2. My mommy and daddy coming out next THURSDAY (Hear that baby? You seriously need to make an appearance outside the womb by THURSDAY!!)
3. The super-cute quilted diaper bag my mommy made me for Christmas
4. Daniel coming home from school/work so I don't go crazy all by myself

I think that's about it for now. 

The sweet sound of nothing

It's official. As of 4:30 p.m. today, I completed the LAST final I will ever take at Brigham Young University. Oh, how sweet those words sound.

All I have left to "officially" graduate is finishing up a few internship hours and writing a five-page comparison paper between the book I'm supposed to read and my internship experience. Cake? Yes. (Speaking of cake, I wouldn't mind some Funfetti with Rainbow Chip frosting ... I'll probably make it in celebration of Daniel's last final).

Speaking of Rainbow Chip, did anyone else notice they started selling it at Macey's again, after a far-too-long hiatus from the shelves. Love.

 

Well, on topics other than food (hey, I'm pregnant ... what can I say?), Daniel's coed intramural basketball team WON their division championship! Daniel got an elbow to the head, resulting in this:

Yes, it's as serious as it looks. Daniel grew a rooster-like headpiece and ninja-fashioned scarf as a result of that terrible blow. Actually, he has me to thank for his high-fashion appearance. I created that look specifically to keep the ice on his head and his hands free so he could finish his homework. I [secretly] made him wear it this way so I could take and post pictures. 

Since I'm taking pictures off my phone, here is Dan and I at the second-to-last home football game:

And moving back to the subject of food, I [accidentally] broke this spoon trying to eat some delicious leftover Coldstone icecream. I thought Daniel would be happy since he's the one who does the dishes and that makes one less spoon to wash, but apparently I was wrong. He was quite disappointed, actually.

Last of all (also food-related), I forgot to post these sweet (pun intended) cupcakes I decorated at a Relief Society activity (courtesy of Melissa Bell). I was quite proud of myself, actually. 

Well, that's it for this update. Oh, did I mention I'm done with school forever? It sounds better every time I say it. Mmmhmm. 

P.S. Christmas is only 11 days away ... can you believe it??

P.P.S. I'm so ridiculously sick of being pregnant, I'm going crazy. And the lack of sleep doesn't help.

This makes me sad...

So I saw this on Yahoo and it really makes me sad. The article is called, "Four in 10 say marriage is becoming obsolete."

Some of the things they mentioned in the article are:

"About 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or parents who are unwed or no longer married ... Broken down further, about 15 percent have parents who are divorced or separated and 14 percent who were never married. Within those two groups, a sizable chunk — 6 percent — have parents who are live-in couples who opted to raise kids together without getting married."

"... about 39 percent of Americans said marriage was becoming obsolete."

"About 34 percent of Americans called the growing variety of family living arrangements good for society, while 32 percent said it didn't make a difference and 29 percent said it was troubling."

"About 44 percent of people say they have lived with a partner without being married; for 30-to-49-year-olds, that share rose to 57 percent. In most cases, those couples said they considered cohabitation as a step toward marriage." 

The Family: A Proclamation to the World says:

"The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

"The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

 I believe this to be true. I love my husband and I'm so grateful for him and all that he does for me and our soon-to-be family of three. I hope and pray that the family, as God intended it to be, will be able to continue and hold strong.

The article I mentioned makes me sad; my family makes me happy. The happiest times I can remember were when I was spending time with the people I love -- with my husband, who I can be with for forever -- and with my parents and siblings.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf talked about four key relationships that matter most in this past October 2010 General Conference: our relationship with God, our families, our fellowman and ourselves.

"Our second key relationship is with our families. Since “no other success can compensate for failure” here, we must place high priority on our families. We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time. Taking time for each other is the key for harmony at home. We talk with, rather than about, each other. We learn from each other, and we appreciate our differences as well as our commonalities. We establish a divine bond with each other as we approach God together through family prayer, gospel study, and Sunday worship."

$70 for taking a survey and referring 5 friends

Some of you may have seen my facebook posts about a survey for the University of Michigan. It's actually legitimate, and though some of the questions are a little strange, you really do receive the money for taking it. You get $20 for taking it yourself, and up to $50 more for referring five people.

If you guys are interested, you can visit this link:

https://www.sph.umich.edu/vnet/vns.html

You'll need to use this coupon number to access the survey:

RKFCPE87KJL472BG

It does take about 45-60 minutes, so make sure you have the time to complete it. Also: you have to be between ages 18-24 to qualify/be eligible.

Dan and I are using the money we get from the survey as our Christmas budgets for each other ... haha. It really is nice, though!

Email, comment or facebook me if you have any questions!

What I've been up to lately

Well, all last week I kept trying to think of something that was blog-worthy, and nothing came to me.

This week, however, is a different story.

The weekend started off normal: we went to the basketball game {which was AWESOME because BYU scored over 80 points which means FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE from MAGLEBY'S! I love Magleby's}, then we went to the football game the next morning [which was also awesome because we scored enough points to get FREE FatCats bowling, AWESOME X 2]. I guess in all the walking and standing between the two games, I overexerted myself or something, because when we got back from the football game (which we came home early from so that we could watch the Utah vs. TCU game {can you say "overrated?"}, I started having these contraction thingies.

Long story short, they continued from about 4 p.m. Saturday until 10 p.m. Sunday. Around 11 p.m. Saturday we called my doctor; he called back around 1 a.m. and told me to go to UVRMC and get checked out. We went there and they hooked me up to some monitors, checked me out and decided to give me a shot that was supposed to stop the fake contractions.

It didn't.

Instead, I puked my guts out and they wouldn't let me leave until I started looking/feeling better, which was around 4 a.m. Sunday. They prescribed me some drugs to stop the contractions and I left, feeling worse than when I got there.

Great news is, the drugs work, and I haven't had to take any more since Sunday evening!

More good news: we get another ultrasound in 3 weeks! So excited to see the little man again.

More good news: I saw some funky dude by the Provo City Library on my way to campus from work who was wearing the following (use the pictures below to really capture the look):

shorts 

amphibious shoes

an ugly wool coat  (I kid you not, this exact color/length, minus the fur collar and 1/2 of the girliness)

and a coon hat

If only that dang stoplight hadn't changed colors and my phone wasn't buried deep in my coat pocket. I totally would have snapped a picture. 

Halloween happenings

We've been able to do some fun and festive Halloween activities in the last couple of days, and I thought I would share the magic through narrated pictures from Daniel's phone (which has much better resolution than mine).

This weekend we went to Scott and Kieli's apartment in SLC for a chocolate fondue party, pumpkin carving and The Game of Things. First of all, I must say that I love fondue. I think everyone gets a fondue pot for their wedding. At least we did. And so did our friends next-door (which is why we [our friends and us] decided to have our own fondue party a while back and oOoOh was it goooood). This fondue party was also awesome. Everything you could imagine dipping chocolate in (and more) was there. 

Then we carved pumpkins. Daniel and I drew our inspiration for our pumpkin from his little brother, Seth. You see, Seth has cowlicks on his eyebrows (as seen below on pumpkin model). Seth also does a facial expression he refers to as "the lip." Seth is 14 and quite the character. I will say that every family member who has seen our pumpkin has been able to tell (without a hint) that it was a rendering of Seth ... so I'd say we done did a good jarb. 

 

(A picture of Seth doing "the lip")

 Daniel and I also went to Cornbelly's on Monday for our FHE/Date Night activity. It was so fun! We were pretty horrible at the corn maze. We passed the same markers like, three times. Dan wanted to give up, but I could never live with myself if I didn't officially complete my first-ever corn maze -- so we persevered. 

While it was still light in the maze ... That didn't last long.

Who doesn't love a corn field photo-op?

P.S. do you have any idea how difficult it is to get us both in the same picture when we have a +foot height difference? 

The pig races! 

Please ignore my super scary face in this picture ... only note the sign saying "VICTORY BRIDGE." Yes, we managed to finish the corn maze and we didn't even cheat! We almost went back out the way we came, but I carved my own path (I mean, stayed within the predetermined paths) and got us to the Victory Bridge! I'm such a great navigator. 

Daniel had to be incarcerated because he wanted to give up. Sissy.

  The pumpkin tower! Notable figures included: Gordon B. Hinckley, David Archuleta, TWO BYU pumpkins and Homer Simpson.

As you can see, it was pretty awesome. We also went through a haunted corn maze, "Cornophobia," and went on a hayride. Amazing evening full of fun! 

One final thing to note: today I had another interesting bus experience. I was taking route 833 home from campus and the bus driver provided a narration for the entire ride home. I kid you not -- he literally narrated every second of the drive with comments such as, "The Provo Missionary Training Center, complete with construction ... I don't know why there is such traffic on a Tuesday, you would think it's a Monday! Which doesn't make sense because the Provo Temple is closed on Mondays ... Oh, so you're going to speed up now, eh? Hello, it's called driving 101! ... That's right, you're going to back it up, now back it up! ... We are now approaching University Parkway, where you can see the stadium!" 

And so on ... I think you can probably tell he was a little crazy, but oh-so entertaining. So I had the privilege of listening to his ranting narrations the entire drive home. Jealous?