January
This biggest thing to note for January this year (aside from my pregnancy updates), was our early new addition: Otto! This guys has been such a fun part of our lives. He loves to pick on the other kitties, but they seem to tolerate him enough.
We did start our fish baby adventure...which was exciting in the beginning, but fish reproduce so quickly it turns out! And then on a smaller note I got my new computer as my "Christmas after Christmas" present from Larry. It's been amazing working on this thing and I'm SO glad I finally have a real computer to use (when I have time that is).
February
February, to start, had a fun continuation of our Valentine's Day tradition: making something we like from scratch. This year we did homemade pizza. It was really fun to do it and we, apparently, inspired a few people because I remember seeing a couple of other people post on social media about their own homemade pizzas around the same time. I definitely am loving this tradition as it fits the bill for the holiday: spending the day with your loved one and feeling special! Our pizzas were such a success that we have made them a couple more times this year.
We also took our mini "babymoon" and went to Vegas for a weekend. It was fun to get away and looking back it was silly that I stressed out so much about what if I went into labor while we were there (like seriously stressed out about it!). I hated being in the smoke, but it was really fun going to see the shows we saw and see everyone's reaction to a super pregnant chick walking around everywhere (we definitely got lots of looks our way haha). Plus BB moved so much during some of the shows and I remember joking she'll be a magician because she moved like CRAZY crazy right before that show started. It was amazing and I totally miss that feeling.
March
In March we got to have practice being parents when Anna came to stay the night with us. It was really fun having her and she took to Larry so quickly! He's always been good with kids and seeing him with Anna was adorable! It was fun to see how having a daughter could be so fun for both of us.
We also started acquiring more furniture for our new house this month. We got the guest room set up, our new amazing couch, our grown up master bedroom furniture, and our HUGE dining table (that worked perfect for Thanksgiving - no kid table needed!). I still love the look of our house, but we still haven't found end chairs or bar stools for our dining room.
Even though we still had a couple months, March felt like the beginning of the end of my pregnancy. We were starting to realize how much we needed to get (either from the shower or buy ourselves), I spent a day in L&D with false labor signs, and I realized I needed to start figuring out what I wanted to get done before BB showed up. Larry also kept pressuring me about making sure our hospital bag was packed...we had NO idea how much our lives were really going to change though.
April
We started April off with our baby shower for BB (it feels weird to call her that now after we know she's Cara). It was a GREAT day and it was so nice to have my mom in town. We really got spoiled with everything and I'm pretty sure we've used everything we've gotten (except for some diapers we're still waiting for her to grow into). I also started thinking about our first Vacation with Cara this month (so glad Hawaii won out and went so well...see below for that).
Larry and I decided to use our last 15th date night as a "last date night out for a while" and did a big one. We went to (our new favorite restaurant) Bona Vita, got frozen yogurt, and came home to watch a movie. I also decided I wanted to document some pregnancy things since I was close enough to the end that I wanted to remember what that whole journey was like.
As for house stuff, we got our fence installed since we knew we had to put in a fence or finish the yard by July and we figured with a baby it would just be easier to have a fence put in and to have it done before she came. I'm definitely glad we went that way...our yard isn't done yet and needs some work still, but I'm glad we can take our time with it.
And finally, we ended the month with our last pregnancy update. I got a pedicure, got my hair done, did everything we needed for last minute baby stuff (packing the bag, getting the room ready, etc. etc.). We were as ready as we were going to be (or so I thought)...
May
One of the most exciting things to happen in May was...of course Cara's appearance! I have a very very long post about welcoming her here, but the point is, we went in Monday morning, turned her, and 30 hours later (Tuesday afternoon) she made her appearance. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my whole entire life. I had no idea how much things would change with her, but she's the best addition ever and it's so weird to think about life before her! I did document a tad about my postpartum life and how things were the first week, but I had no idea what I was really in for at that point.
I did celebrate my first Mother's Day, which was so much fun to do! But I think I was more excited about when we finally started getting out of the house again haha.
Then to end the month we finally got our newborn photos we got taken a couple weeks earlier. This month was definitely centered around getting used to being parents and having a baby and adjusting to being a family. While it was a magical time, I'm very much happy this month is over with.
June
To start June out, my mom flew out and got to have her chance to have time with Cara. It was great seeing my mom with her and really helped me adjust a bit more to having a baby. She left saying she felt she didn't help as much as she expected to, but she has no idea how much she really helped me! Especially since I was still trying to get used to pumping and taking care of a baby while Larry worked.
We also took a road trip up to Idaho to get lottery tickets. I was so nervous to have her stuck in a car for that long, but Cara actually did really well. She slept a good chunk, I found a way to pump on the road, and we accidentally started using the best bottles out there (by me forgetting to bring an empty bottle so we stopped at the first Wal Mart we found on the road to get a Dr. Johns one)
Other than that, we were still getting used to a new schedule with a baby. I wish I had realized how easy it really is when they are that young...now that she's mobile I'm like "how could I think she was so hard when all she did was sleep and eat?" Haha.
July
July we celebrated Larry's birthday (which I didn't even blog about...I'm a bad wifey). Unfortunately, I was all hormonal and stressed out and wasn't handling leaving the house the best so we didn't do too much. He did get his gun and got to try that out and we did go out shopping for some veggie garden boxes, so we did get out of the house, but I know I ended up apologizing to him that we didn't get to do too much and I'll have to make it up to him next year.
We did end up getting a hike in during this month, which felt SO great to accomplish. That really made me feel like I was getting back into my old body again. Cara seemed to love nature which was cute to watch. I enjoyed the water fall at the end, but we did forget our usual lunch that we eat when we do hikes, but that's okay. Just getting out was enough for me (plus putting bug spray and sunscreen on a baby was annoyingly difficult)
Sadly at the end of the month I returned back to work, which was such a hard thing to do. I knew it was coming and was ready to just get back into the swing of things, but leaving Cara alone with Larry when I felt I had just gotten into the swing of things was really heart breaking. Plus not seeing her nearly as much as I was used to was hard as well (I'm happy to report I'm fully adjusted and I feel we have a GREAT schedule with Cara and our work schedules).
We did take advantage of the great weather and started our veggie garden. We knew we planted things really late, but we figured we could at least try and see what happened. Seeing how well things grew made both of us so excited. We can't wait to start earlier next year and actually get some good produce from it. I remember taking Cara out to feel the grass and check on our food items. It was a good summer!
August
August was probably when things really started to get easier for me. We were getting a good schedule going with Cara, I was getting used to working and leaving her, and pumping was a bit easier since I had been doing it for so long. Then Cara started rolling over and being a mom became SO much more exciting. Yes, the newborn stage is fun, but I knew once she started hitting big milestones like this it was going to be so much more fun to document and watch her grow. I believe she actually started sleeping through the night at this stage as well, which has been SO nice!
We did another hike with Marie and Jim up to Cascade Springs. They were so sweet and picked up lunch and drinks (we got some chips for everyone) and then we walked the loop with Cara in tow, and then took our obligatory pictures and said good bye. It was a quick visit/hike, but was SO nice to do. Especially knowing I had only gotten one hike in in years past so I felt so much more accomplished with this.
All in all, August was a great month!
September
September was when my "mom mode" started to kick in and I realized I wanted to be a more hands on mom (thank you family vloggers who helped me see how to make this happen). I created a new "Weekly Plan" that would mean I could spend enough time with Cara AND watch her learn and grow still. I will tell you this plan has helped me immensely and I'm pretty sure it's helped Cara feel like she does get enough time with me.
Larry started to get into antique shopping, which I have loved. Taking Cara to the different shops and try and include it when we go out of town has been fun. Hopefully it doesn't ever scare Cara (the stuff is really old and can be pretty creepy!)
We also decided to test the babysitting waters and go see our first movie without Cara (not that we've gone to any with her haha). We left Cara with my grandma and went to see "It". The movie was good, but I feel bad I didn't leave my grandma with the best instructions. I guess I figured she watched Cindy's kids so she knew how to take care of babies, but really each one is different and I really should've prepared her better. I definitely took notes for what to do in the future!
October
October I became even more excited for the beginning of Football season! I've never actually watched football games from the start of the season, but I knew I was always looking forward to watching them with my kids, and eventually the Superbowl. Having us all root for whatever team (though hopefully they'll all either be Team Packers or Cowboys) and just snacking while relaxing! I'm sad to report, this died off quickly due to the holidays (and me wanting to watch Christmas movies more than football games), but I still plan to keep this up in the future years. We even got Cara some cute little outfits for the games.
We ended the month with the beginning of my favorite time...Halloween. I'm pretty sure I've been waiting my whole entire life to have family themed costumes...it made this the greatest holiday. I had a lot of fun with it, but I'm definitely looking forward to future years taking her out to trick-or-treat!
November
November was a very eventful month! I got a new work schedule so we started a new adventure: Freezer Meals! I mentioned I would update later to say how it was and I'm LOVING it! I didn't have to do any for December (it just happened to work out that way), but I'll definitely be doing it for January and into the new year. I highly recommend it to make dinner time smoother...as long as you have someone who will be home early enough to start the cooking and doesn't forget to take things out of the freezer ahead of time.
As for parenting, we moved Cara into her own room and the transition was amazingly easy! She's done so well in her room and I'm so thankful that she sleeps so well in there and is out of our room now haha. She also started scooting this month, which has been so fun to watch her go after toys and stuff.
We also celebrated Thanksgiving. We were originally just going to do it us 3, but decided to invite siblings over so that we could host one for once. It went over really well and was nice to spend it with Andy, Rachel, Skyler, & Jena (and kids). It was a full house, but Cara did so well with having guests over!
December
This December has been one for the books! The most memorable thing was taking our first big vacation in a few years, and bringing Cara along made it even better! I loved every single moment of that trip and was so glad we took it AND she was a great traveler. I see many more vacations in our future :)
Then we celebrated Christmas, which was pretty much a dream. I got a lot of snow for the morning, opening presents was wonderful, spending the day having family come visit us was nice, and ending it with my brother and a Skype call to my family made it great. I do think we'll be traveling more this next year for holiday, but this one was a good year to stay home with a new baby and all.
And to end the year we decided it was time to upgrade my little Nissan and get myself a mini soccer mom car. I didn't really blog about this (it just happened today), but let's introduce our little Kia Sportage:
I'm so in love with this car already. It's literally a dream car. Even though we have deemed it our family/weekend errands vehicle (since Larry's car gets better gas mileage so I might as well keep taking that to work) we both get to drive it and I just love that we finally took the plunge (we'll see how I feel once we actually start making payments on it though haha).
And now we're moving onto another new year, I'm hoping 2018 will be one of the best years ever. We'll get to experience more with Cara AND celebrate her first birthday, I'm hoping we'll get out to visit more family (that are out of state) at some point, and maybe fit in a trip or two for us. There's so much to look forward to and for some reason I'm on a HUGE organization kick so that'll be one of my biggest goals for the year.
I hope everyone out there is having a great year and is looking forward to the next one we get! Happy New Year!!!
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