Life is good!

Here's a little bit of how our lives have been the last couple months, and life is good! We left off in March for my last post. For Easter, we went to my parents house for Saturday then part of Sunday. My mom of course spoiled Maci rotten! She got her an adorable pink Easter dress. I unfortunately only have a blurry picture of her in it. We then went over to the in-laws for some Easter fun. Easter goodies were everywhere of course! :) Thanks family for all of the Maci spoiling :) It's been so nice having nice weather outside for Maci and I to enjoy. We usually go outside at in the evenings cause Maci tends to get a little stir crazy. She is still so serious when she's outside and you can tell she's just taking it all in.

In May we were able to attend my younger brother's high school graduation. We are so proud of him! He has done very well even with the challenges he has. The weekend was enjoyed by everyone. :) Both Mike and Aaron got in their fill of shooting and video games. :) We also enjoyed my first Mother's Day. Unfortunately I had to work that night so it was pretty uneventful. But Mike did get me a new vacuum! Sounds funny but that's what I wanted :)

I can't believe it's June already! We started this month off with some good news. Mike got a promotion in his job, and is now running the SLC 1 plasma center! He's very excited but very nervous. I know that he'll do so well in it though. He gets to start in a brand new building that's pretty nice. It's right in down town on North Temple so he's hoping to be able to reach the high donor quota's every week. We are so grateful for his job and the opportunities it has brought him. I'm so grateful for all of his hard work. We are very blessed. I'm also excited to celebrate Mikes first Father's Day.

As for me, I'm still working a couple nights a week at the hospital. I'm still enjoying it very much. I feel like I've already grown and learned so much as a nurse working is the hospital environment. Some nights are crazy and I'm glad I work 12 hour shifts cause I need every minute just to finish my work!

Last and most definitely not least, we have our Maci Bubs! She is still growing like a weed. She seems to change and learn something new every day. She is so joyful and happy all the time! Here are a few things that have happened with her the last couple months.

• She learned to sit up on her own at five months. It was very nice cause she seem much happier to just play on the floor.
• She has her two bottom toothies and I feel like she just started teething again so maybe we'll see some top ones soon.
• She got a jumper from mom and dad for Easter and she loves it! She's content to play in it for up to an hour at a time. When she's not in her jumper, she's using whoever's holding her as a jumper. :)
• She's became an excellent roller, but still hasn't crawled. She'll get up on her hands and knees, but won't go anywhere. Mom's ok with that though. :)
• She loves to eat! Mostly her baby food but if you're ever eating something around her and she's not, she gets pretty upset. So we've found that giving her a carrot or celery stick to chew on works the best. She feels like a big girl eating, but doesn't choke on anything. It's perfect. 
• She loves to suck on lemons or limes. She always gets them from our drinks when we go out to eat.
• She's learning to drink from a sippy cup. She hasn't quite figured it out yet, but we're learning.
• Still loves to scream at the top of her lungs. In joy, or just to get your attention.
• Loves attention! She's a little performer! If she sees you giving her attention, she'll just ham it up! That includes when you pull the camera out. She's little miss photogenic.
• Still sleeps from about 8 till 8. Very nice :)
• She's not as spitty as she used to be. Thank heavens!
• Is getting so big! At her 6 month appointment she was 87th for height, 78 for weight, and 60th for her head. She has a skinny little waist, but cute chunky thighs and arms. :)
• Her favorite toys are anything that's not a toy. Phones, remotes, keys, spoons, paper etc. 
• She's still the love of our lives and we can't get enough of her :)

My happy girl. 

This was the first time she figured out how to use her jumper. Pretty fun stuff!

I know the picture is crappy, but this was the only one I had showing her cute Easter dress. Not to mention my handsome hubby. :)

Big girl!

Snuggling with  Great Grandpa Taylor.

This was the first time she figured out how to sit up on her own.

I love those baby blues!

Mike and I went on a Razr ride with Dan and Carly, and Katie and Nick. It was very fun!

Maci was helping us detail the truck.

She thinks she needs to eat everything.

Cookie Monster!

Beautiful bather!

Playing with the hose was so fun! Try to ignore the annoying narrator.

Like father, like daughter

My baby playing with her baby

We had a fun family barbecue on Friday. Maci had a blast with her cousin Brightyn and her aunts and uncles.

So much fun that this was the result! I laid her down to change her diaper before bed. She was so tired that she rolled over and IMMEDIATELY went to sleep. It was so cute!

Catch Up

Time for a little blog catch up.

Christmas was amazing! We all had so much fun having Miss Maci around for all the festivities. She also brought a wonderful spirit with her, that made me especially grateful this year :)

January was pretty uneventful. Not too much really happened. Mike had to work New Years Eve so we just celebrated on our own. 

In February Mike and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! It seems crazy we have been married that long. Our love has continued to grow stronger and stronger and we are so lucky to have each other and our beautiful baby. We are truly blessed :) The night of our anniversary I attempted to make our wedding luncheon menu for dinner. I made chicken cordon bleu, au gratin potatoes, and salad. It took me FOREVER to make, but I think it turned out pretty good. That night, me being the dummy that I am, I forgot to put the potatoes in the fridge and left them out all night. With all the dairy in them, they were ruined and I had to throw them away! It was horrible cause there was more than half the pan left and all my hard work literally went in the garbage. For Valentines Day we decided to go out to dinner so that tragedy would be avoided :) I got Miss Bubbles a little pink and white sock monkey. Mike thinks it's hideous and looks like Barack Obama :) 

March I got a new job at Davis Hospital. I will be nursing on the Medical floor about 6 shifts a month. It's not many hours but that is just what I wanted. Enough hours to keep my license and just a little bit of time out of the house :)

As for Maci, she has been an absolute JOY!!! I can't believe she will be 5 months next week! She is growing like a weed. Here are a few little fun facts about how she's doing.

• She continues to be very alert and active when she is awake. She is a constant wiggle!
• She had her ears pierced a week after Christmas. She did awesome! She only cried for about 10 seconds and I think it was just cause I was holding her head. The minute I let go, she was back to laughing at her daddy. :)
• She loves playing with her "bugs" These little jingly toys that I can hang from just about anything. She loves to swat at them.
• She loves to scream! She'll just scream at the top of her lungs in a fit of joy! :) She'll play a little game that if you scream at her she'll scream back longer and louder :)
• She likes to suck on her first and second fingers. I don't mind this at all cause if she wakes up at night she'll just use those instead of her binky. 
• She still spits up ALL the time. She often goes through 2 or 3 outfits a day. She's a happy spitter though. Doesn't seem to bother her too much. The Zantac must really help! 
• She was in the 40th percentile for her weight and 70th for her height at her 4 month appointment. 
• She is starting to roll from her back to her side. She is trying so hard to get to her belly.
• She has discovered her feet and will often try to eat her toes.
• Laughs and smiles all the time! Her daddy can get her laughing like no one can!
• She eats rice cereal now. She will say "Mmmm" the entire time you feed her :) 
• She sleeps through the night! Goes to bed at 8 and will wake up between 7:30 and 8 in the morning. :) 
• She talks herself to sleep. She will coo to herself for a good 15 minutes after you lay her down. Mike and I have snuck in there to listen a few times. You have to crawl out of the room though cause if she sees you leave, she'll start to cry.
• Hates being by herself. She's just fine to do her own thing as long as she knows someone is in the room with her. 
• Her new favorite noise is farting sounds. She's doing it right now as I type :)
• She loves to be outside and loves to watch daddy's e maxx.

I'm sure this list seems long, but I just love watching how much she grows and changes everyday. It also makes me kind of sad! She is an absolute joy and we love her so much!

These pictures start with Christmas and go to today ;)

I didn't get any pictures of Christmas cause the camera wasn't working but Mike took a couple of pictures of my brothers toad and bearded dragon wearing their Christmas hat.

The day after she had her ears pierced

She still loves her binky 

I love the look on her face!

My mom made her this cute beanie and set of leg warmers :)

This picture was taken on Valentines Day

Hi!

I love this dinosaur hair clip :)

My girl!

Taking a nap in mom and dads bed.

......and with her elephant

Hanging out with dad in her jammies

My big girl!

Miss Bubbles loves to laugh

I need to catch up and I have pictures on my camera that I need to put on the computer. But here is a little something to keep you occupied. :)

The Blessing

Ok, so these pictures weren't actually taken on Maci's blessing day, but lets just say that day was crazy, and I'm a horrible picture taker! (Sorry Maci :(() Her blessing was wonderful! Mike did such a great job! We decided to bless her in our old ward in Smithfield. We figured there were less people that had to travel far if we did it there. We had only immediate family in the circle due to our huge families. We had over 60 people! It was definitely a learning experience on what to do for the next family gathering. We had enough food, but barely! The biscuits and gravy were a huge hit! I just want to say thank you to all of our family and friends who came to support us and our precious girl! Especially my mom. She was a HUGE help! Thanks mom for all of the cooking and time and effort you spent on this. She truly is a blessing herself! I was so grateful for the spirit that was in our sacrament meeting that day. I was able to find the courage to bare my testimony in front of everybody. Mostly because I wanted my husband to know how grateful I am for him and his priesthood. Also, Aaron my lil bro gave an amazing testimony. Thanks for the encouragement buddy! Oh one small detail I have to mention. We were running a tad late. (It's hard to get pretty when you have to make someone else pretty first! :) It was snowing pretty hard that day, and the roads were slippery.  On our way to the church, Mike "ran" a stop sign due to the inability to stop on the slick roads. We just kept going straight into a field! Pretty exciting! Luckily we were able to just turn around in the field and we all made it safely to the church. 

Here's the proud papa! He loves his little princess so much!

I wish I could have got a picture of her in her dress when she was awake, but that didn't happen. I loved having the knit dress for her. My mom added the crocheted flowers on it to match the crocheted booties my grandma Taylor made for her. So adorable! Also my mom made a beautiful crocheted blanket that I know took her tons of hours! So so pretty. She also has a matching headband, but I forgot to put it on her for the picture. 

Maci is here!

Wow, where do I start. I guess I'll start with the beginning of the last time I posted. Our house is amazing! Mike finally went through and took pictures. Mike has been working really hard to get the yard done. We decided to extend the patio which I'm sure we will love in the summer. Thanks to my brother in law Nick for helping us with that! Our neighbor is in the landscaping business so we were able to finish the yard at a decent price. Grass and all! And thank you to my mom for some helpful decorating tips. :)

Extra Bathroom

Extra bedroom

Maci's room

Kitchen

Dining area

Living Room

Master Bathroom

Extended patio with our furniture under the awning

Unfinished basement

Master bedroom

Now for the really fun stuff! Miss Maci! Maci Lei Seamons arrived right on time. I went into labor on 10/11/11 and she came at 10:34 AM 10/12/11, her due date! I was in labor for almost 20 hours and by the time it came to push, my epidural was almost gone. So I tried my hardest to get her here fast so I didn't have to feel it anymore and only pushed for a half hour. Pretty good for my first baby! :) The reason it took so long for her to get here was we found out she was hung up on her umbilical cord. It was wrapped around her arm and shoulder. She wasn't able to drop low enough into the birth canal. Each contraction was starting to stress her out. Her heart rate would drop into the 60's with each one. Way too low for a baby! We tried giving me more fluid and oxygen to make sure she was getting enough oxygen. Finally after a long time and c-section was mentioned a few times, we changed the position I was laying in. I dilated to a 10 and was ready to push a half hour later! We stayed at the hospital for the 24 hours then we were out of there! Maci weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 21 inches long. She had a minor cone head, but it went down really fast! She had lots of fluid in her stomach and had to be suctioned for quite a while. :( Maci was a binky baby right from the beginning. She loved to suck on the green hospital binky that's the size of her head! I was so grateful for my moms help after! She came home for a few days after and was an angel! Taught me all of her motherly tips and cooked and cleaned and spoiled Maci rotten! Thanks again mom! Here are a few pictures of Maci's first few days of life.

This was what Mike saw as he was speeding through Brigham City to get to the hospital :)

 There's one word for this picture. Swollen!

 Reece loves Maci!

Brand new!

The little hoodie she has on says "Just like Mommy" :)

My mom crocheted the beanie and blanket for her

And gave her this amazing swing that she slept in her first few weeks.

Big stretch!

My aunt Holly took some amazing pictures when Maci was 3 weeks old. I tried to narrow it down to my favorites, but they're so many cute ones! My little Maci is a very alert baby. She has been since the day she was born. We kept trying to get her to fall asleep so we could pose her a little better, but she was not having it! I think they turned out amazing anyway. :) The few pictures that she is smiling are real smiles! I know that everyone will think no way, and it's just gas, but I was able to coax them out of her so I think they're real!

Baby got back!

 4 Generations :)

As you can see there were many cute ones! These next few pictures were taken around 3 weeks of age as well.

 My little bathing beauty posed herself like this all on her own :)

Here are a few more fun pictures of our little one :)

 This one was taken on Thanksgiving 

 She loves to nap in her rocker in front of the fireplace. 

 This was taken the day she had her shots. 12/5/11 :( She actually did really well. Only cried for about 30 seconds then was fine. I think it was cause she was just chillin in her diaper only :) Also at that appointment we got her 2 month stats. Weight 9 pounds 4 ounces 18th percentile (I promise I feed her!) Height 22 and a half inches 63rd percentile and Head I don't remember the exact measurement but was in the 52nd percentile. 

I just took this picture today! I was trying to catch her smiling but it proved to be difficult because every time she smiled, she would wiggle like crazy and the picture was blurry.

Here are a few fun facts about Maci

- Has reflux. :( She was spitting up so much that she would start spitting up clear stomach fluid and would start coughing and screaming her head off. Which I don't blame her! So I called her doctor and explained the situation and he prescribed her Zantac. She takes it twice a day now and is doing sooo much better. She's still a spitty little thing but it's a lot more manageable now. She hates the taste of her medicine though and makes a funny face every time she takes it. :) 

- Loves to smile and coo.

- Can often be heard talking to the angels when she first goes to bed at night.

- Laughs and smiles when you press on her nose and go "beep beep"

-Loves funny noises in general :) Her latest favorites are piggy noises and the sound of the "diesel" that her daddy makes. 

-Is a wiggler! When she is awake she is constantly moving. Kicks and moves her arms all over the place.

-Has blue eyes like her mama.

-People say she looks like me except with Mikes forehead. :) Here is a picture of me when I was about 1 years old. If I had one of me when I was younger I would have posted that, but this will have to do for now. See some similarities?

- Sleeps pretty well through the night. She sleeps in her crib and will usually do a 6-7 hour stretch then another 3-4 hour. Very nice for mommy! 

-Loves to take baths. I think its because of all the splashing that's involved!

- Is a morning person. She is the happiest first thing when she wakes up in the morning.

-Is loved by all who are around her!!

We are so grateful for this beautiful addition to our family! She is such a joy and we can't imagine our lives without her! :)