Remember the little things...

He's asleep in his car seat.

I lift him up and his whole body tightens with little fists by his face and legs tucked, bum out.

He lets out a little squeaky whimper or maybe cries, but it's tired and half hearted.

Finally he relaxes while rubbing his face back and forth, back and forth, across my shirt. Before settling heavy on my shoulder.

With his face nuzzled tight to my neck.

Back to Work: The Verdict

Well, we all survived my first weekend back at work. Little Malcolm was a trouper and played nice for all his baby sitters. With the worst issue being when he had a big blowout for Brenna and she nicely found some clothes she had to put him in. :)

I survived as well. I learned that it really is like riding a bike. I was nervous while taking report from the previous nurse. I was remembering again how much I had to do and keep track of during a 12 hour period. But I was amazed to find how much I just do on reflex. I have enough of a routine down, and I've taken care of patients enough times, it just kind of flows. I also learned that I need to use my breast pump on a higher setting after my second shift in a row and a clogged duct. Eek! But it's all good.

I missed Malcolm terribly, I swear that kid changes overnight. I also realized how much I missed people at work while I was gone.

I should mention a disclaimer from my last post about returning to work. I didn't mean to say that all moms should go out and get a part time job--just that it was a good choice for me. After reading the comments I think I might have sent the wrong impression to some people. I don't think I would be as happy working if I had to do it more than 2 times a week or if I had to do it at a less awesome of a job. :)

I think the system we have worked out is going to be good. I think that the amount I'm working is just enough. I also think it'd be nice if I could work a little less--but they don't give me benefits for that little. I enjoy being home a lot. I think that going back to work has made me realize how much I do enjoy it, and helped me to savor it a little more when I am.

At work everyone asks me how being a mom is and how my baby is, and my answer is always "Super Awesome!". Cuz it is and he is! Really, being a mom is the best thing I've ever done. I highly recommend it.

Cloth Diaper Bum

I love him.

He Smiles All The Time Now

Mommy paychecks. That's what those are.

Woops.

I'm a frequent multi-tasker.
Sometimes it works to my advantage, sometimes it doesn't.

And sometimes I get eye liner on my son's head.

And The Winner Is...

If you guessed the middle one, or the one in this picture--you win!

Our winners are:
Christie
Julie
Mary
VoNique

Tell them what they've won Mal...

He may not look excited, but he is. Or at least he wants to be. He's heard that cookies are the bomb, but you know, just hasn't eaten one yet.

Lots of people guessed the Vampire, but that was done by our lovely YW second counselor, Joselyn. It was pretty awesome though, huh?


Now how to get you all your cookies?
That's obvious. You'll just have to come play with me!
Or I suppose I can bring Vo hers on Sunday at the Halloween party, and Mary's the next day at the other Halloween party.

What kind do you want? Cutlers has some pretty awesome ones. Brownie and marshmallow, buttercream frosted sugar cookies, chocolate chip... and probably some others.

Though we might have to mail a cookie to Alaska for Julie. Or I'll bring you one next summer cuz we WILL be coming. (I hope.)


Congrats to our winners! Happy Halloween!

Guess, Guess, Guess! Time Is Running Out!

We painted pumpkins in YW. Can you guess which one is mine?

If you guess correctly I'll give you a cookie.
A really good one.
Like from Cutlers or something.
Really, I'm serious! Let's make it a contest.
A blog give away if you will.

So Guess...

Furguson Canyon: First Hike with Baby!

Me, Mal and the Baby Bjorn headed up to see some fall color yesterday, and take
Malcolm's First Hike Ever!
Sweet!!

It went well, he fussed a bit at first, then quickly fell asleep.

Let me take a second to say, this is where I live people. Utah. Probably one of the coolest places on the planet. This is 10 minutes from my house:

And like yards from these people:

Wilderness and gorgeousness right in our backyard! Pretty cool, eh?

He woke up in the shadier, cooler part. And earned a hat.

Probably could have skipped the Vitamin D supplement today, eh Malcolm?

That's okay, he likes 'em.

I'd never been up Ferguson before. It was a really pretty canyon. and an easy hike. I really enjoyed it, and will be going back. Especially because we ran out of time and I didn't make it to the falls.

Back to Work

Today is my last day of Maternity Leave. 12 weeks, can you believe it? My baby is 12 weeks old, and I haven't been to work yet! It's been so nice to have all 12 weeks. I was hoping for 10 when I left, but with the section I get more paid leave from Hartford so I could have the whole 12. It would truly suck to be back before now. Even with how little I'll be working!

Starting now, every other weekend I'll work Friday, Saturday day, and Sunday and Monday night. With mom watching Mal on Mondays while I sleep at her house, and Brenna or Laura watching him on Fridays.
I also will work several Friday nights on the other weekends because I've got my on-calls as scheduled extra shifts. So I'll really only be dropping 24 hours a pay period, but it will be so nice!

People have asked if I'm sad to be going back to work. My answer? No. I'm ready to do something other than stay home with Malcolm. I'm ready to be a professional again, and be an adult. Not that I haven't enjoyed being home--I mean, read the blessing post and you know. But I think I'll like working a little. At my last appointment the Midwife and I were talking about how the most happy women are those that work part time. Because you get to be home with your kids, but also get away and feel successful once in a while. And what better part time job than one that lets you work only two days a week? Holla! and what better job than my kick-a nursing job? Yeeeah. (I'm totally ghetto, get over it.)

I think my feelings would be different however, if I had to put Malcolm in day care. I find it very comforting that he will always be in the hands of people I trust and know well. I know that when a few more come along or when Malcolm gets older my schedule will have to change. But for now, it's really great to have this set up. My family rocks!!!!!!

I will miss the little guy while I'm gone though. I hope it goes well!

Halloween Cruisin'

At Malcolm's blessing we arranged to go out with some of the Green fam on Tuesday night. JaNel had a Groupon for a Halloween Cruise on the Provo River, and Tuesday is her night off + one child. We had a lot of fun. Ry and I were worried we'd be late because of traffic down to Provo, but it ended up going smoothly and we could be a part of all the festivities.

We had debated going to Red Robin, or Carl's Jr. Then JaNel and Elise wanted Chinese because they'd learned about China that day. Then there was more waffling and wiffling and back and forth until we decided the best option would be the food court in the mall. So we all got what we wanted and all sat together. It worked great!

The cruise was pretty busy, with lots of families and groups there. We ended up on the 9pm ride.

Here we are waiting for our group to be called:

This is the gate thing down to the dock, aren't we all super cute?
Vo and Jared

Me, Mal, and Ryan

VeNicia and Spencer

JaNel and Elise

The boats were big--fit 40 people--and set up like the jungle cruise in Disneyland.
It's hard to shoot pictures in the dark, but here's half of us on the boat:

The Captain actually pulled us along by a rope above the river. There were lit pumpkins and lights all the way along, reflecting in the water. We were attacked by a pirate who gave us some "booty" and told pirate jokes. Then the Captain recited "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and it wasn't as good as Grandpa Vern's, but pretty good. All in all it was pretty fun. Family friendly. Good for kids. And I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I love when it starts to get cold. I always want to be outside in my scarfs and jackets. So fun.

They do a Christmas cruise too, with Christmas lights in all the trees. Maybe if we get another Groupon guys? What do you say?

Just Chillin'

Each one enjoying their favorite pastime

Ryan: reading. Malcolm: sucking on his burp cloth.



Aren't my boys cute?

Malcolm's Blessing Day

Sunday was a pretty magical day. It was Malcolm's blessing day! It was preceded by a flurry of cleaning and preparing. We spent Friday night cleaning the whole house. Then Saturday we put in the last of our flower beds in front and planted a billion tulips. I was so pooped! I kept telling Ryan on Saturday as we were running around, that I can't stop moving or I'll never start again. Shout out to Laura who came and watched Malcolm while we set everything up for the blessing.

Sunday morning was all just getting ready for church. Malcolm timed himself really well and woke up at the perfect time to fall asleep just as we were headed to church.

Here he is in his freshly bathed blessing glory:

It's a good thing we didn't bless him any later or he wouldn't have fit in the outfit my mom had from Jordan's blessing.

It was a bit of a Ryan show during sacrament meeting. He helped prepare the sacrament, blessed Malcolm, passed sacrament, and sang in the choir. His blessing was really wonderful and many people have commented on it to me since. VeNicia nicely wrote down what she could so we could have it--Thanks!

After the blessing we had hoards of people over at our house for brunch. They looked like so few at the church but ended up seeming lots bigger at our house. We had just enough food though! It was so nice to see everyone from both sides of our families. I think it all went well.

We even got our requisite family blessing day photo. (and one of the only pictures I have of the 3 of us together!)

Malcolm had just drifted off to sleep before this, and didn't much like having his blanket taken off.

It really was such a good day. I spent most of it getting emotional over how great it is to have Malcolm. And grateful for our little family, and my great husband. You know, I always knew I'd have kids, but I never thought of myself as the "mom" type. I wanted a real career that I could work and have kids. I never liked baby-sitting, and I've never been the "oh, can I hold your baby?" type. But I love, love, LOVE being a mom. It's the greatest thing ever. It took a bit to get there, but in the last couple of weeks I've grown to really love being a mom. I can't believe how much I love little Malcolm or what a joy it is to spend all my time taking care of him. It really is a divine role and such a blessing. I can't believe I get to do it.

We Did Some Stuff

Once again, it's a good thing I take pictures so much so I can remember what to blog about when I get behind.

These last few weeks we've done some fun stuff. We went to Taco Bell and the home show with Laura and Andrew. Then later that night we joined mom and dad in their tradition of eating at Joe's Crab Shack after the home show ends on Saturday night.

Ryan, Malcolm, and I all also accompanied the youth to a corn maze. It was really fun to run around with all those teenagers and play--country style.

We got in the corn maze just as the sun was setting. The sky was amazing!

Made it! Here we are on Victory Bridge! If you wanted to know, the method of always turning the same direction in a maze really works.

Some other night we went out to dinner and played games with the titensors. What resulted was endless pictures of Laura in the middle of talking, then endless pictures of Ryan making faces. I choose to post only these two from the evening:


We also went to Bridget's birthday party. She turned 3! She was adorable. Leading up to her party she kept telling her mom that she needed balloons, sprinkles, musical chairs, and cake at her party. She got everything but musical chairs, which she was okay with. She did get a big bean filled princess chair that she called her "Thinking Chair" (like Blues Clues). She also nicely modeled all her new dresses for us. Pretty sure she got about 4 of them. One was a Rapunzel "Tangled" costume from Grandma Dearden, and some light up Rapunzel shoes. It was pretty much the most awesome 3 year old girl party ever. We even had her favorite food, soup! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Bad Ash.


I'm sure we did more fun stuff, but that's what we took pictures of! Enjoy!