Mia's Bedroom

So the reason I am able to bring you all these updates is because Mia has graciously gone to sleep so I could do this. Actually she is quite the good little sleeper these days, as are most newborns, so I decided to use this nap time to stay ahead on my blog. I know all my post now are going to be everything Mia, but one last little note on Mia and sleeping was that she slept 5 1/2 hours last night without waking up! Since we have brought her home she wakes up about every 3 hours so last night was a real treat for both Eric and I. I'm hoping it was not just a one night thing :)

Anyway, about the bedroom, I actually have had Mia's room put together for awhile now, but just never got around to taking picture of it or posted about it, as I promised...so here are some pictures of Mia's room. I had so much fun putting her room together and making all the things for it!

A Few of My Favorite Things

These are just a few of my favorite things I love about my baby girl and my life!

1. I love those big curious eyes that are always looking around, even when I walk into her room to check on her when she should be sleeping and she is just looking up at me. :)

2. I love taking naps with Mia and waking up and seeing her cute face by mine.

3. I love how she loves taking baths in the kitchen sink and then being wrapped up tight in her towel and snuggling with mom.

4. I love waking up to this...he's such a great dad!

5. I love how Mia never keeps her feet in the feet of her pajamas and always has them up to her chest.

6. I love being able to dress her in cute outfits everyday! (Even if she ends up pooping all over them by the middle of the day.)

7. I love my amazing family who has been such a big help these last couple of weeks, especially my mom, Sara and Annelise!

8. I love my husband, who makes me feel beautiful everyday and does so much to take care of both of me and Mia.

9. And lastly and most of all, I love my perfect little family! I thank the Lord everyday for blessing me with such a wonderful life and helping me daily as I try to be the best mother I can to such a precious gift He has blessed me with.

A Family of Three Please!

Eric told me I needed to change our blog title since there in no longer just the two of us in this family :) That's right, we finally have our precious little girl with us!

After being about a week over due and nothing happening so far as contractions or dilation I was set on the schedule to be induced Tuesday night. (For those who don't care to know all the details of labor please skip to the end.) Once they gave me a pill to soften my cervix contractions started right away and got steadily more intense. By 1am my water broke and shortly after that I was definitely ready for my epidural! (Just my little plug for epidurals.....they are AMAZING!) Things were moving along faster then the nurses expected and by 7am I was ready to start pushing. Unfortunately the doctor was stuck in two C-sections so I didn't start till 2 hours later but about 15 minutes later at 9:50am Mia Linda Caldwell was born into the world. She was 7lbs 11 oz and was 20 inches long. After everything going so well with the delivery complications started when the placenta wouldn't detach. The doctor had to remove it himself which caused a lot of bleeding and I lost over 1 liter of blood. They were also having trouble getting a second IV in me for a blood transfusion, but luckily the bleeding stopped just short of needing one. Needless to say, since I was already scared of needles, I am now officially traumatized of them after being poked just about in every spot on my arms possible! Anyway, because of the loss of so much blood, without a blood transfusion the recovery has been a slow one. I can honestly say I would have never made it through few these last couple of days without Eric. He was there every second taking care of Mia and me in the hospital.

Now enough about me and on to Mia. Since I was pretty much out the rest of the day after delivering her I barely got to hold her or see her. That night she was taken to the Newborn Intensive Care unit because her blood sugar levels were low and she was having trouble keeping food down. I was discharged from the hospital on Friday and the hardest thing was not being able to bring my baby home with us. Because of this I was really grateful we live across the street from the hospital since Eric would have take me back every 3 hours to feed her as we tried to get her to maintain a good blood sugar level without IVs. Finally we got to take her home Sunday morning. She is doing fantastic now and is perfect!

Becoming a mother has been a more humbling and joyous experience then I thought it would be. Even when I am up in the middle of the night with her I can't help but smile at such a beautiful gift that God has give to Eric and I. There is nothing more eternally fulfilling in life then being blessed with one of Heavenly Fathers sweet spirits. I couldn't be happier or more grateful for the life I have been blessed with; to have an amazing husband who provides and takes care of Mia and I, for a healthy and perfect little girl, and for amazing family and friends who have helped and supported Eric and I through this (especially my Mother who I am eternally grateful to have here with me helping me!)

Oh one last little note that was especially special for us was the Mia was given the middle name Linda after my grandmother who pasted away a couple of weeks ago. Mia was born on my grandma and grandpa's anniversary. What better remembrance of my loving grandmother who I hope Mia got the chance to meet before coming to this earth.

The Final countdown!

Ok I'll be honest...I have been on the final countdown for having this baby for over 2 weeks now. I have definitely hit my limit for being pregnant. Now if I could only find a way to let Mia know that! It's still crazy to believe my due date is tomorrow! Sadly, not much is happening to indicate she is coming anytime all that soon. I haven't had any contractions thus far and I'm only dilated to about 1cm. I'm seriously considering spending my evenings walking and doing stairs until something happens! So I apologize, but for now you're going to have to hear updates about mine and Eric's life and not see cute pictures of Mia.

All in all, these last couple of weeks have been very busy!. As I mentioned in my last post, three weekends ago we went down to St. George to be with my Grandma before she passed away that following Monday. Then the next weekend, I went down to Logandale for her funeral. Eric wasn't able to come this time because of a project he had so I traveled down with my brother and his wife. Once again it was really good to be with family at such a sad time. The funeral service was really beautiful and it was good to see all the people that came, especially those that live farther away.

Sorry the quality of the pictures aren't all the great. I had to steal them from other people because I'm so bad at taking my own pictures. Here are jut a few from the funeral.

Me and my Grandpa Bohn

Me and my parentsMy Mom and her family

This last week we both finished up classes and finals started our finals. I came down with a cold during the week which has been making things a little more difficult and me a LOT more uncomfortable. Somehow I have still been able to get through most of my finals with just 1 left and have done considerable well on them for only studying for a few hours. I can honestly say the Lord has really blessed me this semester in my schooling! I also have to give another good portion of the credit to Eric as well. What would I do without him! Once again the Lord really blessed me by giving such an amazing husband who is always doing things for me even with all the things he for his own schooling. You know your husband is a keeper when he can put up with your moments of venting when you're talking 1000 words a minutes, when they still sleep with you even when you freeze them out and move none-stop throughout the night, when you're so disfunctional you stop cleaning and preparing real meals, and when you start crying randomly for no reason at all!...Yep, he is definitely a keeper :)

Also. as this semester is coming to a close and I am looking forward to a spring and summer free of work and school, I am already making plans of all the projects and things I want to do, beside taking care of Mia. :) My sister, sister-in-law and I are planning on having a craft booth at Arts in the Park in Ely at the end of the summer so throughout the next couple of months we will be preparing for that. I hope it goes well. We all really love to craft and hope our crafts can be a big hit when it comes time to show everything off. I also decided that I want to revamp mine and Eric's bedroom this summer. To be honest, I've never really done anything with it since we've been married. I have focused more on our living room and lately, Mia's room. I even decided to get brave and try a refurnishing project, which have always really scared me. I bought a wingback type chair from DI and am planning on reupholstering it. After reading tutorials on reupholstering, it seems like quite the challenge so I'm interested in seeing how it goes. Providing it does go well, the end result should be a modern, chic chair for under $60! Pictures to come!

In Loving Memory of Grandma Bohn

"In every life, no matter how full or empty one's purse...there is tragedy. It is the one promise life always fulfills. Thus, happiness is a gift...and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes...and to add to other people's store of it. What happens if, too early we lose a parent...that party on whom we rely or only everything? What did these people do when their families shrank? They cried their tears, but then they did the vital thing; they build a new family, person by person. They came to see that family need not be defined merely as those with whom they share blood, but as those for whom they would give their blood."- Nicholas Nickleby

I just recently watched this movie and found the end quote very appropriate for this week. Last week we found out that my Grandma Bohn had cancer and produced a large mass in her chest. The plan was to surgically remove it last Friday, however, when they went in they found that the mass was a lot bigger than they anticipated and couldn't perform the surgery. Our family all gathered in St. George over the weekend to be with her as she spend her final days here on earth. She peacefully passed away early this morning.

To my Grandma Bohn, who I will always remember spending my summers with having tea parties, quilting, day trips to St. George and playing cards on Tuesdays with all her friends, I will also never forget all the things she taught me. She was the perfect example of living a selfless life...to love and to serve others and from a young age I watched her love and care for those around her and will always be grateful to her for letting me be a part of it. I am reminded of her in the quote above as she always lovingly took people in and made them a part of the family. Most of all I will never forget her beaming eyes and beautiful smile. You're my inspiration Grandma and you will be greatly missed. I love you!

Sadly, Mia will not be able to know my Grandma Bohn in this life, but in honor of my grandma and for Mia to alway remember her, Eric and I have decided name her, Mia Linda Caldwell. I hope Mia will know what a amazing woman she is named after and I feel blessed that she will have a grandma just like the one I had.

This is one of my favorite pictures with my grandma. This is Sara and I doing my grandma's hair when we were little.

Senior Pictures

10 signs I'm in the Final Stretch of being pregnant!

1. At least one of my meals each day consists of nothing but sweets. Last Sunday, I made Eric and I brownies with ice cream for dinner. (I dread seeing the number on the scale each appointment, but luckily it's been nice to me so far.)

2. My walk has turned into a very noticeable waddle.

3. I spend most of my time at work going to the bathroom.

4. My ankles and feet have swollen up to the point where ankle socks and moccasins are about the only things I can have on my feet.

5. I cried throughout the whole latest episode of "Biggest Loser". (Eric sat and laughed at me the whole time.)

6. I'm obsessed with buying cute clothes for Mia, which unfortunately she will only be able to wear for a couple of weeks or months at best.

7. All I ever want to do is sit down and relax or sleep. (This is not working out so great with my schooling.)

8. I can no longer remember what it feels like to not have something, or someone for that matter, jabbed up under my ribs.

9. My belly is getting so big that I thought I was going to be fairly free of stretch marks until I finally looked in the mirror and saw them all hiding on the lower half of my stomach which I couldn't see.

10. I'm getting so sick of my maternity clothes! There's about 4 shirts and 3 pair of pants that I switch between.

Anyway it's official...I have one month left before my due date!!! The sad news is that Mia could still not be here by then considering that most first babies come late. Things, however, are still going great. The doctor says everything is on schedule and we're both at a healthy weight.
These last couple of weeks my sister and sister-in-law threw my two fun baby showers with the cutest decorations and I've also starting putting together Mia's room. I just have a few finally touches left to make and then I promise to post pictures! Eric and I are both getting anxious to meet this little girl who is constantly moving around inside me and are so very thankful for everyone's help and support so far.

Now for some general updates about our lives. Eric is anxiously waiting to see what internship he gets this summer. His top choice for an internship is with Adobe in Orem. He has a really good inside connection and is hoping to get the spot. On the other hand, I am anxiously awaiting school to be over and have nothing besides staying home with my daughter for four months! Oh and we found out last week that we were eligable for medicaid, which means all expenses are paid for, which is a huge relief to us! It pays to be poor sometimes! We also go our taxes back which made me happy because it helped reach my goal for what I wanted in our savings account and Eric was sly enough to talk me into letting him buy a road bike. He's planning on doing a bike race in Ely and a mini-triathlon this summer. All in all, we couldn't be happier or feel more blessed at this point in our lives. The Lord is continuing showering blessing down on us that I feel we don't deserve sometimes, but are so very grateful for.

36 Week Pictures! Sorry they are not that great. My camera battery died and I was too lazy to get it out it to charge so I used the camera on my phone. Also, for some reason I look a lot smaller then I feel in these pictures too. Lol.I didn't get any pictures of the baby shower we had here in Provo sadly (I'm horrible at taking pictures!), but Annelise was kind enough to take some at the one we had in Ely along with capturing all the cute decorations and treats she and Sara made.