Chocolate Chip S'more cookies, Day time TV, and crafts

Yes, this title sums up my life lately. I'll start with the chocolate chip S'more cookies and what an amazing thing, I might add too! One of the things that Eric and I love to do in the summer's and have loved since before we got married is roasting marshmallows and making s'mores! We even love making them so much that we have been know to make them over our stove top. :) Anyway, while grocery shopping I discovered the new gigantic marshmallows, perfect for roasting, so naturally I had to buy them along hersheys chocolate and graham crackers. After making s'more last weekend, we wanted to try something a little different. This is when we came across the recipe for chocolate chip s'more cookies. All that needs to be said about these is that they are delicious and definitely worth making!

http://picky-palate.com/2011/02/21/smores-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Now on to day-time TV. This is something I have never had to pleasure of watching since prier to now I have either been at school or work; however, now that I am home, I look for something to watch as I feed Mia. I might also add that we only get a few of the local channels so it has become a routine that Mia eats during the Rachael Ray show and Studio 5. These two shows have inspired me with cooking and crafting ideas and have kept me updated on the latest news and gossip ;). Last week on the Rachael Ray show she made Stuffed Turkey club burgers that looked really good so Saturday night I decided to make this for Eric. To my delight they turned out great and surprisingly quite easy to make! It's made me want to be a little more daring and try some more of her recipes. The gist of the all of this...try these!

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=4070

Crafts: Going back to day-time tv, the local show Studio 5 everyday has different craft ideas they talk about. One time it was on how to make a chevron canvas art piece. I will have to admit that I have jumped on the bandwagon with the chevron design. Also with all of these ideas, it has put me in the crafty mood. Here are just a couple of cute craft projects that are on my "to try" list.

Look this bag, love books, love the chevron design!

I love the baby stats wall art! I think it would be cute to make one of these for Mia!

Mia's baby blessing is this coming Sunday and I dont' have a dress for her...eek! She is still so small that she doesn't quite fit in 0-3 month clothes so I have decided to give myself a challenge and make her dress this week. I'm not the best sewer so I wanted to make something simple and "summery" and found this dress! I'm going to give it a try so we'll so how it goes. I even found the same material.

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