Our Latest (Parenting) Adventure...

About a month ago I was talking to Court about how Emery had leaked through her diaper during the night, and that led to me telling him about how I kinda feel bad about how many diapers we go through because it makes so much trash. That then led me to telling him, 'by the way, I need to get some more diapers', and then we both said we were spending a lot on diapers. Well, Court decided to do some intense research on cloth diapers. His research convinced me. Plus, I feel like (in a very small way) I am contributing to a healthier world to live in. 

I think when people think of cloth diapers they think of something like a rag, and pins, and all that sort. I have to say though, the cloth diaper world has come a long way. Yes, the cleaning them is a little more intense, but not nearly as bad as you think it would be. I have to say I am glad we made the switch. I feel like they are much more comfortable for the babe, don't leak as bad, we can use them for our other kids, and they are adjustable. It has already saved us money too. Overall it has been a good experience so far, and hopefully it stays that way :) 

 Plus she looks so cute in her colored ones haha

Who cares about the diaper, don't you want to just squeeze this little girl?! 

One Month

Our little Em is already ONE month now! Well, if we are being specific she turned one month yesterday. I can't believe how fast newborns grow. Court and I think she is getting cuter everyday. She is awake most of the day now and I love it! Here are some pictures of our little love. 

 Exactly one month, Nov 26th 

 She is kind of giving the stink eye in this picture.

 Love this one.

 One of our favorite things to do on a Sunday at the Zulauf house. 

 Just love this girl.

Thanksgiving

We had a lot of fun at Thanksgiving! It was celebrated with the Cook family this year at my Aunt Kami's and Uncle Lars beautiful home. We had a great time with every one, and of course great food as well. 

 So glad Tanner got to come home from BYU.

 we had so many delicious pies!

 Caliber loved his new second cousin Emery and hardly ever left her side. 

 Wish I got a better picture, but I love that their house has a huge glass door that slides open to the outside. The weather is so nice right now and Lars and Kami have a beautiful patio deck that has an amazing view of all the city lights.

Can't see who is all here, but it was fun to sit around the fire pit and talk after dessert.

 We had a thankful tree this year at Thanksgiving. Everyone had to write what they were thankful for on a slip of paper then hang it on the tree. We passed around the thankful notes people wrote at dinner and I was reminded of just how truly blessed I am. We left that dinner with a very grateful heart. 

Miss Popular

I just wanted to do a quick post and show all the visitors Emery has had in the hospital and at home. She is a lucky little girl to have so many people who love her. 

 Aunt Kristen and very proud Grandma :) Mom you were the best! Thank you a million times for all the help you were after we took this little babe home. 

 Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Tyler

 Love this one. It's the first time Grandpa saw Em in person.

 Great Grandparents now :)

 Just thought this one was funny.

 Uncle Andrew and Aunt lindsay and Kristen

 Devan and Leah, greatest friends ever

 Cruzer, Aunt Faith and Uncle Shaun

 Love :)

 One of my best friends, Alix.

And of course, Emery Kaye with Grammie Kaye. So grateful she came and stayed with us a for a weekend and got to meet Emery, and so grateful for all the help she was! 

Again, I can't say thanks enough to all the visitors and to all those who brought meals, or my sisters who came and helped me clean, we really had so much support. We have felt so cared about. Thank you!

Our life now

So I made a little list how our lives have changed so far, or just things I have noticed about having a baby.

1. Our camera is literally by our side everyday to take pictures of her. Now newborns don't do that much, by how many pictures we tak you'd think this little baby was doing something crazy different like gymnastics. But no. We just think she is the most precious thing in the world.

2. Babies are loud sleepers. Emery has so many little grunts and coo's.  Court calls my ears 'mommy ears' But seriously I can hear this girl when she is down stairs and I'm upstairs in my room. I'm glad she is loud though because I'm paranoid so hearing her makes me feel better :)

3. My time management is at a whole new level. And mind you, it just started this week, the first 2 weeks I had no schedule. It's amazing how such a tiny baby controls everything you do, and amazing how much stuff they require. Getting ready to go places takes a bit more time now.

4. And that's my fourth, it's amazing how much more stuff you need to have with you when you leave the house with a baby. I don't even want to think about going on a trip right now haha.

5. Sleeping will never be the same, as in I will never take it for granted.

6. I never knew I could get so happy staring at a little baby and watching her little facial expressions. Or just so happy looking at her, holding her, giving her a bath, etc.

7. I never knew I could get so sad/happy when I noticed all her new born clothes are starting to get a little small. Or cry like a little kid when she took a bottle so easily and so well. These tiny babies don't say tiny for long and while I can't wait for her to start learning new things and playing, it already makes me a little nostalgic to see her getting bigger.

8. I knew I couldn't wait to be a mom, but I had no idea I'd love it as much as I do. When I was pregnant with Emery I didn't have a job the last 4 months and I'm not going to lie that I felt a little worthless being at home. I always gave myself projects and things to work on but I didn't feel like I was contributing, It made me a little nervous, like what if I felt this way after she came? Happy to say I do not. I would not change being at home with her. I love it. For me, it is the best thing in the world.

I'm going to end my list there and not bore any longer :) I guess I just sometimes can't believe me and Court have a little baby now, that OUR family has started and that we are entering such a different stage. I have to say (yes, I know it's only been 3 weeks) I love it so far! It's weird to think that Em wasn't a part of our lives just 3 weeks ago, she just fits right into them so perfectly :) Now i'm not saying it hasn't been an adjustment, because it has. However, it really hasn't been as hard as Court and I thought it would be which we are grateful for. We feel very lucky, Em has been such a good little baby! (Fingers crossed she stays that way)

Now here are all those pictures I'm talking about.

Believe it or not, she already looks a little different now. We just love this little girl so much!

Emery's Debut

Exactly 2 weeks ago today our little Em made her way into the world. It took some time, but she made it :) and me and Court were in love with her as soon as we heard her first cry.

So... her little birth story is not the usual 'I had contractions and we rushed to the hospital, and everything went just as it should and normal, etc.' It ended up being a little more complicated and quite long, and not anything we expected. SO let's just dive right in. (WARNING: this is wordy and long)

A week in a half before we had her, I was up watching Parenthood because I couldn't sleep. All the sudden I felt all 'leaky' (sorry some of this might be gross to some). I stood up and there was some  fluid on my blanket. Not a whole lot. Not enough to make me freak out like crazy but definitely enough to make me wonder if something was up.  I looked up some tests online and they said if it's your water it would continue, you would know it, blah blah blah. Court and I decided not to worry about it because it stopped.  (To whoever reads this, my advice would be if you think something is up..go to the hospital, call your doctor, whatever. Don't not go because it's too far or you think you are over reacting, better safe than sorry. Next time I will heed my own advice, luckily Emery was fine through everything, but still). Well the next week I continued to feel a bit more fluid leak here and there, not a lot, definitely not as much as that first time on the couch, but I just kept wondering and didn't do anything about it since my doctors appointment was soon. So I go to the doctor on Tuesday and tell him I had been having contractions since Sunday night and to PLEASE test me to see if my water had broken or had sprung a leak or something. He did the test with the little strip of paper and it came back negative. I was relieved, but still felt like it wasn't right for some reason. From everything I told him I had been experiencing, and because my bump was measuring 3 centimeters smaller, he wanted to see me in two days and do an ultra sound to check my fluid level that way. Here is where the fun begins. I go in Thursday and Doctor asks me, 'any more fluid leak?' I say, 'as a matter of fact yes, again yesterday and this morning.' He gets out his ultra sound machine looks and says well we need to admit you to the hospital and get this baby born. Apparently my fluid level was a 6 and it should be at a 10 or something. Plus, my bump was another centimeter smaller. Yes, I had a sprung a leak. So I call Court and tell him to get to the hospital because we are having a baby. I was very calm because I was just kinda shocked, but I wasn't at the same time, and I knew it would be awhile for little Em because all my contractions had stopped so I had to be induced.

We get to the hospital and set-up shop, start all the texting and letting family know, and we're excited, but trying to remember it's going to take time.

 Last belly pic, exactly 38 weeks

 I got the pitocin around 3PM and then the epidural around 1AM. Slept nice and soundly through the night (poor Court probably didn't since the chair  he was in didn't look too comfy). Around 7AM I was awake and feeling some pain because my epidural was wearing off. I ask my awesome nurse (she was the best) if we could shoot up the epidural again because I wasn't feeling too hot. She says of course but let's check you first. 7 1/2 cm dialated and shock in her voice when she says, 'ummm there's no head there, there's no head! My finger just went up her bum.' Em was a breech baby. Everyone was shocked. I had no idea how no one figured it out. None of my ultra sound techs, my night nurse who checked me through out the night, my doctor, no one knew she was breech until I was dialated to 7 1/2 cm. Well I wish I could say I stayed nice and calm knowing a C-section was our fate, but I cried. I remember telling Court before I was ever in labor, "I know when I give birth I shouldn't expect anything to go exactly as I want because it's not realistic and I'm okay with that, but I hope hope hope I do not have to have a C-section." So I was a little freaked out.  I knew nothing about them because I thought I would never need one. Court just told me everything would be fine and my nurse just explained everything about them and told me I didn't need to worry. I thought about my blessing Court gave me earlier and said a prayer so I was able to calm down. I just got a good feeling after that, that everything was going to be fine and I knew we would all be okay. My mom and sisters got there right before I would get wheeled in to have the C-section and it helped to see them too. By 7:40AM I just wanted IN to the operating room because I was then dialated to a 10 and feeling so much pressure and so uncomfortable and I wanted baby out. Finally we go in. I get numbed up to my collar bone and am super relaxed. I kinda start falling in and out of sleep while Court is behind me holding my hand and peaking over the curtain. All the staff were super nice and made us feel extremely comfortable. So I'm feeling very calm and the doctor says, 'okay here she comes.' Me and Court look at each other and then I feel a lot of pressure and then very light all the sudden, and then...we hear her cry. It was the best sound I have ever heard. I look at Court and I can't help it, my eyes got very teary and I just loved her so much already. I watch Court go over to our beautiful baby and I felt so good, I was so happy and all I could focus on was Emery. Court holds her and brings her over to me and I wish so bad I could get up and hold her. Court was so sweet with her, and I'll never forget his expression when he looked at our little baby. The nurse said it was time to take her and Court out and they would be waiting for me in the recovery room, but to let Emery say hi to her mommy first. This is a moment I won't ever forget. She brought her over and set her right next to my face so I could kiss her little cheeks. Right away she opened her eyes and turned her little face right at me and I knew she knew exactly who I was. Court said it was so neat to watch. That is a moment I wish I could go back to and relive again and again. 

Finally, all sewn up, I was wheeled into the recovery room with Court and Emery waiting for me. I was finally able to hold Em. 

Now let's put a few pictures to the story.

 Right before I was wheeled into the operating room, yes thats a barf bag, I got a little nauseous with all those contractions. 

 Feeling much more relaxed

 Here she is

 Proud Daddy

 First family picture

 Our 7lb. 1 oz. baby 

 Recovering

 She is the sweetest

Since she was a little breech baby her legs still always wanted to be up straight by her little face, so swaddling her was a little difficult. Her legs are always kinda of half-up like a froggy so she always looked like a little triangle. 

I absolutely love my little family and can honestly say all of getting her here was worth it, and I wouldn't change it. We are so grateful for all the help we have had and all the visitors at home and the hospital. We can't get enough of Emery. I have about 50 million more pictures of her to load but that is for another post.