Jon, Alyssa, &amp; Adalyne

Episode Seven: Fun in the Sun

We took one of our free weekends and traveled down the Jersey Shore to Point Pleasant...No, we didn't see Snooki or Ronnie or Mike, but we did enjoy a fabulous day at the beach. It was Addie's first time ever at the beach and it was so wonderful! It was sunny and warm, a little windy, but a perfect day for relaxing. Addie looked so cute in her little sunglasses and while Addie napped, we spent our afternoon playing like little kids in the sand...our sand castle totally rocked!

Unfortunately, because of Hurricane Irene, the water was closed. The hurricane waves had brought in a HUGE mound of sand over 20 ft high and the beach, instead of gently sloping to the water, met the waves with a forceful crash. They were too powerful and so no one was allowed into the water.

But it was still a beautiful day and Addie got to put her toes in the sand and into some of the little pools of water that had come over the sand bench.

The best part of the day came in the evening when we grabbed a bite to eat on the boardwalk which was awesome. It was so family friendly and everyone was out with kids and strollers just enjoying the weather. We walked around the amusement park and went to the aquarium and had a blast being out together.

Addie contributed to the day's adventures by blowing out her diaper, not once, not twice, but FOUR times. I didn't bring enough changes of clothes (seriously, who brings 4 changes of clothes) and by the end of the day that little girl was simply toting a small white diaper cover. I got a few "oh, that poor baby...what is that mother thinking!?!" kind of stares from overly concerned women up and down the Boardwalk. Oh well, at least it was warm outside!

Episode Six: Man-Made and Natural Disasters
Episode Five: Hilton Hotel Living

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Episode Six: Man-Made and Natural Disasters

Our first few weeks in New York were very eventful.

In our first week, the fire alarm went off at 5:00 in the morning. We were exhausted and Addie was terrified...the sirens have never sounded so loud as we tried to protect Addie's 7 week-old ears. We debated whether or not to evacuate like a good citizen should, and I think that if we didn't have Adalyne, we totally would have gone back to bed. But you can't quiet that little thought that you are putting your child in danger by ignoring the warning, so we went out into the chilly night. We were out there for at least an hour and I had to nurse Addie in the company car since she had woken up and was fussing. In the end, we were told that someone had burnt toast. Wahaaat??? Oh my. Back to bed.

The next night, it happened again, only at 3 am. I could have smashed the alarm in the room I was so tired and frustrated. Addie was startled awake, AGAIN, and this time we seriously pondered staying inside, feeling that it was another false alarm. But again, with Addie, we had to go. This time it was colder and we were outside even longer only to be told that it was indeed a false alarm and that the fire crew couldn't figure out what had set it off. I spoke with other hotel guests and apparently this has happened every year about the same time when they stayed there for a conference. GREAT. They said the last time it happened three times...thankfully, it remained at two.

Within a few days, Jon was in New York City for a job site tour on the World Trade Center when an earthquake hit the Washington DC area. He felt it and thought it was a subway or something...haha. First earthquake experience, ever. Thankfully there was no damage in New York and he only felt a small movement.

Five days later we were in the middle of one of the worst hurricane storms to hit the East Coast, Hurricane Irene. Thankfully, we didn't feel a thing. In fact, we slept right through it and didn't even notice the strong winds. BUT...we awoke to no power and by the evening, we learned that due to flooding we would be without power for three days.

Flooding in Pearl River, NY near where we stayed.

Our company decided to move us to another Hilton hotel nearby that did have power. While it was great we had somewhere to go, it also meant that we had to pack up and move our two months worth of stuff and I had finally gotten it all settled in so that it felt somewhat like home. And it also meant that I had just lost all of the refrigerated groceries I had bought the day before. Bummer. That night was a frustrating one, packing in the dark with a "Princess and the Frog" flashlight, carrying said luggage 1/4 mile and then hauling it down four flights of stairs (since the elevators were shut off due to power outage), shuttling Addie and the multiple loads between the two hotels, and moving into a tiny hotel room with twin beds, one piled high with our belongings, the other for Jon and I to squish together on. And then, two days later, we had to do the same trip over again and I had to pack and unpack our family's stuff for the third time in two weeks.

But we are SO grateful that we were safe and well taken care of. Our county was one of the few that was hardly hit. Just five minutes away, there was severe flooding and damage. The ward we attended in NJ was incredible...the area authorities asked the wards in the East Coast area to only hold a 30 minute Sacrament meeting early in the morning and then go help the victims. They did this for over a month every Saturday and Sunday! The Saints were amazing and the stories they brought back to Church the next week were incredible and incredibly sad.

We belong to such an amazing Church and I loved seeing the influence for good this opportunity provided.

Hopefully, we've had our share of disasters for a little while...I think the only one we're in danger of in Chandler is drought. Phew!

Episode Five: Hilton Hotel Living

Episode Five: Hilton Hotel Living

Living in New York was an absolute blast. Jon went everyday to training which he loved. We made great friends and he learned so much! He also got to work personally with some of the top dogs of his company. In fact, one of the Senior VPs offered to babysit Addie on several occasions and I got to meet the CEO!

Everyone was so nice and it was so great to hang out with people from all over the country, from all backgrounds of life. Everyone was especially wonderful to me and Addie. They called her their "little BIM baby" and were absolutely enthralled with her. It was kinda funny to see how curious they were about babies...In Utah culture, we just take babies for granted--they are everywhere you look, someone in your family or friend group most likely just had one. But these people were from a very different world...they were almost afraid of her, haha...but they certainly warmed up. I'd like to think that their experience with her will encourage them to have kids of their own one day!

Now, living in a hotel for two months was an adventure. Thankfully, it was an incredible hotel. The amenities were awesome, from racquetball courts to indoor pools, to gyms, to a beautiful walking trail.

The beautiful grounds of the Hilton.

And in a strange way, living in that hotel was the best thing for me at the time. People always looked at me like I was crazy and then they'd ask, "But what do you do all day?" It is amazing how little things could fill the day and with a baby, it was perfect. Addie and I had no responsibilities...we were free to relax and enjoy each other's company. I got to spend one-on-one time with Addie like I will never be able to again in my life. Someone made my bed every morning, cleaned my bathrooms, and vacuumed my floors. We had free breakfast every morning and free dinner once a week. The extent of my responsibilities was the weekly laundry and shopping and Addie. I sound totally pampered and I was! What a blessing...instead of trying to balance a million things and be a good mom, I was blessed to learn how to be a mom first, then slowly add back the responsibilities.

The living room suite part of our room (for the first half of our stay)

Our bedroom

Like I said, we were pampered. For the second half of our stay, we were moved into an actual apartment within the Hilton, complete with full kitchen. It was pretty much the above pictures plus a kitchen. It was awesome! We wish we could go back...at least, we sometimes wish we could go back :)

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Episode Four: I Hate Airports

After six weeks of living in Arizona, Jon's company sent him (and us) to New York for a leadership and technology training session they call BIM University. The problem: the training session was two months long.

They very kindly allowed Addie and I to join Jon out East and they generously put us up in a Hilton hotel suite/apartment for the two month duration. It was a serious cross-country move. How do you pack lightly (so you can take everything with you on the plane with minimal costs) for two months when you have a two month old baby? She would change so much and need so many things that I couldn't even anticipate...Needless to say, it was extremely stressful since I would unpack one box from our recent Arizona move only to pack it up in the New York-destined suitcases.

We arrived at the Phoenix airport on Friday, August 19th loaded with two over-stuffed suitcases, a giant Home Depot moving box filled with a baby swing (it was the only way Addie would sleep at the time), an over-sized duffel bag stuffed with the pack-n-play, a stroller, a carseat and base, two crammed backpacks, a laptop bag, and a diaper bag. I felt like we had baggage coming out of my ears.

Needless to say, we were a mess and we were late. Really late. We frantically searched for a cart machine that could help us tote our massive load inside and the only one we could find was broken. I ran inside with baby in stroller to find some help and by the time all of our stuff was loaded into the ticket line, the automated screen was telling me that I could no longer check my baggage.

Tears instantly filled my eyes. After the stress of just getting to the airport, this was more than my strained emotions could handle. We lugged our heap of luggage to the front desk to speak with someone other than the computer and they confirmed the worst details...we would not be allowed to board our 4:45 flight because we missed the baggage check-in window by 7 mins...7 FREAKING minutes. The 7 minutes we spent trying to locate a working cart machine.

They wouldn't allow any exceptions...They offered to put us on the next flight the next morning. We were supposed to be in the Salt Lake temple at that time for one of our best friend's weddings. That would not work. We were put on stand-by for the 8:45 flight and told to sit tight.

So we sat tight with our baby for over 4 hours. During this lovely waiting period, I was told multiple times that my baby was hungry by random strangers. What is it with other people telling me that my slightly fussing baby is hungry? They must have missed me nursing my baby in the middle of the airport just ten minutes ago where Addie flung open the nursing cover several times.

Finally, we found out that we could board the 8:45 flight. Hallelujah!

What started as an absolutely awful night ended so well. Addie was a miracle baby on her first flight...so perfect. We got to stop in Utah for two nights to see our families and friends, catch up, and be there for Nate and Meg's beautiful wedding! It was such a perfect trip!

Then, we were off officially to New York. This flight went without a hitch and again, another perfect flight with Addie. We finally touched down in New Jersey on a wet, rainy day and headed to the Hilton.

The updates:
Episode Three: Motherhood
Episode Two: Home Away From Home
Episode One: The Blessing

Episode Three: Motherhood

I can't even begin to describe the feelings that I have had since becoming a mother, but these were some of my thoughts from the first months of motherhood.

I never knew how truly difficult it was going to be.

They tell you that you will be tired, but I have never experienced such complete exhaustion. An exhaustion that was the culmination of a 52 hour labor process; a two-night stay in the hospital with a hungry newborn who struggled to breastfeed; the newborn who can't sleep longer than an hour because she is so tiny and her tummy is so tiny that she is eternally hungry; a newborn who doesn't understand that the sun means being awake and the dark means sleeping; a newborn who is so DANG cute that instead of sleeping you stay awake to watch her sleep; an eternal list of to-do's that began the day she was born and never seems to get smaller; and the constant thinking about her was entirely draining...

They tell you that breastfeeding can sometimes be difficult but it is "natural."

But I never knew that for something so "natural" it is anything but easy. There were so many nights full of hopeless tears and mascara-stained pillows because of this "natural" process. I can remember grasping for that month-old mark, holding to the reassurances that we would be "pros and this whole thing will be so much easier." And I remember turning to Jon on that month mark, still worrying about whether she was latching, whether she was getting enough, whether she was getting too much, whether it had been long enough between feedings, whether I should switch sides, whether she was choking, whether this and whether that...

Everything...EVERYTHING...was SO much harder than I had ever imagined.

Yet it was, is, also so much sweeter than I had ever dreamed.

I feared that I wouldn't connect with this little girl, that I would revolt at this new way of life that revolved around her. But I love her so much. It is true that she has redefined me as a person, but I love the new me. I love her crazy. I love that she is a little piece of me and Jon and that she is a sort of representation of our love and dedication to each other as husband and wife. I love knowing that I get to spend every day with her to watch her grow and learn and make mistakes. I love her little personality that is already exhibiting itself and I love how much I can tell she loves me.

When Adalyne was just three weeks old, I was holding her snuggled up against me, staring into those serious, unwavering eyes, feeling such an overwhelming love for her when she slowly smiled. It was such a deliberate smile, never breaking eye contact, her entire face lit up by this gentle giant smile that I had never seen before and I felt so strongly that she knew who I was and that she could feel all the love I felt for her. My eyes pricked with tears. It was one of the most special moments of being a mother I have had...that smile was meant for me, her mother. It was such a tender mercy and the feeling of love that enveloped that moment will never be forgotten.

So while it is SO much harder than I have ever imagined, it is so worth it.

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