Cate Eleanor

Wow! What a crazy, emotional, tiring, wonderful week it has been. 

After nine long months, Tyler and I finally welcomed our little girl into this world on Sunday, October 5th. It was hands-down one of the best days of my entire life. While I'd rather not get into too many details about the labor and delivery, I will say that seeing her for the very first time, hearing that first cry, and holding her in my arms was pure magic. Words can't begin to describe those first few moments as a family of three. 

^Here she is just minutes after she was born.

As cliche as it might sound, I never knew that this kind of love existed. Having a child of your own for the first time is such a powerful thing and it really changes you as a person. It makes you look at the world in a whole new light. I would literally do anything to keep this little one safe and happy. It really is such an amazing feeling! I know I have so much to learn, and luckily I've got a great husband by my side to help me through the sleepless nights.

So far, Tyler and I are just obsessed with this girl. Her brown hair. Her chubby cheeks. Her fingernails. I love it all! Even her little farts are adorable! Oh, Cate, I hope you know how much your mommy and daddy love you. 

^These two are so in love. She could just stare at him all day. 

If I had to use one word to describe how I've felt this week, it would be Lucky. So lucky. 

That One Summer I Spent Growing a Baby...

Why do I always feel like blogging is such a pain, when it's really not? I'm just incredibly lazy. I thought I'd share a bit of an update on our lives since the last time I wrote (seven months ago!). I know a lot of people say a lot can happen in seven months, but trust me, a lot HAS happened in seven months...

For starters, we're having a baby! I found out on January 29th at approximately 2:30 in the morning after an emergency trip to Walmart. As you can imagine, I rushed to the bathroom after I got home, peed on the stick, and two pink lines appeared. My jaw pretty much hit the floor and so many thoughts ran through my mind. Honestly, my VERY first thought was "Crap. There's no going back... this thing has to come out of me." I know, cute, right? My second thought was "How am I going to do this?" I was a little excited, but honestly, I was more scared than anything (And I still am). I don't know the very first thing about childbirth or taking care of a baby, I still feel like a kid! I just remember sitting there, and saying a little prayer that everything would be alright and that I would be a good mother. Instantly, I felt like everything would be okay and I had nothing to worry about. Then I woke up Tyler in the middle of the night by running onto the bed with tears pouring down my face. I probably should have waited until morning, because he thought something was seriously wrong, ha oops... 

If there's anything that pregnancy has done for me, it's definitely reaffirmed my belief that life begins at conception. I know that there are many people who disagree with this viewpoint, and refer to the growing child as a "clump of cells" or a "fetus." But seeing that ultrasound at nine weeks was unbelievable. Even though the baby was the size of an grape, she looked like a little teddy bear with arms, legs, and a big head. Her heartbeat was so loud, too. She was still a person, and she was so beautiful. It hurts my heart that there are so many women out there who view these little miracles as mistakes that need to be removed from their body. Pregnancy is so fascinating to me. I feel so lucky for my body, and the amazing ability I have to grow this person, no matter how hard it gets. 

Here's our little girl at 20 weeks! We were SO happy when we found out we were having a girl, you have no idea. I've already gone a little crazy with the girl clothes and accessories. It's great. 

So far, the pregnancy has been a little harder than I thought it would be. For one thing, I basically threw up every day up until 17 weeks. Then I had insane heartburn, I was seriously downing tums left and right. I feel good now, but the hardest part is not being able to be physically active. I had this whole pregnancy workout plan mapped out, but I realized I just can't do it. I know some expecting women who hit up the gym every week and that's awesome. Every pregnancy is different, but for me, I can't walk a mile before I start having major cramps. I really can't wait to run again... Never thought I'd say that. Oh, and as far as pregnancy cravings, I haven't really had them. Weird, right? Maybe I do, but I can't tell because I had cravings even when I wasn't pregnant. Instead of wanting one certain thing, it's more just spur-of-the-moment things, like "Did someone say Carl's Jr? That sounds good. Where are the car keys? Let's go." And that's basically been my life this summer. 

Also, Tyler started a company in Sacramento! That's pretty much been his dream for a while. He's in LOVE with his hometown, and I'll admit, it's grown on me. We're out here for the summer, then we'll be back in Logan in the fall to have our baby. I've done door-to-door sales with Tyler for the past two summers, so it's definitely been NICE to have a break from that, let me tell ya. 

This is a little bit of what our summer has looked like so far...

(Get ready for lots of pics of our garden)

^^eggs from the chickens! I would have never thought to have chickens, but free eggs? It just makes sense.

^^ Our harvest! We are SO proud of our garden, however, I don't know what in the world we're going to do with all these vegetables. You weren't expecting me to eat them all, were you? Ha!

^^ handsome farmer Joe taking down all the peaches from the tree. There were DOZENS. Jam, anyone?

^^who doesn't love Chinatown?

^^the foggy (but still gorgeous) view of the Golden Gate, on one of my favorite beaches. 

I promise to post some belly pics soon, once I manage to get some (unrealistically) flattering ones.

A little place called Tulum

Back in September, I was browsing the internet for cheap vacation packages without any intention of really going anywhere. It wasn't until I saw a picture of an ancient Mayan ruin overlooking the Caribbean Sea that I really said "okay, how do I get there and how much it is gonna cost me?" So Tyler and I treated ourselves to a little romantic week-long trip to the Yucatan Peninsula. I picked Tulum because it's quiet (90 minutes from Cancun), historical (I'm a huge history nerd so that's always a plus), and there was a LOT to do. 

I regret that I didn't take a ton of pictures while I was there because I felt like we were always on the go! Plus, I feel like lugging around my huge camera bag can be kind of a hassle sometimes, or maybe that's just me. Here are some photos that we took at the Mayan ruins on the beach as well as one cenote (crystal blue water hole) we visited. Since we took pictures at the cenote with a cheap underwater film camera, some of them didn't come out when I got them developed. The pictures below were taken at Casa Cenote, which was very open. We also went to a REALLY amazing one called Gran Cenote, and I was SO looking forward to seeing those pictures, but I guess the film developers couldn't process those ones (SUPER BUMMER, BECAUSE IT WAS AN AMAZING PLACE). 

If you're looking for a romantic getaway with lots to do, I HIGHLY recommend going to Tulum! Since it's a local town, it definitely helps if you're with someone who speaks Spanish, just in case someone there is trying to rip you off (Thankfully Tyler saved us from that a couple times). There are also a ton of cheap places to eat and things to do. We loved it!

^^the gorgeous beach by the ruins

    

^^me being awkward as ever.

^^seeing Mayan ruins in person was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

^^we met some very nice Canadians who managed to snap a decent photo of us!

^^we were basically gawking over all the PLANTS in Tulum! Seriously...so many tropical plants everywhere.

^^taken with my awesome $6 camera while at the beach 

^^this is the first cenote we visited! It was a lot of fun!

^^just a HUGE virgin mary shrine. 

^^there were a TON of iguanas just chilling all over our resort. I almost stepped on one! I think seeing the iguanas were basically the highlight of tyler's day.

Like I said, it was a blast and you should definitely go if you have the chance! Life is short! Go, enjoy it!