{Ajax Emerson Tyler}

Ajax is here! 

On Sunday, December 18, the hospital called around 5:45 am and asked us to come right away for our scheduled induction. We got dressed and headed to the hospital in thick, heavy fog. By 7:15 am, I was hooked up to an IV and receiving pitocin. By about 10:00 am, my doctor broke my water. I got an epidural around 10:30 am. And about 11:30 am it was time to push!

I was in labor almost exactly 5 hours. Jonathan was a huge help throughout the whole thing, and I am so glad he was there beside me to hold my hand and tell me I was doing great. I married him not only because I knew he would be a great husband, but also because I knew he would be a great father. And I was right, on both counts. He is the best husband I could ask for, and he is already a wonderful father.

Ajax Emerson Tyler was born right at 12:15 pm! He was 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and 19 inches long. And practically perfect in every way. 

He came out screaming, and the doctors and nurses all commented on his strong lungs! After they checked him out and cleaned him up a bit, I got to hold him for about 45 minutes. He had been crying the whole time, until they placed him on my chest. It was such an incredible feeling to hold this brand new little baby and to know that he is all mine! And I am all his. 

Jonathan went along with Ajax for his first bath. He didn't like it much, until they washed and brushed his hair, and put him under the heat lamps. He calmed right down and relaxed. Just like his Dad, he loves getting his head rubbed!

I love how Ajax responds to Jonathan's voice and actually tries to open his eyes while he is talking. So precious.

Once he was all clean, the nurses gave us a stocking that one of them had made. It's a little big for him!

Jonathan and I are so in love with our little guy. He is a beautiful, calm baby, and we couldn't be happier to finally have him in our arms. 

The first 24 hours or so, Ajax would make this noise: 

It stopped soon after he actually ate for the first time. It was cute while it lasted though!


We stayed in the hospital for about 48 hours. At one point, Jonathan got bored and started drawing pictures on the white board in our room. 

We finally got to take our sweet baby home on Tuesday morning. Ajax is healthy and strong (really strong, actually), and I am slowly but surely recovering.

We couldn't have asked for a better gift for Christmas this year. 
Little Ajax has completely filled our hearts.

And we have never been happier.

Frosted Windowpanes

Things have been a bit crazy at our house. Between work, school, church, and prepping for the baby to come, I haven't had much time or energy to blog. I've been wanting to post about our Christmas decorations and a few other things. So I decided to make a video, since that is easier than taking photos, uploading them, and writing a long post to explain it all. It's a bit long, but I hope you all enjoy it. If you watch, you'll get to see some of our house, our decorations, my Christmas present, and maybe even a glimpse of me at 9 months! It's a bit dark at the beginning because it starts outside. But it gets better! And sorry it's so shaky. I always forget how sensitive the camera is.

If you noticed Jonathan limping around, that's because he hurt his knee playing soccer yesterday. Scraped it up pretty good on in door turf. He'll be fine though. Fine enough to play in the championship game on Tuesday, at least!

Also, I thought I would share some of the photos of the cradle Jonathan made so you can see it from start to finish. He worked very hard on it, and it is beautiful. I am always impressed with his talents. He really can do anything. And he didn't use a pattern or anything! Just made it up as he went along. This is definitely a gift I will treasure forever!

Isn't it beautiful? All it needs now is a mattress and a baby.

I have one more final to take tomorrow morning--my tax law final. It will be a tough one. But I'll be so happy to be finished with this crazy busy semester! And that means only three classes stand between me and graduation. I told the baby he is allowed to come anytime after my finals are over. So far he's been obedient. Maybe I can talk him into coming this week! Stay tuned...

And since it's Christmastime, I thought I would share my favorite Christmas song! Merry Christmas. :)

{Fill-in-the-Blank Friday}

Hello! Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! And welcome to the Christmas season. Yesterday, Jonathan and I hosted Thanksgiving for the Tyler family. We crammed 15 people in our kitchen/living room, but it worked. We cooked a turkey, made stuffing, homemade rolls, corn, asparagus, and grape juice with 7-up. Jonathan's dad brought a smoked turkey and smoked salmon. Ang & Guta brought the mashed potatoes. Amy & Curt brought pumpkin pie & yams. And Becky, Anna Lisa, & Nick brought lemon, chocolate, berry, apple, and pumpkin pies. We had lots of delicious food, and it was fun to have everyone over. We only wish Lyndon & Missy and their girls could have made it (but it's a long way from New Hampshire)!

Today, Jonathan and I went out shopping this morning and got a few gifts for people, and some Christmas decorations. We also got a tree! We figured this weekend would be the best time to get it, since I'll soon be insanely busy with finishing up the last week of classes and then preparing for and taking finals. And who knows when our baby will come! We found a little tree lot close to our house, and got there while they were still setting up. That means we got a freshly cut tree, and had our pick of the best of the best. It is an awesome tree. We still have to finish decorating it. But it looks (and smells) great, and we will definitely enjoy it for the next month or so! I'll try to take pictures and post them when the house is all decorated. 

And now, it's time for...

Fill-in-the-Blank Friday

1.   Waking up at the break of dawn to go shopping is my idea of   fun! Sort of. I enjoy buying gifts for people, and getting a great deal. But Jonathan and I didn't get up at the break of dawn this year. We went out around 9 am and still found some good deals on the few things we wanted. Black Friday shopping is a tradition, and I mostly enjoy it. Then again, we're not crazy and don't wait in any huge lines or anything like that.

2.   If I were to go shopping today I would be on the hunt for  pajamas and slippers. Definitely should have looked for that today. Mornings are cold, and it would be nice to have some comfy pajamas and slippers to wear around while I eat breakfast and before I have to get ready for the day .

3.  The best thing I ate yesterday was    probably pie. Chocolate silk and apple crumble. Very different textures and tastes, but both absolutely delicious. I'm glad we had lots of leftovers .

4. Something I've been learning lately is   delegation. I'm slowly learning that I can't actually (and don't need to) do everything myself. Whether it's work for the journal, or chores at home, or things like Thanksgiving dinner, I'm getting better at making assignments and not trying to take it all on myself .

5.  I cannot start my day without   breakfast! I usually wake up super hungry, so it's the first thing I do. Roll out of bed and go eat breakfast.

6.  I am looking forward to   being done with finals. I have so much to do before now and then. I think when I step out of my tax final on Monday, December 12, I will feel a huge sigh of relief... at least until the baby comes and I'm thrown into the craziness of being a parent! But at the same time, I'm really looking forward to that too. I can't wait to meet my little guy.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with family! I know that I am so very blessed, and I am thankful every day for the wonderful life that I have and the great people that I know. That includes you. Thank you for being my friend, and taking the time to read my rambling thoughts!

{Tumblr Tuesday}

"Thank you, zip-line, for being the fastest and most convenient way to travel between two trees."

 Source

 Source

 Source 

  Source

Source

 Source

Source

Source

{Fill-in-the-Blank Friday}

Happy Friday! 

Unfortunately this has not been the best Friday for me. I woke up around 2 am last night with a killer headache and terrible heartburn. Hate it when that happens. Good thing I have Jonathan around. I went 8 1/2 months without him having to make a run to the store in the middle of the night for something for me. But last night he went to the store to get something for my heartburn, and came home with flowers too. What a guy. I finally got back to sleep, but that darn headache is still hanging around. So much for all of the productive things I was going to do today!

But at least I got this done. And some laundry.

Source

1.   My favorite new blog of the moment is    probably The Girl Who Ate Everything. Lots of easy, delicious recipes that I've been trying!

2.   Something I am thankful for is   all of the Veterans who have made sacrifices to protect our freedom.

3.  Something that made me laugh this week was    Rick Perry in the GOP debate. Poor guy...

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is    Michael Bublé's new Christmas album  .

5.  I am excited about    having my Dad in town this weekend for the BYU football game.

6.  If I were a color I would be     sage green. Not sure why. Maybe because it is a calm color, and I'm a calm person? Sure.

7.  My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by    cuddling up with Jonathan in front of the fire .

A bit late...

This week was incredibly busy, and I didn't get a chance to post at all. Blast. I'm sure you all missed Tumblr Tuesday, but no worries. It will be back in a couple of days. And I'm late on fill-in-the-blank Friday, so you get it today instead!

1.   My favorite thing about this week was   going with Jonathan to our 32-week ultrasound and getting to see our little guy and know that he's still doing great!

2.   Colder weather makes me   happy. Normally, I hate the cold. But after a long summer being pregnant with no air conditioning, cold weather feels nice. And it means that the holidays (and our baby) are almost here .

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are    Jonathan (of course--he always makes me the happiest), college basketball games, and Christmas music (we may have started listening the day after Halloween...or before).

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd choose    comfortable flats. I'm not much into shoes, so that would do .

5.  My personality type is   According to one test, ISTJ: "Serious and quiet, interested in security and peaceful living. Extremely thorough, responsible, and dependable. Well-developed powers of concentration. Usually interested in supporting and promoting traditions and establishments. Well-organized and hard working, they work steadily towards identified goals. They can usually accomplish any task once they have set their mind to it." 

6.  I have a serious problem resisting ,   according to Jonathan, him, or an opportunity to sleep (which doesn't happen often).

7.  My favorite color to wear is   green. But at the moment? Black.

Remember, if you want to play along, just follow the little things we do blog.

I also wanted to share the centerpiece I put together for the Relief Society activity this past week. They had a holiday dinner, and each table had the theme of a different holiday. I provided the centerpiece for the New Years table. 

This was the original inspiration:

And this was my version:

 

I took the photos with my phone, so they're not great quality, but you get the idea. 

What do you think?

The activity was fun, and I got to meet and talk to a lot of the women in my ward. The point of the whole night was to get to know each other, so that was perfect for me, since I really don't know very many people.  

This weekend, Jonathan and I did some early Christmas shopping for each other. I was planning on surprising him with a miter saw for Christmas. And for my gift, he is going to make a cradle for our baby. But he needed a miter saw to start work on the cradle. We went to Home Depot to get some wood, and Jonathan got his gift early. Christmas morning might not be as exciting this year, but I figure we'll both be preoccupied with our favorite gift of all--our baby. Provided that he comes before Christmas. Which he will. I hope.

Fill-in-the-Blank Friday

It's Friday! I mostly like Fridays. Except for school. And work. And general busyness. And my football team losing on national television. But whatever. It's the weekend. And tomorrow means the start of my favorite season: college basketball season! Tomorrow night I will be with Jonathan at the Marriott Center cheering on my BYU Cougars. Life will be good. 

And now, how about another edition of Fill-in-the-Blank Friday?

Source

1.   When I was a kid I wanted to be      a WNBA basketball player    when I grew up. Yes, you read that right. I was going to play for the Utah Starzz. 

2.   As an adult, my dream job would be   an attorney for a private university general counsel. Or a sports commentator. I'd be good at that.

3.  W hen I was younger I wanted to be just like  my parents. And that hasn't changed. I still want to be like them.  

4. The childhood Halloween costume that I remember most was when I was    a 1950s girl. I always liked how I looked in the poodle skirt my mom made me (thanks Mom!). 

5.  My favorite childhood toy was    probably my Easy Bake oven. Or my twirling ribbon. Or polly pockets. Really, I'm not sure if I had a favorite. Those are just some I can remember.

6.  The time I got into the biggest amount of trouble when I was a kid was when I     ...This is a tough one for me. I didn't get into too much trouble as a kid. Maybe my mom can think of something and comment!

7.  I get daily inspiration from    reading the Book of Mormon while I eat breakfast. Today's inspiration came from the book of Mosiah, chapter 2: "[C]onsider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness."

Some Halloween Cheer

Source

Halloween is on Monday. Because we've been so busy with work and school and everything, we haven't been very festive this year. I have some decorations up inside, but outside? We have a wreath. And that's all. We don't even have pumpkins (although we'll get some tonight at the pumpkin patch). We aren't going to any Halloween parties. We don't have costumes. We'll probably have trick or treaters (can't wait to see what costumes the kids these days are wearing). But Jonathan has work, so he'll go to bed around 8 pm on Halloween night.

Source

I felt like the least I could do was listen to some Halloween-type songs. These are nontraditional Halloween songs (except for the first one, of course). I just thought it would be fun to put together a playlist of songs that sort of reminded me of Halloween. Feel free to take a listen. And if you have any suggestions of songs I should add, please suggest them in the comments!

By the way, have you seen the music video for Laura Marling's Ghosts? It's sort of creepy and Halloween-like. 

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Tumblr Tuesday

It's Tuesday! So that means another round of my favorites from Tumblr. Enjoy!

1. Time according to The Doctor 

2. Austrian National Library

3. Halloween at Hogwarts

4. Pears

5. Fall

6. Nerds

7. Harry Potter characters

8. Flying the Tardis

 9. Gus don't be...

 10. Window seat

11. Email

12. Fantastic Mr. Fox

13. Puppies

14. The Pirates! Band of Misfits