Memories of 2013

My father- in- law just gave us a book that is his life story. That book made me realize that all I really keep track of in my life are the big events, for example, the only thing I will really remember about 2013 is that Daniel and I graduated from BYU and that Connor was born. Of course those are important things to remember, and if I was doing a brief summary of my life, that's all I would mention about 2013, but sometimes it's fun to look back at moments and remember those, so I would like to record a few memories that I have from 2013 that are more that just events.

OUR PROVO APARTMENT

We lived in the same apartment in Provo from the time that we got married in July 2010 until we moved to Arizona in January 2013. It was one bedroom, one bathroom. The closet in the bedroom was the width and height of one door... It was really small, but we had a nice big pantry and a big coat closet. You had to put your feet in the bathtub in order to use the toilet. Only one person fit in our bathroom at one time. We painted our kitchen green because when we first moved in it was all white and boring. Daniel painted our bathroom blue after the quit his classes for his back surgery. There was only one window air conditioner in our apartment, so we spent a lot of time in our bedroom during the summer. The heater was in the kitchen and could warm up the living room sometimes, so in the winter our bedroom was really cold.

Our apartment was perfect for me and Daniel. All of the rooms were really big and we had so much freedom to rearrange our furniture. Once Connor was born though, the apartment started to feel really small. When we had Connor, we started with the crib in our bedroom next to our bed, but after a month we weren't getting a lot of sleep because he was a loud sleeper, so we moved his crib into our living room. It was nice having our bedroom to our selves, but then we couldn't go into our living room when Connor was sleeping because the floor was so creaky that it would wake him up.

CONNOR'S BIRTH

I know that I already wrote Connor's birth story, but I stopped once he was born, I didn't really write about events after he was born. My very first thought was Connor was born was "Oh my goodness, that's a real baby!" I always knew that he was going to be a real baby, but for some reason I just pictured him as a blob getting bigger and bigger over 9 months. It was hard for me to picture legs and arms and a real baby, so although in my mind I knew that Connor would come out as a baby, I really wasn't prepared for it.

Right after Connor was born they wiped him off a little bit and put his naked body on me. I knew that they would give us skin to skin time, but I thought they would clean him off a little better before giving him to me, I was not prepared to touch a baby who still had nasty stuff sticking to his hair. My very first instinct was "eww" but that only lasted for a second, then I got him and was so in love. 

The first night that we took Connor home with us was impossibly hard. I was up all night with him because we were trying not to give him a binkie, so he wanted to nurse all night long, then at like 2 in the morning his diaper had some pink urine in it and I had no idea what that meant and it took me almost an hour to find a doctor who would talk to me, so by that point I was in tears because I didn't know if something was wrong with my baby. By 4 in the morning I woke Daniel up and asked him to watch Connor, but Connor wouldn't stop crying so I had to take Connor back and continue to nurse him. That morning I secretly gave Connor a binkie. That afternoon I finally told Daniel that I had given Connor a binkie and I felt so bad about it because we had both decided that we weren't going to give him a binkie, then he told me that he had also given Connor a binkie that morning. After that we gave Connor a binkie and he didn't have to nurse as often and that was wonderful. 

CONNOR'S GROWTH

When I get Connor all naked to take a bath, his body shape, mainly stomach and legs remind me of a frog, so I tell him that he looks like a little frogy.

The back of Connor's head was really really flat the first 3 months of his life. Once he got better head control his head started to round out.

CONNOR AND HIS GRANDPARENTS

Connor is 3 months old, and he loves both of his grandpas. It has been so fun to see both my dad and Daniel's dad play with Connor.

My dad is a new grandpa and loves to play with Connor. When we were staying in Salt Lake with my parents after Christmas this year my dad would ask if he could hold Connor, then he would sit there and play with him. My dad would make funny faces at Connor, which would make Connor smile and laugh, and my dad kept doing that. It was so sweet for me to watch. I love that my dad is already such a great grandpa to Connor. Connor has always liked his Grandpa Scott. When Connor was very young, maybe a week old, I was talking to my Dad on the phone, and Connor started to fuss, so I put my phone on speaker phone and Dad started to talk to Connor. Connor immediately quieted down and listed to his Grandpa talk. It was so a sweet moment for me. Grandpa Scott also sent Connor his first text message. It said "Welcome Connor to our world. It's your turn on earth! Love Grandpa Scott".

 

Daniel's dad, Jim, has also been a great grandpa to Connor. Connor is Jim's 44th grandchild. I thought that by grandchild number 44 Jim would be tired of little babies and would just want to sit quietly and relax during his precious spare time. But that is not the case. When ever I come down stairs (we've been living with Jim and Marilyn for 3 weeks before we move to Arizona) Jim will ask if he can hold Connor, then Jim will look at Connor and smile at him until Connor smiles back, then Jim will sit in his chair and put Connor on his lap and hold Connor until I take him back. Connor usually hates to be sitting down, and usually hates when the person holding him is sitting down, but when he is with Grandpa Freeman he just sits quietly and doesn't fuss.

It amazes me how much Connor loves his grandpas, and how much they love him too.

Of course I can't leave out Connor's grandmas! Connor is so spoiled by his grandmas. Sometimes it's hard to put into words what a Grandma does for her grandson. It's not just a moment here or there, but constant love that is shown, and that's a little bit harder to write specifics about. Both Rebecca and Marilyn show so much love for Connor all the time, and they always show it in their actions.

My mom just can't get enough of Connor whenever she comes to visit. Connor loves to smile at her when she plays with him. My mom came to help me right after Connor was born, and she taught me a few tricks that I still use with Connor, including tapping his binkie to help calm him down, and doing his "exercises" which is just moving his arms and legs around while singing to him, he thinks that is fun. She also has taken Connor for me so many times when I was tired or at the end of my patience. She loves to come visit Connor and when she is with Connor she wants to spend as much time with him as she can. I love when I hear that she is already planning for her next trip to visit Connor.

Marilyn, Daniel's mom, has been so kind to us during these three weeks that we have been living with them. Marilyn always wakes up really early in the morning, she's almost always us by 5. Sometimes Connor doesn't want to sleep, even though Daniel and I do want to sleep, and when I bring him downstairs, Marilyn always volunteers to hold him so we can go back to sleep for a couple of hours. She is a woman who is constantly moving and going, so I think that sometimes it's hard for her to just sit and hold a baby for a couple of hours because she probably wants to be up doing something, but she is always willing to so that we can still love our baby after a sleepless night :)

Connor has two amazing grandmas, and even though he won't get to see them a lot because we won't live near either of them, I want him to always know how blessed he is to have Marilyn and Rebecca as his grandmas.