Let's Play Catch Up

Holy cow what a year! I haven't blogged at all in the last year mainly because it has been a crazy one. So now you get one long blog post updating you on all that has happened. Where to start......

Evelyn

I left off posting about Evelyn's wild arrival into this world. So it is only fair to start with an update on her.
Evelyn came home from the NICU after 73 days on November 15, 2018. She weighed 7lbs 3oz. She came home with a feeding tube as she was still struggling to take her bottles. We were blessed with a Neonatalogist who wanted to see Evelyn home and was confident in our ability to care for her. The NICU was tough. I went almost every day ( I missed three days when I came down with a cold). It has been a year and I still get anxious and choke up thinking about that time of our lives.
Once she was home, life became a blur. John had a tough time adjusting to a new baby. I was struggling to adjust to two kids and one being a medically needy one as well.But we somehow made it through. Evelyn has grown and developed well. She has been meeting all of her goals! She meets with an occupational therapist once a month as well as had several NICU follow-ups and other follow-ups with different specialists. Overall, her progress is fantastic! I will have to do a one year old post for her and go into more detail. She is a happy sweet girl who loves to be in on the action. You can find her crawling as fast as she can after me or John. She is standing and hopefully will be walking soon.

John

John had a tough adjustment once Evelyn came home. He was used to having a grandma here solely focused on him. That changed quite quickly. When she came home, he went from having all the attention to no grandma and having to share Mom. Needless to say, he got a lot more screen time during those first several months than anticipated.
Overall, he and Evelyn have a good relationship. I think he wishes she were bigger because he loves to wrestle. Sometimes, he can't help himself and will try to wrestle her anyway. Which usually ends up with someone in tears. We are working on it. John is also learning many life lessons in sharing. Haha. It is good for both him and Evelyn. I will also do a birthday post for my sweet boy.

Zac

Like me, Zac has been hanging on for dear life the last year. Work keeps him busy with travel a few times a month as well as big projects that take up a lot of time.
He set some pretty great running goals this year and has done amazing! He ran an 18 mile trail race in July at Snowbird and did great! He also has been pacing several half marathons. It makes me happy to see him excel at something he loves. He has also stepped up in a big way this year at home. He has been a true partner in everything this last year.

Katelyn

I think one reason that I haven't blogged this whole year is because life has been incredibly overwhelming. It has just recently calmed down enough to where I feel like I might actually make it out alive. haha. When Evelyn was born I was still working part time and just about to head into the busy season of my job. That is another reason why the first six months were a blur. I officially put in my notice in March and then officially quit working in June/July. I was also in the RS presidency at church and was released last month.
Adjusting to two kids was extremely hard. Also, bringing home a new baby was isolating and lonely. Evelyn has always struggled with eating which means that I can't really leave the house with her for longer than an hour or two. Days were long and I was exhausted. I managed to train for a half marathon in there somewhere. Training became and escape for me. A few hours each week that were just for me. All in all, I am just happy to be on the other side of this year. I think this upcoming year will be much better.

And now for a few pictures.....

John Turns One

This past year went by way too quickly. My boy is no longer my tiny little baby but a curious, crawling boy. The last year has had many ups and downs. There were a few months that were really hard when John wasn't sleeping well but for the most part it was been amazing.
Being a mom is way different than I imagined but in a good way. This little boy has my whole heart. I feel like each day he is learning, growing, and changing.
At each stage I want him to stay at that stage and am afraid that I will be sad when he grows out of it but it has been the opposite. Each stage is exciting and different.
John now weighs 22lb 14oz (51%), 29in long (33%), and his head is in the 94th percentile! He finally figured out crawling instead of army crawling a few days before is first birthday. He has eight teeth and loves to jabber away. He can say 'mama' and has his own little language.
His little cheeks are kissed constantly. My absolute favorite time is right before nap or bedtime. We spend a few minutes in the rocking chair. He puts his little hands around my neck and snuggles his head on my shoulder. It is pure heaven. Those moments are the moments that I dreamed about for years and sometimes it seems too good to be true. Those are the moments that I want life to freeze.
John's birthday was on a Sunday so we decided to do most of the celebrating in Saturday. We started off by running a 5K for Footsteps for Fertility which is a non-profit that funds local fertility grants. By running the race, we were put into a drawing for a fertility grant. We didn't win but it was an amazing experience to watch other couples win a grant to get a shot at growing their families.
That afternoon, we threw John a birthday party! So many wonderful friends and family came out to celebrate with us. One of the best parts was that two of my good friends from Seattle that now live in Utah were able to come. In Seattle, these two girls were my support. Their friendship was and is priceless. We didn't speak about our struggles with infertility that often but we all knew. We knew that we could hang out together and understand what it was like to be in each other's shoes. Fast forward, three years later and we all have our little miracle babies, all boys! It is a proof to me that miracles do happen. There wasn't a better time for us to be reunited than at John's birthday.

Birthday Shenanigans

What I am 27?!? When did I enter the world of late 20s? Haha. This year's birthday was a blast! Mom, Michelle and Dad came up that weekend so we could celebrate mine and Elise's birthdays. It is pretty fun having a sister with a birthday only five days apart.
Zac ended up scoring some suite tickets to the NCAA March Madness Basketball tournament for the Gonzaga games on that Thursday and Saturday. On Thursday, John and I met Zac downtown for the game. It is a good thing I like sports. Watching games in the suite is so much fun! They always provide dinner and dessert and it is really easy to bring John along.
On Friday (my actually birthday), Elise and Michelle came over, baked me a cake and hung out. It was really fun to have someone to hang out with me. That night, Zac took me out for birthday and Lindsey tagged along.
 On Saturday, Mom took Lindsey, Elise and I shopping for our birthdays. It is so much more fun to go shopping with other girls than with Zac. (sorry Zac). Mom, Michelle, Elise and Lindsey all watched John for me later that day while Zac and I went to the Gonzaga game on a date. Then that night, All the girls went and watched Beauty and the Beast! It was actually really good! They added a few new songs that I absolutely love.
It was a super busy day, but so much fun to have so much family around! I have always loved birthdays and it is birthdays like this that make me continue to love them. :)

My little green jelly bean!

Beauty and the Beast!

Trying on Grandpa LeFevre's hat

Welcome to the World John J

Saturday September 3rd, 2016 my life changed forever, for the better. John J Vidmar was born September 3rd at 10:37am weighing 8lbs 12oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. Zac and I are completely in love with our little guy. He is healthy and sleeps and eats well. He is perfect.

John's due date was September 1st. I had a doctors appointment on August 30th, but when I went in there was very little progress. I was dilated to a 1 so I agreed to let her strip my membranes. That night I had a few contractions but they didn't last long. Fast forward to the 1st, a friend suggested that I bounce on an exercise ball to get things going...so that night I bounced on an exercise ball for an hour. It must have helped because the next morning I went into my doctor's appointment and was dilated to a 3! That night around 8pm I started having contractions. I was so excited that it was finally happening! But, holy cow, I have never experienced pain like that before! Zac was great and so supportive. I was able to take a bath to help with the pain and work through the contractions. But by midnight and throwing up several times I was ready to go to the hospital and get an epidural. :) We were admitted about 1am and then I got my epidural at about 2am. At that point my contractions were about 3 minutes apart and I was dilated to a 7! It slowed down a little bit after that and I was able to get a little bit of sleep. My water finally broke around 7:15am which helped move things along. John was born at 10:37am that morning. 

It was the most amazing experience I have ever had. Right after he was born the nurse laid him on my stomach as they cleaned him up a bit and Zac cut the umbilical cord. I will never forget the rush of emotions when I saw him for the first time. I cried and cried and cried as I held him and touched him for the first time. He is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. My heart quadrupled in size as I held him.

There are no words to describe how I feel about this tiny human. I love him more than anything in the world and would do absolutely anything for him. I am so blessed to be his mom. Right now, we are just getting to know each other. There is definitely a steep learning curve but I think we are getting the hang of it. He is slowly becoming more alert during the day. He has already changed so much in the two short weeks since his birth. Zac and I are so so so happy to finally be a family of three!

Being swaddled by Dad

The picture on the right: Zac holding his son for the first time

First Family Picture

Aunt Michelle and Aunt Lindsey holding little John

All ready to leave the hospital

Birthday Trip!

This year for my 26th year on this earth, Zac spoiled me big time and planned a lovely trip to San Diego. We hadn't been back since we had moved. It was nice and weird at the same time to go back. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago that we once lived in that beautiful place. A lot has happened and changed since.
We left Thursday morning of my birthday and drove all day. We ate dinner at a cute little diner on Oceanside pier and watched the sunset as we ate.
On Friday, we went to the beach, met up with my old boss for lunch then headed to Zac's high school friend's wedding. He lived about a block from us in La Jolla and we just happened to be in town the weekend of his wedding. His wedding was at Scripps pier which was the beach we would always go to. We would always see weddings there and wondered what it would be like to go to one. So we finally got to go a wedding on the beach!
On Saturday, we hit up the Carlsbad flower fields which were in full bloom and absolutely beautiful. That afternoon, we went sea kayaking! That was something else that was on our San Diego bucket list that we never did. So we finally checked it off. We don't have any pictures of the kayaking yet because we bought a disposable water proof camera and we haven't developed the pictures yet. So those will be coming later.
I miss living in San Diego so close to the beach and the beautiful weather, but overall, I am happier living in Utah.