Daddy Daughter Conversations :)

       

   
Every night when Danny comes home from work or school they have these moments together, of course I have to try and capture some of them :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These two are my world :)

 

Roll Baby Roll

Once again Addie is asleep snuggled up in my arms as I reflect on how perfect she is. I can’t believe my baby girl is now ten weeks old. Her smiles are to die for and so is her baby talk. Last night she rolled over for the first time from tummy to back . . . and I missed it! ;(  I literally missed it by a second (saddest second of my life). She was on the ground with Danny laying by her while I was getting dinner in the oven when it happened. I know there will be a next time but it will never be the first time. Oh well. It’s weird because I never imagined that I would be so sentimental over things like her newborn clothes getting too short for her growing body. Danny laughs that I got sad when she transitioned into size 1 diapers. When I was pregnant I would always look at other babies during church and obsess over how tiny they looked, now I find myself trying to guess how many months old they are and thinking how they all look so huge to me.

 

I do love how more alert Addie is getting now that she’s two and a half months old. It’s an amazing feeling to walk into a room and notice her eyes follow me wherever I go. She still has so much to learn but one thing that she already knows is that I’m her mother. She also seems to know that Danny is her daddy because she always saves the cutest happiest squeals for him. Sometimes when she is fussy because she is tired she’ll be handed over to him and within a few short minutes he’ll have her passed out. A couple minutes after that and he's also fast asleep.. ;)

In the past I’ve been guilty of asking people if their baby is a good baby and now I get asked the same question. Of course I say yes but really is there such a thing as a bad baby? Nope, not that I know of. Addie loves tummy time, is very calm (unless tired), and started completely sleeping through the whole night at eight weeks old, but I’ve been thinking that IF she were to be a super colicky baby I would still consider her to be a good baby. No infant purposefully cries with the intention to make someone’s day harder for them; so I’ve come to the realization that asking “is your baby a good baby?” is kind of a silly question. I’ll have to remember that if any of my future kids tend to have more fussy moments compared to happy smiley moments.

It’s crazy to think that two years ago from today I first laid eyes on Danny and now here I am with our precious baby girl in my arms. Who would have thought that two years later I would get to be the mother of Danny’s baby? Too blessed to be stressed.

            . . . . Well baby girl is waking up now so I’m going to go see if she’ll roll over for her mama! Roll baby roll but then go back to staying little.

Snuggle Bug

            Once I found out that I was pregnant I started to pray for a baby that liked to snuggle. I definitely got what I wished for because Addie LOVES to snuggle. It does feel nice to know that she wants to always be held close to me. Occasionally she’ll let me put her down long enough to eat a quick snack or run to the bathroom but then I have to hurry back to her if I want to avoid listening to her sad cry. Letting her cry it out works and even though it doesn’t last long it feels like a never ending torture for me as her mom so we don’t do that very often.

            Of course there are things that I don't particularly love about her being such a cuddle bug but today I'm going to mention the things that I do love.

            I have to say I do love holding her. Sometimes it can get hard when it's in the middle of the night and she doesn't want to be put down; but I also love watching her drift off to sleep in my arms. I love watching her stare into my eyes. I also love the smiles she gives me as she's being held. It's only been a month and a half but when I look at her I feel like I've known her for longer than that. Technically I did carry her for nine months before that but there is something indescribable about being able to physically carry her in my arms. She's starting to baby talk more and more and it's the cutest thing ever. I would pay money to understand and know what she has to say. I understand that she won't want to be a snuggle bug forever so instead of complaining about all the things I can't do with her in my arms I'm going to choose to take advantage of this time right now. I'm going to snuggle and hold her even closer to me because when it comes down to it there really isn't anything more important that I could be doing anyway. After all they DO grow up quickly and I do not want to blink for fear of missing out on anything.

First sleepy smile caught on camera

 

Snoozing at church

 And of course this is exactly what she's doing as I'm typing up this post. :)

 

Miss Addie Rae

Yesterday marked one whole week since you were born and we got to hold you for the first time in our arms. It’s only been eight days and yet we are already so obsessed with you. It’s a good thing you were born with cute chubby cheeks because between Danny and I (plus our families) you will never have a short supply of hugs and kisses.

I hear of people who say they wish they could go back in time to give advice to their younger selves; well I know this sounds crazy but I almost feel like I have that chance with you. You look so much like my baby self it’s surreal. Daddy says you got your gassy smells from him but that’s okay because your daddy is one great guy.

You have a future with unlimited opportunities and it does not matter to us what university you attend (go Utes!), what career path you choose or whether or not you decide to travel the world. What does matter is that you believe KNOW that you are a daughter of God. Daddy and I will make sure you are taught this but there will come a time where you will have to find out for yourself if this is true. You will be taught the power of prayer so that no matter where you are you will always know that the ability to get help, comfort and answers from God is real. We love you very much, thank you for joining our family.

Your daddy and I vow to always be the best parents we can be to you. I can’t say that we will be perfect but I can guarantee that you’ll feel loved. You are more than just a tiny little person to us, you are our daughter.

I have already seen so many changes in your daddy and I. For instance never in a million years would I have pictured us to be so quick to wipe away spit up or change a dirty diaper. We don’t even get mad at you for demanding food every two to three hours in the middle of the night or complain about the fact that our laundry is piling up faster than before. For the next several many years leaving the house will never be an easy simple task and that’s okay because you mean everything to us. If we were to take the above examples and apply them to anyone else it would not be the same outcome. For example if someone else were to disrupt our sleep for milk several times a night that person would get kicked out of our place so fast they wouldn’t know what hit them. But like I said you are more than just a little person, you are ours. You mean everything to us and for the time being we mean everything to you. We love you miss Addie Rae and that’s never going to change.

Birth Story - Addisyn Rae

The baby’s original due date was October 1^st and during the entire pregnancy I hoped for a healthy September baby – which was exactly what I got. I started dilating and effacing during week 37. In fact I had been dilated to a 3 and at 80% thinned out and then stayed that way for three straight weeks. Every weekly visit without fail the doctor would be surprised that I made it another week without going into labor and then they would send me on my way saying “you better get some rest because that baby could be coming tonight”. I must admit I was far from patient during those weeks. I think Danny could tell that I was getting grouchy because he shared with me a general conference talk about patience and being grateful in every circumstance – needless to say it only put me in a worse mood (sorry Danny). I was so anxious to meet our little girl. I was really starting to believe that my body didn’t know how to push her out which was annoying because I was almost already halfway there.

Two days before the due date on September 29^th I went to what would be my last weekly doctor appointment. It was then that I finally received encouraging news. The visit started with the usual “wow your baby is still in there?” and “she must be super comfortable” etc. (I feel like I’ve heard it all). Well it turned out that I was at a 4 with no membranes to sweep and my water was bulging. The doctor looked at me and said “you should have had this baby by now” then she left to get opinions from two other doctors in the office who all agreed that I should be induced the next day. The protocol for that office is that first time moms can’t be induced until 41 weeks and one day so I was pretty happy that they were willing to make an exception for me and induce me at 39 weeks and 6 days. It was weird knowing that after that day I would no longer be pregnant. I spent most of that day with my cousin Allen, his wife and their ten day old baby before Danny got out of school.  Finally that night we got a call from the hospital saying to be there at 6:45am. Danny and I didn’t get any sleep at all because we were so nervous and excited. Before leaving for the hospital the next morning Danny gave me a priesthood blessing. We ended up waiting until almost 10:30am to finally get situated in the labor and delivery room because so many babies were born during the night so there was no room. All the nurses and the doctor predicted that I would have the baby really fast because of how progressed I was; unfortunately that didn’t turn out to be the case.

I started to dilate pretty fast but they had to keep slowing down the process because my blood pressure kept dropping lower and lower. Even though my blood pressure was a concern I still felt relaxed because I knew everything was okay with the baby. I finally just told the nurse to call the doctor because I was ready to push. Pushing was a lot harder than I thought it would be and near the end I was telling anyone who would listen that I couldn’t do it anymore. I found out later that the doctor was considering a C Section and if I had known that while I was pushing I probably would have been all for it. Addisyn was finally born at 8:22pm and they put her on me long enough for Danny to cut the umbilical cord. I don’t exactly remember what happened next but they took her and handed her over to Danny. Two nurses came out of nowhere and were hooking me up to a second IV. I could tell the doctor was doing something to me but I wasn’t sure what so I just kept my eyes on Danny and our baby instead of asking any questions. I could also tell that I was bleeding and then I started to feel really lightheaded. I remember just feeling like I could close my eyes and fall asleep in an instant but I never took my eyes off of my new little family. Danny took the baby to the corner of the room and just started praying. I didn’t know he was praying for me. In fact I wasn’t aware that anything serious could be going on. Over an hour passed before I really got my turn to hold our baby. The doctor had been working on me that whole time and finally he was able to get things under control enough to explain what happened to both me and Danny. He told us that normally people lose 200-300 ml of blood but that I lost almost three to four times the normal amount. No one knows why but I had hemorrhaged and lost close to 900 ml (one liter) of blood before he could get me to stop bleeding. For all future pregnancies I now have to pre-warn the doctors that I hemorrhaged.

Looking back now I’m so thankful for the priesthood blessing I received that morning. I’m also glad that I didn’t go into labor when I started dilating at week 37. I believe I was supposed to get induced in a hospital setting because of my blood pressure complications and because of the medical team who helped me out. I finally got to really look at Addisyn when they placed her in my arms and that’s when I realized how absolutely perfect our little girl is. It’s now been eight days since I held her for the first time . . . eight days with our perfect little girl. Bringing her into this world might not have been easy but it was definitely worth it.

Addisyn Rae

8lb 8oz

21 inches long

8:22pm Sept 30, 2014

Tomorrow My Life Changes Forever.....

The title says it all. :)

A 'Wicked' Good Time

Last Friday was a blast. Our first anniversary is definitely one that I do not want to forget, for that reason I’m going to write about it here so later I can go back and read it.

Danny and I both woke up around 6am because he had to be at work by 7:30am. It was his last official day of training at his new job at UVU. I figured I would go with him to Orem so I can get a few last minute errands done before he got off at 12:30pm. I made sure that all of our things were packed the night before so that our day could begin as soon as he was off. Little did he know that I hid our picnic basket in his mom’s car the night before; so while I was driving around Orem his mom met me with the basket and picnic blanket. Danny’s favorite sub sandwich place is a place called Charley’s (which I had never heard of before moving to Utah County). He is obsessed with their philly cheese steaks so I thought that would be perfect for the surprise picnic I had planned. I’m sure he would have also appreciated nice homemade sandwiches (which would’ve been hidden overnight) but who can say no to nice, hot and fresh sandwiches? I’m pretty positive that given a choice he would pick Charley’s every time. An awesome thing about that morning is that the worker at Charley’s gave me one of the sandwiches for free even though I was still a stamp away from getting a free meal. Pretty sure he did it just to be nice and that it wasn’t a flirtatious gesture because he noticed my wedding ring and let’s face it . . . I’m . . . very . . . pregnant.

I was super excited to pick Danny up from work and I knew he would be hungry. When he got in the car I told him that I wanted to stop at a nearby park so we could plan out the rest of the day. As soon as we got there he figured out we were really there for a picnic. The food was still hot and the drinks were cold . . . delicious. The weather was perfectly breezy so we stayed there just talking for a good while. It’s crazy to think that in just a few weeks moments with just the two of us will be rare.

We left the park and drove straight to the Salt Lake Temple were we quickly changed and did sealings. Boy was the temple busy, it was also very hot. If anyone would’ve told us on our wedding day that I would be nearly eight months pregnant exactly one year later we (Danny and I) would have both laughed. I thought a lot about our baby while in the temple last week. I know this sounds crazy but I got the feeling that somehow our baby girl knew exactly where we were and what we were doing. I seriously cannot wait to see her little face and hold her in my arms. One thing is for sure this little girl is coming into a home where her parents are still 110% in love with each other. Danny and I both strongly believe that the best thing we can do as parents to our little girl is to show her that we truly love one another. After leaving the temple we walked around City Creek for a little bit. Danny and I stopped inside Deseret Book where he bought a new white blank journal. His anniversary gift to me was a book he made that he titled ‘The Eternity Book’. Over the last year he has secretly been keeping ticket stubs and programs from different things that we’ve done. Apparently he didn’t like the book he originally bought so now he’s putting things from the old book into this new journal. He’s making me wait before I can read what he’s written and has so far. His plan is to continue to add onto it as time passes. It’s cute to know that he’s more sentimental and thoughtful than people might realize.

 

After walking around for a while we went and checked into our hotel ‘The Anniversary Inn’. Last year on our wedding night we stayed in the Egyptian themed room, this year we stayed in the Mountain Hideaway room. You really can’t go wrong with any of the rooms at that hotel. After checking into the hotel we went to Olive Garden for dinner. We must have been hungry because we ate everything off of our plates . . . yummy. It also was at the perfect location because it was across the street from the Capital Theater where we finished the night watching ‘Wicked’. I bought tickets for this night almost six months before. Danny liked the show and now he finally understands why I love it so much.

It’s now been a year and one week since we got married and I still feel blessed to be by his side. People warned us that the first year of marriage would be hard, thankfully we have no clue what they were talking about and we’d like to keep it that way for a very long time (we’re thinking eternity).

Growing Love

I can't believe it has now been one whole year since I became Danny's wife. I've said this before and I will say it again, "I feel a million percent blessed and lucky that he chose me to be his eternal companion." My husband has the ability to make me fall in love with him over and over again and he definitely has me smitten.

I am not the same person that Danny met on 12/12/12, nor am I the same person who officially became his girlfriend shortly after. Without a doubt I am not the same person who knelt across from him in the sealing room last August. I love knowing that he fell in love with who I was but what is even better than that is knowing that he is in love with who I am today. It is the same both ways. I am head over heels in love with the man he has become. We are both changing constantly and this is a good thing.

One day we will both be old with a head of white hairs and faces full of winkles looking back on our decades of anniversaries and hopefully still looking forward to many more while here in our mortal state. By that point our love for each other will be even stronger and more meaningful. I still can't fully comprehend or imagine how I could possibly love him more than I do today but from what I have learned from my time with him is that I know that love is also something that can progressively grow.

We still have forever to go but until then I will continue to date and love my husband. With every fiber of my existence I love Daniel George. I loved him yesterday, I love him today and I will love him forever.

Month-Aversaries

Danny and I have been celebrating our first year of marriage with month-aversaries. I’m not sure if they will continue but so far it’s been fun J

1^st month-aversary (September)

We went on our first small get away to his family cabin in Heber. We stayed for the weekend and it turns out that their cabin is literally five minutes away from my family cabin. It’s cool to think that we could have spent summers within minutes of each other and we didn’t even know it. Another cool fact is that our grandparents know each other from being in the same branch. It was also the first snowfall of the season and I caught my first fish.

2^nd month-aversary (October)

Have you heard of a Halloween cruise? I hadn’t before so I figured the odds were good that Danny hadn’t either. I told him I had something planned but I didn’t tell him what exactly. He came home to clothes laid out on the bed and brownies in the kitchen (the brownies helped since I also got a speeding ticket that day . . . oops). We went down the Provo River on a boat while listening to Halloween stories. It probably won’t be a new tradition since this year our baby girl will be less than a month old.

3^rd month-aversary (November)

His parents bought tickets for everyone to see the new Catching Fire movie that night and I had to work a double shift at work so I decided to wake up at 2am and post 100 love notes on his office wall. I knew he would see it while I was at work but what I didn’t know was that he had a surprise of his own. I drove straight to the movie theater from work and wasn’t able to go home until after the movie. That night he had set up a tent in the living room. I loved it so much I insisted that it stay up for almost a week.

4^th month-aversary (December)

Danny won us free movie tickets from a Gap contest and he was nice enough to let me choose the movie. I really wanted to see Frozen so I dragged him to that but in the end I know he loved it too.

5^th month-aversary (January)

Danny had a bowling and ice cream date planned that night for the two of us but unfortunately I didn’t want to go. This was the night we found out we were pregnant so I just wanted to stay at home and be with each other. Looking back now though I should have said yes to the ice cream.

6^th month-aversary (February)

My cousin Allen and his wife gave us a pretty cool picnic basket for a wedding gift and even though it was winter I still wanted to use it. I decorated our place with Christmas lights and had fried chicken and rice ready for him. I also had brownies baked for him again in case he said no to the chick flick I had picked out (brownies are his weakness and I love it).

7^th month-aversary (March)

Our seventh month-aversary was cut short. We started out miniature golfing but then left early because I was starting to not feel so good. As soon as Danny got to the restaurant parking lot to get me food I got out of the car and . . . got sick . . . all over the parking lot. Once again I ruined a date that Danny had planned but it was the thought that counted and I love that he is willing to plan dates for us.

8^th month-aversary (April)

I officially changed my last name from Rueckert to Ferguson and it only took me eight months to get around to it. Danny and I decided to celebrate eight months by sharing it with our friend Courtney and his cousin Jordan. Danny and Jordan’s favorite burger and shakes place is called Dairy King which is in Heber and that place does not disappoint. We then ended the night at our place playing games until they had to leave.

I got this message from him that day :)

9^th month-aversary (May)

Danny had just come home from a trip to Cleveland, Ohio and one of the things that he wanted to do was go to the golf driving range. It was my first time watching him golf and surprisingly I had fun. Too bad he broke one of his clubs that day though.

10^th month-aversary (June)

We had both wanted to go to the new aquarium in Draper since it opened in March and we finally made it happen. Danny is doing a biology internship there so we were able to go for free. After walking around the exhibit he took me to Rodizio Grill for amazing Brazilian food. This definitely was one of my favorite dates.

11^th month-aversary (July)

Danny loves anything that has to do with water so for our month-aversary we spent the day at Utah Lake. I hadn’t gone fishing with Danny since our cabin trip so we decided it would be good to renew his fishing license and get me one as well. We might have gone a little over board because then Danny let me buy my own fishing pole and lots of little fishing supplies that I still don’t understand. My favorite part of this date was the canoe ride he had planned. Spending the day at Utah Lake in July while pregnant in the third trimester was beyond hot but I would do anything to be with him.

 Upcoming 1 year anniversary date (August)

            I’ve been to Wicked twice and Danny has never been before so I bought tickets for the show on August 22^nd and then we’ll spend the night at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake City. I seriously cannot wait. J

Proposal Story - One Year Later

During June of last year I was able to fly back to Brazil for three weeks with my parents where I was able to show them some of the areas that I served in. It definitely was an interesting trip. I got to see the house where I used to live in when I was very young, go to the chapel that I used to attend during my early primary years, go to the temple where I was sealed to my family for all eternity, visit my mission and the people I still very deeply love, go to Rio De Janeiro and see the Christ Statue, have monkeys eat straight from my hands, run away from someone trying to rob me while at the beach and I finally met my birth family (still not sure what to think of that last experience). Even though it was an unforgettable trip, the best thing that happened actually didn't happen until the moment I walked off the plane on my first day back in Salt Lake City.

I knew that I would be seeing Danny at the airport, what I didn't know was that in his pocket would be an engagement ring that he had picked out for me. The plane back from Brazil was supposed to arrive at 2pm but it didn't land in Salt Lake City until 7:30pm (so I had a lot of time to stalk my birth family haha). It was also a lot of time for Danny to start freaking out because he had to wait longer to propose.

           Side note: I avoided the topic of marriage like the plague while we were dating because at that time the thought of being with one person for the rest of eternity freaked me out. He was so nervous to bring this subject up because I would get out of the conversation faster than a cat leaving the bathtub (I just made that analogy up haha). Anyways I thought I had him figured out because he would make comments like "I'm going to sell my motorcycle this summer for money" and "my apartment contract ends in September and I don't think I'm going to renew it" and every time I heard this I wouldn't respond and instead would just think to myself 'what do you need the money for?' and 'why wouldn't you renew your contract?'. So I figured that as long as he had his motorcycle I wouldn't get a ring and while in Brazil he posted a picture of him on his bike three days before I came home so I thought 'oh good he still has the bike which means I have more time to mentally prepare myself'. . . nope I was wrong. Okay back to the story :)

After I got off the plane I descended on the escalators to the terminal where I knew he would be waiting with my sister. On my way down I saw a long row of rose petals and this huge sign with these large words "Will You Marry Me?" . . . It was someone else proposing to his girlfriend :). Of course I just walked right past all that because I didn't think I would be getting engaged that night. The funny thing is that Danny must have been really nervous because he started making fun of the other guy proposing! He said "can you believe that some guy picked the airport out of all places to propose?" I don't even remember what I said but Danny was secretly mad that someone decided to do it at the same place and the same night.

I remember just being really happy to be back with Danny. When we got to the luggage belt to pick up my suitcases I noticed that some bags had individual signs taped on them that said "Happy Six Months Gina" with roses on them. Danny picked up the roses and gave them to me. I blame it on jet lag but instead of me thinking it was cute I got mad at him. I told him "Danny you really can't put posters on random bags, people are going to get mad at you!!" He told me not to worry because he brought those suitcases from home, but then I said "well you didn't even grab the luggage, they're going around again!!" I don't know what my problem was but I was getting on his case about it. I found out later that both of our families were there hiding in the crowd and his sisters were on the other side of the luggage belt where I couldn't see them switching the signs on the bags so when it came back around again it said "Gina Will You Marry Me?".

I must have been tired because the way I read it in my head was so backwards, it was like "Marry Me Gina Will You?" haha it felt like I was reading it for a good five minutes even though it was really only seconds but the whole time Danny was on his knee behind me waiting for me to turn around. Finally I realized that it was a proposal to me and I guess I got so excited that I tried to take the ring box straight from his hands. To make it worse I also gave him my wrong hand right after that (I was tired lol). He finally put it on my hand and that's when I realized that the majority of our families were there. Everyone asked him what I said and he was like "Umm I don't think she ever said anything" haha I forgot to say yes!! So then I did and we were engaged. :)

We were both literally shaking, me because I was so excited and him because he was so scared I would say no. It didn't help that the night before he had about five dreams of all the different ways I could tell him no. We didn't have a date set for about a week after or even a temple picked. We had to start from ground zero and that's my fault because I avoided the topic of marriage so much. Those three weeks in another country with limited communication made me realize that I never wanted to go that long without him again.

    
I used to be so scared of the idea of marriage because I was terrified of getting stuck with the wrong person for the rest of eternity. Let's face it; eternity is a very long time. On June 18, 2013 I changed into someone who was no longer scared of marriage. It has been the most exciting journey so far and the fact that it IS for eternity actually makes it 'icing on the cake'. I don't know why I avoided marriage talk for so long because once he was on his knee I didn't hesitate for even one second. I kind of surprised myself with how excited I actually was that he felt I could be someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. I didn't have to stop or think if this was the man for me. I also didn't have to pray for a confirmation because I instantly just knew that it was right. I knew long before he proposed that I was going to marry him, I just didn't know when that would happen or what his exact feelings were.

It's been a great year since the day Danny proposed and I'm still forever grateful that he asked me to marry him. :)