Counting on Spring

Can you actually believe it? Two posts within four days. I'm in shock myself. But here I am making good on my promise to do better. As you can see, I'm hoping that spring is just around the corner and since I already put this in my kitchen, I'm hoping I'm right. After Colby saw this, he said that he's happy to know that if he forgets what season it is or what he should wear that day, he can just walk into the kitchen and be reminded. I shrugged off his sarcasm because I was too busy being proud of what I had just finished. Even if it wasn't very hard of a project. I was just glad that it added a little something to my boring kitchen cabinets. I was also pleased to find out that you can create just about anything with spray paint and a glue gun, two essentials when crafting. It also works out well that they are two supplies that go a long way for the money. Speaking of spray paint, I had quite the experience when purchasing it at Walmart. Apparently you need to be 18 years old to purchase since kids probably use it to get high. So as the cashier scans it, the register beeps and the cashier needs to push yes or no if the customer is over 18. When this happened, the cashier stops and looks at me for a second and then asks if I had my ID. I told her I didn't (Colby was in the car and I had just run in), but that I was in fact 25 years old and she continues to look at me for a few more seconds. Was this a compliment or an insult? I don't mind looking younger than my age and I always have, but come on! Do I really look younger than 18? So she called another lady over and asked her if it was okay that I didn't have my ID. This lady also gives me a curious look before she tells the first cashier to go ahead and let me buy the spray paint. Lesson learned, but I'm still not sure what to conclude about the whole incident.
As for a side note about Korina, since she always gives us something to talk about. She was up to her mischievous ways once again. This is how her headband was when I left the room:













And this is what I found when I returned. Not quite sure how she managed to get the flower off, but at least she was happy!

Commitment to do Better

So I was talking to a friend the other day and she asked if I had a blog that she could look at. I replied yes, but told her that I am horrible at updating it and hardly ever post anything. She then replied, "Oh, you're one of those people." Then I got to thinking, if she meant those as in someone who has a blog just to say that they have one but doesn't bother maintaining it, I realized she was right. Thus, here I am. Vowing to be better at updating our lives even if no one is reading about it. I guess my thinking this whole time has been that I don't consider our lives to be very exciting and so most of the time I don't know what I would write about for an update. Our lives seem to revolve around the same few topics every month so why would everyone want to hear about them over and over again? Maybe this is why I never write in my journal either. I know I should be better for the sake of leaving our history for our children and grandchildren, so this is my commitment to keeping a more updated and detailed blog. And if the writing is boring, at least I will post cute pictures of Korina!

First I will talk about the company. We had the 5 year anniversary on January 6th and we celebrated in style. We had the board meeting at Noah's in South Jordan and decided to cater with Subway and Cold Stone. That may not sound like style, but it beat having me make sandwiches out of rolls and supplying homemade dessert. It was certainly nice not to do as much work. It's awesome to see how far the company has come and how many changes it has gone through in only 5 years. We are still wanting to get bigger and better, but there is a tiny little light ahead as far as reaching a point where we feel stable and not worried that all the hard work would be in vain. It's definitely exciting and scary trying to grow, but if it all comes together, boy would that be amazing.

On to our little muffin. Isn't she just so cute? And she just surprises us and makes us laugh more everyday. We had her 9 month appointment a few days ago and from the way my arms feel after carrying her around all day, I thought for sure she would be over 20 pounds. She was only 18.8. One thing needs to happen: I gain some arm muscle, or she learns to crawl. I'm pretty sure the latter needs to happen. We think she is definitely capable of doing more than she shows. Is it possible we have a lazy baby? From my understanding, babies are curious and anxious to explore the world around them. They scoot and crawl and if they fall over, they work to get themselves back up. If Korina tips over, she must figure there's nothing she can do about it because she just lays there and continues to play. We put her on her tummy, but so far, we can only see the tiniest movement of her bending her knees. I'm definitely not complaining because everyone tells me when they start to move, nothing is ever the same anymore. I'm just hoping the light turns on for her soon so she doesn't get too far behind. And so we don't disappoint the doctor at her 12 month appointment. He told us she has a lot of work to do before then.

Finally, the same friend that urged me to actually write on it if I have a blog, said I should post the crafts that I finish along the way. Too bad for Colby, my newest hobby is crafting of any and every kind. I just love to make things! Whenever I tell him I'm excited about a new idea, he just says, "How much will it cost me?" Luckily for him, I mostly choose crafts that involve little materials or cost, they are just time consuming. I have crocheted for a while always making baby blankets since that's all I know, but I tapped into the tiny creative spot in my brain and made some scarves. I say tiny spot because I am not coming up with these crafts on my own. I admit that I look at other blogs and steal the ideas right off of them. Good thing for me there are a whole bunch of very creative thinkers out there and I appreciate them being willing to share their ideas. These crafts may not be anything special, but I might as well post some pictures since I have such a good time making them. So thanks Jackie for urging me to finally write on this blog and it's good to know I have a craft addict like me in the neighborhood.

Almost 6 Months

So I guess I should write an update since so much has happened in the past couple months. Obviously Korina has been growing like a weed, more so around the middle than up and down. She is short and chunky and perfect. She can roll around for the most part and we are working on her sitting up without toppling over. We would also like to practice standing with her, but she won't have any of that. You'd think with how big her legs are she would have plenty of support, but she refuses to keep them straight and stand up. Meanwhile, she has progressed nicely to solid foods and enjoys opening her mouth as wide as she can for the spoon to go in. She wasn't too fond of rice cereal, but definitely enjoys the squash and green beans that we have started out with. We are happy that she likes her vegetables.

As you can see, she looked so adorable in her very first Halloween costume. She was a sweet little lamb and everyone thought she looked so cute. We probably should have dressed her up as a monster though since lately she loves to growl at us. She loves to get our attention by talking and sometimes yelling. I try to tell her she needs to use her inside voice, but I can't help but smile when I look at her. She knows how cute she is and knows how to use it against us. We were afraid that was going to happen.

As far as the rest of our lives are concerned, things have stayed busy and the time has really flown by. Almost 5 years after starting the company, Colby finally got the automated bagging machine that he has wanted. Why couldn't it have come in when I worked there? That would have made my day. It is a very nice machine, but it came right in the middle of the busy season so he didn't have much time to read the manual and figure out how to work the controls. It has given him a headache some days, but overall it is a lot better than the old method of bagging by hand. It is pretty cool to see it in action and we both can't believe that it's actually here after all this time.

Autumn is no doubt my favorite time of year, but that means the snow is just around the corner and I must say goodbye to warm weather. It also means that this year is almost over and I really cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. Colby and I look forward to the holidays and hope everyone enjoys the season.

Our Growing Baby

Wow! What can I say? Time goes more quickly and things seem to change a lot more often with a baby in the house. Wasn't it just yesterday that we brought her home and had no idea what to do with her? Now she is full of smiles and we can't seem to have enough fun with her. We just had her two month appointment and she is headed in the right direction. She came in just under 11 pounds and 22 inches. It's hard to believe that some babies are born that big! Lucky for me, Korina was a bit smaller. She was all smiles for the doctor until the nurse came in and gave her some immunizations. Our poor baby had no idea what was coming, but she managed to forget the whole incident in about 10 minutes. It was heartbreaking to listen to her cry, but at the same time she is so cute when her bottom lip quivers.

Over the past two months, our lives have revolved around Korina and for good reason. As parents, we enjoy spending hours just looking at her and making her smile. Her smiles are the best reward after sleepless nights, spit-up on our shirts and cleaning up when the diapers didn't keep everything in like they are supposed to. Everyday we learn a little bit more about her personality and we fall in love with her funny habits. Lucky for us, she seems to have inherited Colby's mild temperament when it comes to most things. One exception is feeding time. When she is hungry, it's already too late to make a bottle. She is past being reasonable and the bottle needed to be in her mouth 5 minutes ago. Then you try and burp her and she will fight with everything she has. I think that's how she's gained most of her muscle! Finally, the bottle will be empty, her belly will be full and she is all smiles again. I guess that will be the cycle she continues for the next couple of months. We are happy to see that she is gaining steadily and the rolls on her arms and legs are proof.

We ended up blessing her on July 19th since we had some family in from out of town and it turned out very nice. We made sure she had been fed and she managed to fall asleep during the blessing with the pacifier in. Colby did such a great job and gave her a wonderful blessing. She looked so adorable when Colby held her up after he had finished. It's hard to see our little baby grow up so quickly, but at the same time, it is so exciting to see what she is learning to do all by herself. She is holding her head up and grasping on to the rattle. I will really miss being able to cuddle her in my arms and have her fall asleep on my shoulder. Everyday is something new and enjoyable with her in the house and we have been so lucky to have been blessed with such a sweet angel in our family. We look forward to the future and the memories we will make.

Our Perfect Angel

The big day finally came and passed and I can't believe that our little girl is already 2 weeks old. I should have posted sooner, but as many of you are aware, a new baby takes up most of the day. I will write about the experience for our own records and to share the story with everyone else.

We went to the doctor on Wednesday the 13th for my 39 week check-up and we had expected to have the baby by this point from what the doctor had said the week before. This week, he told us that if I don't go into labor within 48 hours, he would be very surprised. This news was very exciting, but we weren't holding our breath. Sure enough, an hour and a half after the appointment, the contractions started. This was around 6:00 that evening and they were definitely stronger than the contractions I had felt the week before. I started to time a couple, but they were still about 7-8 minutes apart. This continued on all night and we distracted ourselves by watching American Idol. Colby was wondering if we shouldn't go to the hospital, but I did not want to drive all the way over there just to have them send us back home. So we waited and the contractions continued. When they had started to get closer together, around 11:00, and making me cry because of the pain, I told Colby it was time to go. I still was afraid they might send us back, but I couldn't wait at home anymore.

We arrived at the hospital around midnight, which was pretty nice since it was kind of quiet and peaceful without many people around. They set us up in a room to monitor me. The nurse checked me at first and I was at about 3 cm, not much change from the doctor's that afternoon. They kept us for an hour to see what progress I would make and I prayed that it would be enough that they would admit me. I progressed to about a 4 and was effaced to about 90% so they kept us. Thank goodness! I immediately asked for an epidural and as soon as the blood work was complete I was able to receive the best medication of my life. I have serious respect for those women who can go natural, but it was certainly not in the cards for me. I was experiencing complete back labor and it was by far the worst pain I've been through. Hopefully Colby's hand is okay after all of the squeezing he endured. I'm sure he appreciated the epidural as well since I was in a much better mood after it took effect. This was around 2:30, so after 8 hours of back pain, I was good to continue. The pain relief was great, but I wasn't really progressing very fast. The doctor stopped in around 7:30 and stretched me to a 5 and told them to start some pitocin. I was quite alright with that since we were eager to see our little girl. They started a low dose and in about an hour and a half, I went from a 5 to a 9. This was great news. The nurses were very busy and my nurse said she would be back to check me in 15 minutes. Well, about 25 minutes went by and I sent Colby to get her because even with the epidural I knew it was time to push. She came and checked me and said I was at a 10 and ready to go. I was grateful that the epidural worked enough to completely eliminate the pain, but I could still feel the pressure when a contraction came so I knew when to push. They were a little worried that her head might be too big because I have a small pelvis, but the nurse said she had seen worse situations work out okay. I really didn't want to have a C-section. I only had to push for 45 minutes and Korina was born at 10:36 am. She was 18 inches long and weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was just beautiful. She had lots of dark hair (did anyone expect any different?) and full red lips. I couldn't believe that she fit inside of me, but it was nice to have her here and be able to see what she looked like. We still love to just stare at her and all of the little faces that she makes. She has been such a great baby and we are so lucky to have her in our home. I will try to post lots of pictures since I know she will change right before our eyes. We are excited to see how she grows in the future, but I'm sure it will happen too fast.

Sooner than we think!

You are probably wondering why I am writing so soon, it's not like me to post something when not even a month has gone by since the last one. I decided to do so because it may just be the last one until the baby comes. We went to the doctor this week, I was only 36 weeks, but the doctor was quite surprised, as were we, that I am 1.5 cm and 75% effaced. Now we know that doesn't necessarily mean I will go into labor early, but it is definitely a good sign that my body is doing what it is supposed to. We always had a feeling that she would come early, but then we heard that if it is your first baby, you are more likely to go later than early. That wasn't the best news for us, especially me since I grow more uncomfortable every day. But our hopes were lifted with the news the doctor gave us. We are back to thinking she will arrive early and Colby is predicting she will be here by Mother's Day, which means he can get me a gift! The real test will be when I go back on Wednesday to see if I have progressed even more. Even though we were very excited, it really brought us to reality that this baby is definitely coming and we are going to turn into responsible parents any day now. If that's not a wake-up call, I'm not sure what else is. At least we will not be alone. There are currently about 12 pregnant women in our ward. This is not an unusual number either. We live in a very young neighborhood and that means everyone is growing their family. We have a lot of great friends and that gives us some comfort when it comes to the new experiences of parenthood.
The rest of our life is pretty much the same as a couple weeks ago. We are hoping to get the automated machine for the company in the near future. Colby has only dreamt of it the entire time he has had the company. It would clearly make things much easier and more efficient. Not to mention we wouldn't dread the holiday season like we have in the past. With that machine, we could have actually gone on our honeymoon the day after our wedding instead of returning to work. Somehow it wasn't quite as romantic as a Hawaiin cruise would have been! I have to give Colby a hard time that he found a very special woman to agree to go back to work the day after and start working 20 hour days. He did make up for it and took me to Disneyworld when things settled down. Isn't it funny how those memories seem like they were just yesterday and here we are expecting a daughter any day now. Hopefully we all learn to take it one day at a time and really cherish the time we have because I worry that I will soon be looking back and our little girl will be turning 1 year old. I guess I should try not to rush these very uncomfortable days and enjoy them as our lives will soon change forever.

We got a dog!!!

Well, for one night anyway. We went for a walk one Sunday night and this cute little guy started following us. We had never seen him around the neighborhood and some people that we talked to that night said they didn't know whose he was either. It was starting to get dark and we didn't want to let him just wander in the streets so we brought him back to our house for some food and water. We tried calling animal control or some vet offices, but of course on a Sunday night, everybody was closed. We took him through the house and put him out on our balcony where he spent the night. He was one of the most well behaved dogs I have ever seen. Especially for us being strangers. The poor thing must have been on his own for a couple of days because he was very hungry and very dirty. We felt bad letting animal control take him, but due to Colby's allergies and we have no yard, we felt that it was the best option. We hope his family finds him or he is placed in a loving home.

As for other news happening in the Divecha home, we are counting down the days until our baby girl arrives. Today marks 37 more days, and that is if she comes when she is supposed to. If she ends up coming early, I'm not sure we will be ready mentally. But I'm not sure we would even be ready if she comes on her due date. Plenty of people have told us that there is no definite way to be completely ready for the arrival of a baby. I am already experiencing these emotions. The situation seems to become more real with each little outfit or pack of diapers that we receive. These won't just be cute items that we look at when we walk in the nursery, we will be putting them to use in a matter of days. She makes sure to remind us that she is on her way. She is definitely getting her exercise in with all of the rolling and tumbling she does throughout the day. How can they be so active in these last weeks, but then when they come out all they do is sleep? Even with that said, we are more than excited to finally hold her and look into her little face.

Keeping busy with the company has made these last few weeks go by faster than they already are. Colby is continuing to pick up new clients and distributors and it is very exciting to watch the company grow. We hit the 4 year mark at the beginning of January and it is nice to see that all of our hard work is paying off with steady orders and a continual income. When the company was first started, there were some major peaks and valleys, but it is reassuring to see it stay pretty level month to month. Colby works hard every day to keep the company going strong and I hope he knows how appreciative I am because it will allow me to stay home with our baby. We hope everyone had a happy Easter weekend and we might even have a new addition by Mother's Day!