1 + 1 = 3

She's here!  I know all of you know that since I've been posting about it on facebook, but I need to put it in the blog for all of my stalkers (you know you're one of them!!).  Warning: this is the story of Andi's birth.  If you are grossed out by birth, or anything to do with it, skip down to the part with pictures.  That's when I'll be talking about postpartum and how awesome it is to have a crying infant!!  haha just kidding...But not really.  So.  Let's get down to the nitty gritty...

My due date for Andi was Sunday the 25th, I was scheduled to be induced on Monday the 26th in case she didn't come early.  My mom came out to stay with us the Monday before Thanksgiving, I was so glad to have here there to get the house ready and keep me company before the baby came.

My OB always told me that if I thought I was in labor, I wasn't.  He said I'd KNOW when I was in labor.  So when I started having contractions around 3:00 am on Saturday the 24th, I found out that he was right!  They were about half an hour apart, and the pain wasn't anything I couldn't handle.  I mean, it was uncomfortable, but I was able to fall back asleep in between them so I figured I had some time.  By the time 6:00 rolled around, I couldn't sleep anymore.  So I told Mark it was D-Day and hopped in the shower.  Now, this being my first pregnancy, I had no idea how fast things were going, or how fast they were supposed to be going, so after I got ready for the day I headed upstairs to the office and started doing some work.  I know, I know, I'm a freak.  But I really had some stuff that I wanted to get done before the baby came!  When contractions would come (which at this point was about every 5 minutes lasting 30 seconds or so) I would grip the handles of the computer chair, breathe really deeply, then keep on trucking when it was over.  When 9:00 came,  the pain was about a 5 out of 10, so I figured we should head to the hospital.  When I stood up to go downstairs, my water broke!  Then I REALLY knew it was time to go...

We checked into the hospital at about 10:00 am.  The nurse told me I was at a 3.  Not bad, considering I was a 1 only 3 days before that.  Being in the hospital wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be.  Well, maybe exciting is the wrong word.  Of course it was exciting because we were about to meet our little girl!  Maybe it's just that it was so calm.  In movies you always see nurses bustling about and people pacing the hallways and lots of screaming is going on.  We didn't have any of that.  My contractions were really hurting me, but I would just squeeze Mark's hand like I wanted to rip it off, let out a little whimper, and then go back to watching "Undercover Boss" on the TV.  I love that show, by the way.  But I digress...

My contractions were starting to really bother me.  I mean on a scale of 1 to 10 they were like an 8.  I hated my life.  I didn't know when it was socially acceptable to ask for my epidural.  I didn't want to get it right away and look like a wimp.  (Word to the wise girls who haven't had babies yet: get your epidural AS SOON AS YOU CAN.  You are NOT a wimp.  It is worth it.)  So around 2:00 pm I asked the nurse to check me again and see how far along I was.  To her surprise, I was already at a freaking EIGHT.  Everyone was shocked that I was progressing so fast.  Well, you can imagine how fast I called for that epidural!!  Once it kicked in, I was on cloud nine!  I mean, I could have a baby every day if I had an epidural!  It was the best!  I loved it so much I'm going to keep putting exclamaition points after my sentences!!!  Ok, I'm done.

Around 3:30 they called the Dr and told him I was ready to push.  He got there about 3:50 and we started pushing.  After the 3rd contraction of pushing, Andi was almost out but her heart rate dropped quite a bit, and pretty quickly.  The Dr gave me an episiotomy and on the 4th push she popped right out!

Don't judge me by my looks, I was crying out of joy for the birth of my child.

 Love this sweet baby girl.  Seeing her for the first time was so crazy.  I knew right away that she was meant to come to our family and nobody else's.  I knew that she chose to be our daughter, and that we would be a family forever.  That she would trust me to care for her, teach her, comfort her, laugh with her, and be her best friend--even if she hated me for doing so!  She gets more precious every day, and I love her more every day.

Now, that being said, there are times I wish I never had a kid and that life was how it used to be, with just me and Mark.  Like right now, as she screams her guts out in the next room because she's been trying to fall asleep for the past hour and my arms just can't rock her anymore. Why don't people tell you these things?  Why don't they tell you how much of an emotional roller coaster it is to bring a child into the world and have to take care of it 24/7?  That you'll cry out of frustration when they're upset and you can't do anything about it?  That breastfeeding is the most painful and emotionally draining thing you'll ever do?  That your body is forever messed up?  That for the first month of bringing your baby home you feel ugly, exhausted, and absolutely useless?  Am I the only one that felt that way?!  If so, just disregard this whole paragraph and enjoy the pictures of my sweet baby girl.  :)  They're not in any certain order, so just know that she's between 1 and 7 weeks old at any given moment.  I fear that if I take the time to put captions and organize them, she'll scream herself to death in the next room.

You Know You Want to Read It

I'm almost too embarrassed to type this...  It's freaking November and I told you all that I would post once a month this year!  But the show must go on, so be prepared for the cliff-note version of the past 8 months in the Mietus household.

I think part of the reason I didn't want to post anything was because March came around and there was nothing fun to post about.  Then April came, and we found out this little peanut was joining the family.

But we didn't want to tell people too soon, so I figured I'd wait til May or June to spread the news.  Then it was summer time and we were off on all of our fun vacations, so of course I didn't have time to post on a stupid blog!!

June brought us to fabulous Las Vagas for a work convention.  We stayed up late, got up early, ate way too much food, and had a ton of fun.  Our keynote speaker was Rudy Giuliani, he was hilarious!

 We even had a couple of days to spend time with friends and to take a trip to the Hoover Dam!

Neither of us had ever been, so we had a lot of fun. It was absolutely amazing!  Of course I'd seen pictures of it before, but it just doesn't compare to seeing it in person.

July took me back to Las Vegas for a reunion with a few of the best college roommates ever!  Some of us hadn't seen each other in years, but it felt like we had just left college a month ago.  Love, love, love these girls!

I'm pretty sure we spent more time laughing than we did sleeping. 

After spending a few days with them, Mark came out to join me and we got to see more of our friends from Idaho when we were married.  Unfortunately, I'm lazy and didn't take any pictures of that.  Probably because all of our time was spent in the lazy river at the MGM Grand and I didn't want to get my camera wet.

After that, we went to visit my family in California.  It was a quick few days, but so good to see them after so long!  Texas really is too far from California, I wish I was able to visit more often.  One of my favorite parts of the trip to California?  Finding my childhood 3-minute ice cream maker in the garage and making ice cream with this chunky lover!!!

Seriously.  Who couldn't love that face?!  We enjoyed our ice cream, even though Landen may not like looking at the camera!  Pretty sure I'm his favorite aunt... :)

I even managed to get a good shot of the two of us before I had to leave.

I cried the whole way to the airport when Mark and I left!  I love my family, and wish we all could see each other more often.

August and September were pretty uneventful.  Oh, except for the fact that I've got this massive growth on my stomach....

My AWESOME sister in law Sarah threw me a baby shower, and Mark and I made out with tons of loot!  All three of Mark's sisters and his parents were able to come down for the shower, and my mom even flew out to join in the festivities!  This baby girl is going to be SO loved when she comes into the world.  Mark and I are truly blessed.

My pregnancy has been remarkably easy and complication free.  I'm not saying that to rub it in the faces of those who have had hard pregnancies, I'm just commenting on how perfect the timing was for her to come into our lives.  Ever since we got married, I've been hesitant to have kids.  Worried of gaining 1,000 pounds, throwing up all the time, being SUPER emo, and scared that I wouldn't be a good mom.  I know the Lord has blessed and prepared me to bring this child into the world, and He will guide me and Mark in all of our parenting decisions.  Of course I still get scared for what's ahead, but I know it's going to be awesome!

So there you have it.  Next month's post will be overloaded with pictures of the bundle of joy that's due to be here three weeks from tomorrow (or earlier if she chooses!).  Now if only I could decide on a name for her....

February Festivities

As I sit and type this, Mark is slaving away over the dishes I've created over the past few days. He said that his priesthood lesson in church was on service, and he felt like a horrible husband because he says he never does housework. Now, I've watched Mark since before we were married. He does plenty of housework. When he lived with his roommates in college, he would constantly be doing other people's dishes, tidying up the living room, and dusting furniture. And now that we're married, sometimes he even does a better job at cleaning than I do. Especially when it comes to cleaning the kitchen appliances. I'm totally fine with wiping off the large crumbs from the stove and calling it a night, but not Mark. He'll stand there with our special cleaner for glass-top stoves and scrub that thing til sweat drips from his forehead. And it looks amazing. So when he told me he wanted to do the dishes, I almost said no. Almost. But I'm not going to be the one to turn down a night of free dishes if he wants to do them. Rock on Mark! You do those dishes! I will take free labor wherever I can get it. And I'm sure those dishes aren't very fun. I've got about 7 or 8 crusty icing tips in the sink since I made three cakes for a birthday party this weekend (pictures are included!) and I haven't cleaned any of it up yet.

I think that's one thing I didn't inherit from my mother: doing dishes right away. Sometimes I wonder how the heck my mom kept our kitchen sparkling at any given moment in time. I swear that woman could hear a fork drop into that sink from miles away, and would have it rinsed and in the dishwasher before you could begin to digest the food you had just eaten off of it. So whenever you get a chance to read this mom, thanks. Thanks for putting up with 4 dirty kids that never put their dishes in the dishwasher. Thanks for doing our laundry, cleaning our bathroom, taking out the trash, hauling us to school and seminary, taking care of our pets, and always putting yourself before us. Thanks for slaving away to make sure we never had to lift a finger, you were too kind to us! You should have put us to work more often, I'm sure the complaining would have stopped after a few years. :)

As for new additions to the house, Mark and I got our new kitchen table! Well, new to us. We got it on Craigslist for $150 and it fits perfectly!


Now, I know what you're thinking.. Those stools are WAY to fancy for that table. I know. We've actually purchased chairs that go a lot better with the table. And as I look into the kitchen at this very moment, they look awesome. Only problem is, I'm too lazy to take a picture and upload it to the computer, so you won't get to see them this post. Plus, they need to be painted black before the full effect will really get you excited. So maybe you won't see them for quite some time... Anywho, here's an up-close of the table. Like I said, I love it!!



And, now on to the birthday cakes!! We had a party over at Sarah and James' house yesterday for 4 people. For those of you who don't know (and I doubt there are many that read this anyway.. haha) Sarah is Mark's sister. I just thought I should explain that so people who don't know our family aren't super confused when I keep throwing their names out there. We hang out with them quite a bit, so they're going to be a permanent part of the blog! She and her husband live 10 minutes down the street from us, which is amazing, and they have three beautiful children that Mark and I get to love on almost every day. I love having family close to us!



So... this is me. In my Thor mask. I rocked it. And I was pretty much a super-hero for the awesome cakes that I made.



And the first cake... Happy Birthday to James' mom, Rose!! She has been a great blessing in our lives, especially when it comes to Sunday dinners. And babysitting when we want to go out with Sarah and James... :) All kidding aside, Rose is an amazing woman. She's always willing to help out, teach, talk, and just laugh at our general stupidity, which is always welcome in any Mietus household.



Next is a happy 5th birthday to Jared!! He's the same age as our nephew Bode, and his parents are good friends of Sarah and James, therefore good friends of ours! Jared was so excited about his Iron Man cake, it was adorable. He is seriously one of the sweetest kids you'll meet.



And finally, a happy 3rd birthday to Princess Lexi. Love that girl, even though she's super quiet around us because for some reason she's afraid of "uncle Mark." Haha!

All in all, I feel that my cake skills were a bit rusty since it's been about 5 years since I took my cake decorating class, but it was so fun to make them, and they turned out super cute! I can't wait to make cakes for all my kids' birthdays. Of course, I'll probably get tired of it after like 3 birthdays, but for now I'll continue to say I'm excited.

And there you have it folks. I'm now 2 for 2 on posting once a month. If you're lucky, I'll up the ante to 2 a month. But don't cross your fingers....

New Year, New Promises

Alrighty.... So my attempt at blogging last year was a bit of a joke. But never fear, I've made a resolution to submit one blog post once a month for the entire year. Seeing as it's still January, I've been 100% successful so far! There's a lot you all missed out on last year, so please forgive me for going all the way back to October to get caught up. I normally wouldn't, but our Halloween costumes were so stinkin' awesome that I have to put up a couple pictures! Props to my sister in law Sarah for the awesome make up!

If you can't tell, we're frozen Titanic victims. I know. It's ok to be jealous.

We had fun at our ward Halloween carnival scaring all of the kids.

Although we did feel a bit awkward when they had the "costume parade" to be judged and Mark and I were the only people above the age of 13... Never fear, we still won the prize for scariest costume, and accepted our candy bar prize with honor.

Let's fast forward to December (I have nothing to report for November, since that was the month we bought our house and have yet to have a room complete enough for me to publish a picture). Actually, scratch that comment. We did buy brand spanking new stainless steel appliances! They are my pride and joy. And once our kitchen cabinets are painted and the counter tops are replaced, I think it might just be my favorite room of the entire house...

December brought Christmas music and delicious goodies... but no Christmas tree! We just had too many other things to do, too many boxes to unpack, and not enough room for it anyway. We figured since we don't have kids we didn't need to get the house all fancy for nobody! Sure, I was little sad that it didn't feel like Christmas, but I did make an amazing gingerbread house! And I'm not talking one of those crappy ones that come in a box (no offense to those of you who use them... haha!). I mean, I made and baked the gingerbread myself, and used super advanced techniques to hold that sucker together while it was drying!

I even made two, so that I could have good company and conversation while they were being decorated.

And here's the final product! I was pretty excited about it.

Although, I'll have to find a bigger base for next year, because I need to have room to make a yard!


And last but not least, we sailed to warm weather and blue waters with family and friends for our cruise to the Bahamas. It was a BLAST. I've been wanting to post about it for a while, but I was waiting to get pictures from other couples that went. That never happened. So we're going to make do with the ones that I had off of our camera. They'll do.

I've got two words to describe the best shore excursion I've ever done: Off-road Segways. Seriously, it was amazing.

Plus you look really cool when you're doing it.... ha!

Halfway into our segway tour, we stopped and frolicked in the beach. I know someone has better pictures of the water, but this will do. It was seriously so beautiful! We found some old pieces of coral and used them as our reindeer antlers. It was so hard to believe it was December, the weather was amazing.

Here we are in our Paul Blart poses.

And this picture sums up the hilarity of the entire cruise.

We even got fancy one night.

After the cruise, we had almost an entire day to play around Orlando. We decided to go to the Ripley's museum, which was a huge success!

I mean, come on. We're pretty much just as cool as this guy.

I figured I should put this in, because I'm a country girl now. And huge tractor tires are just plain sexy.

Everyone should own one of these. I felt like a little kid again!

And finally, Mark got up close and personal with the lizard man.

All in all, it was a great end to a great year. I'm looking forward to another year full of growing and learning, and hope to keep up with my goal of posting once a month, so you all can grow with us!

In The Beginning...

You know those super cute girls that post stuff on their blogs all the time and have in depth paragraphs about how amazing their lives are? The girls that do crafts and take artsy pictures and seem like they have hours to post things on their blogs? I'm not one of them. Not because I don't have the time--because I'm pretty sure that I'd have plenty of time to blog all day long if I cut back on Project Runway reruns and didn't do any of my laundry. I just don't know how to work this stupid thing! So please be patient as I learn how to work this blog. I'm still even wondering if anyone will actually read it, but I guess as long as it serves it's purpose of letting me vent and post pictures every now and then, it will have all been worth it. So welcome to the first post of my first blog! Glad to have you. :)

As many of you know from my recent Facebook post, Mark and I bought our first house last week! We are so excited to make it our own. We'll hone our design skills, and hopefully hone our relationship skills along the way as well. We went up after church this morning and started the long process of cleaning and painting before we move in any of our stuff. A BIG thank you to Sarah and Bode for all of their help in getting us started. It'll be a work in progress for a while, since Mark and I have a lot of ambitious projects to improve our humble abode. Here are a few pictures to get you intrigued as to what we'll be doing with it in the next coming year...

Here's the view from the front door. Bode did a great job cleaning in between the rails on the stairs!

This is taken from the bottom of the stairs, looking into the main living room. The door to the right goes to the master bedroom.



The view of the main living room from the kitchen. I actually really like the fireplace! Even though you don't really need one in Texas...

Here's the kitchen from the view of where our table will go. There are windows to the left of me, and the pantry and hallway to the laundry room is to the right.


A view from the living room into the kitchen.

Here's our master bath. Don't worry, the hideous curtains and shower door have already been removed... We have two huge closets and two sinks. I'm pretty sure this bathroom is the same size as my bedroom of our current apartment. I'm so excited to move in!

This is taken from the landing half way up the stairs.

Here's our media room at the top of the stairs.

This is one of the two bedrooms upstairs. Despite the picture, they are actually pretty large.

The upstairs bathroom.

Here's our backyard! The area that's fenced isn't huge, but it opens to these huge soccer fields, and we have a gate that gives us access to them whenever we want. There are walking trails all around the area too. Who knows, maybe I'll actually start working out...