Catch-up: Part FINAL :)

Okay, so I am officially over a year behind on this blog. I was thinking about just giving up on the past and moving forward from this moment. However, this is kind of a journal for me and honestly a lot of what I write on here is just for my own memories. So… if you don’t care what we did a year ago, just scroll to the bottom which talks about what we’re doing now, or wait for my next post (which hopefully will show up soon!). If you are at all interested (and don't mind reading an extremely long post), read on.

March 2011

One thing Cuyler and I have enjoyed about living in Arizona, is that Phoenix is full of sports. Spring time is extra fun for baseball fans, as Phoenix is the home of Spring Training each year. Aside from the general fun of Spring Training, Cuyler and I were happy to have both of our parents come to visit and attend games with us. My parents came out and we went to a LA Dodgers game, and then Cuyler’s parents came and we attended a San Francisco Giants game. Can we say family rivalry?

So apparently since I'm a Meade now, I'm automatically a Giants fan 

(I'm okay with this)

Cuyler and his Pops

Also in March we were overjoyed to find ourselves pregnant again. I'm sure you are all so surprised ;) Read on and you’ll hear more about that.

I also went to my first hockey game ever in March. The San Jose Sharks played (and beat) the Phoenix Coyotes.

Go Sharks!

April 2011
April was full of my second round of morning sickness and… my last month of grad school!!! It was very busy and exhausting but so worth all of it. I don't think anything else really happened, as there wasn't really time or energy for anything else to happen.

May 2011
In May it became official… I graduated and received my Master of Social Work degree. Feel free to refer to me as Master Sarah from here on out ;) My parents and grandparents came to Arizona to celebrate with us, and my sister and her hubby also attended the festivities. It was a happy day and I appreciate everyone’s support in helping me achieve that big goal (especially my awesome husband).

 Some of my grad school friends, Jenn and Ami. We did it!

Our baby came to the ceremony too! ;)

 Hooray!

 

The awesome people who came to my graduation ceremony 

We also got to attend some baseball games in May and throughout the summer. We cheered for the Diamondbacks unless the Giants were in town ;)

Go Giants!

June 2011

In June we got to take a little road trip to Utah to attend the wedding of Cuyler’s friend Spencer to the beautiful Maue.  Cuyler was a groomsman, but in my opinion he was the best man ;) We took advantage of being in Utah and visited friends and family along the way. We also celebrated Cuyler’s 23^rd birthday while on the trip. It was so fun to be able to spend time with so many people that we love.

The wedding party

Also in June, my baby bump started to show a little bit. It was kind of exciting and made it all feel a little more real.

This was somewhere around 15 weeks

Also in June Cuyler began the journey to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a sports radio broadcaster. He began a program where he studied and recorded his own shows, and then met weekly with a local broadcaster who critiqued his shows and taught him some cool stuff about the broadcasting business.

July 2011

I hit the half way point of my pregnancy in July, and was feeling huge already... I had no idea what huge was.

This was somewhere around 20 weeks
I know, I looked tiny ;) but I'd never had a belly before so I felt huge

Cuyler's mission president and wife came home from their mission at the beginning of July, and they happen to live in Arizona. We got to attend their homecoming and spend a little time in their home with some others from their mission. It was fun seeing Cuyler with all of them, and meeting President and Sister Hansen.

Texas Houston Missionaries

As a graduation gift to myself (and thanks to all of the awesome people who gave me money for graduation), Cuyler and I took a trip back east to visit my brother Davey and his family in New Jersey, and do some touring as well. We were able to visit Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and New York City. We were even able to take a little detour and visit Cuyler’s grandparents in New York. I could go on and on about this trip, but since I’m trying to be brief here I will save that for another blog post (haha let's see if that ever happens).

 The Liberty Bell

 Lovin' each other in Love Park

 Our adorable nephew Nathan... Cuyler trying to convert him to be a Giants fan ;)

 Jersey Shore ;)

 Washington D.C. Temple

 The White House

There were some big security measures going on for some reason, so we couldn't get any closer than this

(that's my brother Davey, his wife Tracy, and son Nathan)

 Grandma and Grandpa Meade :)

 Cuyler flashing his dough at the New York Stock Exchange

 Times Square

 On top of the Empire State Building

Cuyler and Me with cute little Nathan :)

About a week after our trip I turned 26! Cuyler took me to dinner the night before, made me dinner the night of, bought me some nice things and made my day wonderful.

August 2011

In August I finished up my internship with LDS Family Services. This was bittersweet because I loved working there, and loved my supervisor and co-workers, but it was exciting to be moving on to new things. The day after I finished up at LDS Family Services, I started my first master’s level job with the Crisis Nursery. On the same day I started this new (full-time) job, I also started the third trimester of my pregnancy. This made for an exhausting three months, but being so busy helped time pass very quickly which was nice.

Cuyler was still just plugging away at his job at Star Metal Fluids and working hard on his broadcasting program. One thing that was really nice is my new job was just a few minutes away from Cuyler's, so we were able to commute to and from work together, and got a couple extra hours of time together every day (although most of the time Cuyler was asleep in the passenger seat next to me. Haha. At least I got to take the carpool lane!)

September 2011

Cuyler and I celebrated our first anniversary in September by buying a new ottoman for our living room! Romantic, huh? Also, we had a special night out at a super fancy restaurant thanks to a gift from Cuyler’s mission president.

At Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

                On the 17^th my best friend Megan got married to the handsome Chris Allen. Cuyler and I traveled up to Idaho to be at the wedding and I was one of Megan’s bridesmaids. It was a wonderful day and made me so happy to see Megan so happy. 

The beautiful bride and her bridesmaids

(best picture because you can't see my swollen ankles)

 At the end of the month we had a baby shower extravaganza! My sister Laura was also pregnant and due 3 weeks before me, so we each threw a baby shower for the other and all in the same day. I think we were both ready to collapse by the end of it all, but it was a fun day.

Lyla and Kaylee's first cousin picture
(I'm somewhere around 32 weeks here)

October 2011

In the beginning of October, my mom had a baby shower for me in my hometown. It was so fun to see so many people from back home and celebrate my pregnancy with all of them. Also, my awesome sister did  little maternity photo shoot for us. It's probably no surprise that this is Cuyler's favorite photo:

Giants family :)

Speaking of pregnancy, I started having Braxton Hicks contractions at the beginning of October, even though I was not due until November 16^th. By mid-October I was already dilated, and the doctor expected me to go into labor any day. That only increased the anticipation for our baby to arrive.

Halloween was pretty awesome. We went to our friends house for a party, and we definitely had the best costumes of the night (probably the best costume of my life). I guess you could say we went as a basketball game. Check it out!

The player

The hoop/stand

The ball :)

 We made my costume together (Cuyler actually did most of it) and it was a big hit!

November 2011

The month of November was filled with anticipation of the arrival of our newest addition. Contractions were as constant as ever. Cuyler and I were both working in downtown Phoenix (at least half an hour from the hospital with no traffic) and getting quite anxious as my contractions continued to get closer and closer together. I would often have contractions less than five minutes apart for hours on end (a sign that labor has begun and it’s time to go to the hospital), but apparently Lyla was just teasing us ;) We had two "false alarm" trips to the hospital before I quit working, and we finally decided to induce labor (I had been contracting for a month and a half!).

I think this was the night before my due date

Now I understood what it really means to be HUGE!

On the night of November 16^th (my due date) we checked into the hospital to finally have this baby. They induced my labor the next morning and after 11 hours of difficult labor, 3 of those hours pushing, the doctor determined that I needed a C-section.

In labor... before it got bad ;)

Cuyler all set for the C-section

Cuyler and I were not at all prepared for this, as it had never really crossed our minds that I would need a c-section. Thank goodness the medical staff were understanding and patient with us. I was able to be awake for the surgery and could actually feel the pressure of all of it (but no pain, thank goodness) which was crazy and kind of cool. Cuyler was able to watch the whole thing. At 9:43 pm our sweet Lyla Rose Meade was born. The first words out of the medical staffs mouth’s included things like: “wow she is huge!” and “no wonder she couldn’t come out on her own”. Lyla weighed 9 lbs 1 oz and measured 21 inches. Her 13.5 inch head was a little morphed from those 3 hours of pushing… she was kind of stuck :/ but don’t worry, it has all rounded out now.

Our BIG girl :)

 

Lyla Rose Meade

 Cuyler was able to cut the cord and watch her get all cleaned up, and then he brought her over so I could meet her for the first time. It was one of the most amazing and happiest moments of my life. I experienced a little piece of heaven in that operating room at that moment, and have been experiencing a little more of heaven each day since.

First family picture

We spent the next three days in the hospital, and both Lyla and I did really well. We got to come home on Sunday night, and the next day Cuyler’s parents came in to town. It was such a blessing to have them there to help me out, especially since Cuyler had to go back to work on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Playing around with Daddy already :)

Lyla and Mommy

All set to go home!

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and Cuyler’s mom made an AMAZING dinner for us. We had a great week with Cuyler’s parents and even went on our first little family outing with Lyla. We went to South Mountain for a little picnic and scenery. The rest of the time we just relaxed (which I needed!) and had a fun time together.

Lyla with Grandma

The DELICIOUS Thanksgiving feast and the awesome cooks!

Lyla's first outing to South Mountain

December 2011

If I thought last December was busy, I had no idea what busy meant. On top of the normal holiday hustle and bustle, we were trying to figure out how to be parents, Cuyler was still working full time plus getting ready to start school in a few weeks, and we were preparing to move at the end of the month. It was crazy.

At the beginning of the month we had a special visitor from Idaho. My best friend Megan came to help me with the adjustment to mommyhood. She spent lots of time with our little Lyla, allowing me to get things done and relax a bit. It was so fun having her stay with us and it helped me out a ton. Next time she just needs to bring her hubby with her and we can make it a party ;)

We celebrated Christmas in Arizona, which was such a blessing because I don’t think I could have handled traveling at that point. My parents came out and we spent Christmas at my sister’s house. Since Christmas was on a Sunday, and Cuyler was the ward choir director at church, Cuyler led the choir in a beautiful Christmas program. He did a great job (as always). It was an extra special Christmas having our little Lyla with us.

Merry Christmas from the Meade Family!

Christmas pajamas with cousin Kaylee

My parents stuck around after Christmas to help us pack up our house and get ready for the move.Thanks to them, and lots of help from family and friends on moving day, our move went smoothly and we were able to quickly settle in to our new apartment in Phoenix (closer to school for Cuyler). 

Lyla with Gramps and Grandma Lisa

January 2012

Cuyler picked back up on his college career in January. He is attending Arizona State University, in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. He is continuing to pursue his dream of becoming a sports radio broadcaster. With this, Cuyler sought out involvement with the sports department of the ASU radio station. Through that, he had the opportunity to do a weekly sports update on ASU radio. He also had multiple opportunities to call basketball and baseball games for the radio station. It was really fun to listen to him on the radio throughout the semester.

First day of school picture (tee-hee, I'm such a mom)

Because he is so awesome, Cuyler continued to work part-time while in school, so that I could stay home with Lyla and be a full time mommy. This is the biggest blessing and he is the best husband and daddy for working so hard to take care of us.

Lyla and Mommy

February 2012

On February 5th, our sweet Lyla received a blessing at church from her Daddy. Family and friends came to support her on her special day. 

 Family that came for Lyla's blessing

The men who participated in giving the blessing
(minus President Hansen who had to leave early)

In February Cuyler sought out another opportunity to build his resume in the sports broadcasting arena. He got involved with a student-run sports TV show called Sun Devils Sports Night. They did a weekly half-hour long show, where Cuyler participated each week in different roles including reporter, analyst, anchor, and even camera man. You can check out one of his shows below and more at http://vimeo.com/user10488032

And of course we celebrated Valentine's Day :) Cuyler took the night off from his normally busy Tuesday night activities, and we went out to a Greek restaurant for dinner. Lyla got all dressed up and joined us :) When we got home Cuyler made me chocolate dipped strawberries (YUMMY!!!) and we watched a movie. It was a great night!

March 2012

In March Cuyler started doing a podcast with a couple of other guys he met through Sun Devils Sports Night. They did weekly episodes throughout the rest of the semester. Now I'm not the biggest sports fan, but these podcasts are actually pretty entertaining and I would highly recommend checking them out! Listen to the one below and go here http://sdsn9thcircle.podomatic.com/ for more.

April 2012

April consisted of more school, more work, and more Lyla being adorable (of course). We took Lyla to her first Giants game as they played in Arizona for the Diamondbacks home opener. The stadium was packed and she had a little bit of a hard time with the crowd and the heat and the noise, or maybe she was just mad because the Giants lost. We also got to go to another Diamondbacks game with our friends Ami and Matt later that month. Lyla seemed to enjoy that game much more.

 This is how Lyla felt about the game

Don't worry, she cheered up after a while

Go Giants!

D-backs game
(as you can see Cuyler still supports his Giants, even when he isn't at a Giants game)

May 2012

Cuyler got a job offer to sell pest control for a company called Eco Shield this summer in Chicago. We decided this would be a good way to earn some money to help us get Cuyler through the next year of school. So, after only 4 months of living in our new place, we packed up and moved again! Hooray, moving, my favorite! Not really, but luckily we didn’t have to take everything since the apartment is furnished and we will only be here temporarily. Thank goodness for my mom who came out and entertained Lyla so I could focus on packing. Tough job for a grandma to come play with her grandbaby for a week ;)

Lyla and Grandma having fun

We headed out the first week of May, barely survived the 3 day drive, and here we are now. We live in Naperville, IL, just about half an hour outside of Chicago. It is beautiful here and we are really not missing the triple digit Arizona heat.

 Lyla drove some of the time so daddy could rest ;)

Dinner break

These precious moments made for a quicker trip

Check out this gem we found on the side of the road

This is where we live. Pretty, huh?

Cuyler is working hard, 6 days a week. He is doing well, but truly appreciates every minute he gets to relax. Lyla and I get a little lonely without Daddy around, but we enjoy going for walks and enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery. We are working on meeting new people so we can have friends too. Oh, and my awesome mission companion Bere lives only a half hour away, so we’ve had one visit from her and hopefully we’ll have quite a few more! She and Lyla really hit it off too.

Out for a walk with Mommy

  

Our little bug

 Our little Eco Shield baby 

(I'm thinking they should start putting these pictures on their fliers instead of those creepy looking bugs. This cute face would definitely draw in more customers.)

Bere and Lyla :)

One more thing, I enjoyed my first mother’s day as a mommy so much! I took the day off from all responsibility and just enjoyed relaxing and spending time playing with, and cuddling my sweet baby. Cuyler made all the meals and did the dishes, and just let me enjoy being a mommy for the day. It was the best J

I love being a mommy!

So… now that I’m FINALLY caught up, I am recommitting to stay caught up on this thing. I’m hoping to not have to just do monthly overviews, but to have the chance to do some fun posts too. So, we’ll see. Thanks for following us J

Catch-up: Part 3

November

November was a busy month with the start of the holidays. Cuyler began his new full time job, which was (and still is) a huge blessing in many ways. We were not planning on going anywhere for Thanksgiving, since Cuyler was working retail and would for sure have to work Black Friday. And we were unsure how much traveling we'd even be able to do for Christmas due to his work schedule as well. So... we were so happy to find out that with his new job he had Thanksgiving weekend off! :) Since nothing too exciting happened for the rest of the month, I'll skip straight to Thanksgiving.

We flew to San Jose on Wednesday evening to visit Cuyler's parents. Thursday morning the four of us drove down to San Luis Obispo where Cuyler's grandparents live. His aunt, uncle, and cousins were there as well and we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. We stayed down there until Saturday morning, and enjoyed shopping, good food, and lots of games with the family. It was a fun weekend and I really enjoyed getting to know Cuyler's family a little better.

Thanksgiving Day

Saturday morning we traveled back up to San Jose, and spent the rest of the weekend with Cuyler's parents. It was a happy holiday and I look forward to many more with the Meade and Sumi families :)


December

Again, December was a busy month with the holiday rush and all. At the beginning of the month I finished up another semester of grad school and was thrilled for a six week break.  During my last week of school, we also found out that we would be having a new little addition to our family in August. We were overjoyed to find out I was pregnant. Of course it was not long until the joy turned into morning sickness, which was unfortunate over the holidays, but very fortunate that I wasn't in school. Plus then I didn't gain any holiday pounds since I hardly ate anything, and much of what I did eat, I threw up.

We were excited for our first Christmas together and splurged on a tree and decorations for our house :) Here's a little glimpse of our first Christmas together...

Cuyler putting the star on the tree :)

(I've always needed a chair to star my trees... good thing I married such a tall man)

So I thought I had a picture of our tree with ALL the lights and with presents under, but I can't find one so apparently I never took one. Anyway, we traveled to visit my family for Christmas in southern California. We spent Christmas Eve with my Dad's side of the family, and Christmas day with my Mom's side of the family. It was so nice to get to see everyone. It was a rather strange Christmas however, since neither of my siblings (and their families) were home for the holidays. Plus having a boy there with me (Cuyler) made it a whole new experience. But it was so much fun and we were able to really enjoy time with my parents. We were fortunate that Cuyler was able to get a whole week of work off, so we were able to spend the New Year celebrations with my family as well. We had a rocking dance party at my grandparent's house on New Year's Eve. Oh and I had my very first New Year's midnight kiss of my life, so that was romantic ;) New Year's day was spent at my grandparent's house as well, with lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a really fun trip and I was grateful we were able to take it. Well that leads us to...

January

January was holiday recovery time with back to work for both of us, and back to school for me a few weeks later. January actually ended up being a rather difficult month for our new little family, with the biggest trial we've faced yet... something I'm not sure we even knew we were capable of handling. In early January we went to the doctor's for our first ultrasound appointment. I was about 9 weeks pregnant at this point, and we were so excited to see our baby for the first time. However, what we didn't expect is that this would be the only time we would see our precious little one. While doing the ultrasound it was discovered that there was no heartbeat and we would be miscarrying the baby. We were grateful this was discovered at the appointment so that I was able to have everything removed surgically in order to avoid the physical effects of miscarriage. However, the emotional pain of losing our baby was not anything that could be healed by doctors or medication. We are so grateful for the love and support from family, friends, and ward members (and of course the love and comfort we felt from our Heavenly Father) that embraced us during the difficult weeks and months ahead. We were blessed with phone calls, text messages, emails, cards, meals, and listening ears, and thank each of you who contributed to that out pour of blessings. I am especially grateful to my amazing husband who was so extremely supportive of me as I grieved, even though I know that he was hurting too. I feel so blessed to have such great love and support.

our sweet baby

February

Well February was basically a continuation of all of the January happenings. I was immersed in the rigors of my last semester of grad school and my internship. Cuyler was working full-time and going to school part time. Needless to say, we were busier than ever.

We had a few special treats in the month of February to spice up our busy lives. One was, of course, Valentine's Day. This was actually our first Valentine's Day together and Cuyler made it super special. First, he surprised me at school with a vase full of roses and then took me to lunch. I was not expecting it at all, so it was a perfect surprise. That evening he took me out to dinner at Macaroni Grill (one of my favorite places), and gave me a sweet card with an "I owe you" to take me shopping for a new dress (and when we finally went shopping he picked out a really cute one by the way). I'm sure I did nice things for him too, but I can't remember. Plus his sweet things totally outweighed mine, so mine aren't even that important. Anyway, it was a wonderful Valentine's day... my best yet actually ;)

Also, in February we had a few special visitors. Cuyler's grandparents took a west coast vacation from their home in New York and were so kind to visit us as part of that trip. They spent a couple days here in Arizona, and although our schedules were pretty packed with work and school, we were able to have a couple of nice dinners with them. It was so wonderful to see them and visit with them. We love you Grandma and Grandpa Meade!

Catch-up: Part 2

I just want to open here by sharing that after writing that last post, I discovered a draft of a post that I started back in Novemeber but never finished! So I just need to clear my name... that I didn't totally ignore the fact that I had a blog for the past 8 months... I just never finished what I started. Maybe that gains me a little credit for something???

Here's what I wrote (the perfect beginning to my October catch-up)...

October

Cuyler and I have been enjoying life and keeping super busy. Between my internship and school, and his online class and new full-time job, and our fun new callings of course, we're just happy when date night comes each week. So on that note, here highlights of a few exciting things that have happened in our life.

First off, in early October there was a huge storm in the Phoenix area. I was at work and Cuyler was at home when it hit. Just as I was leaving work the wind started blowing really hard and as I got in my car it started hailing. It was the most intense hail storm I've ever experienced. I was just sitting there in my car waiting to go home, while golf size hail balls slammed against my car. I was seriously scared one would just break through my windshield and hit me (fortunately that didn't happen, but I did end up with some major dents in my car). Anyway, just as the storm calmed down and I was about to head home, Cuyler called to tell me about the effects of the storm at our apartment. See for yourself...

It's kind of hard to tell but our apartment is in the upper left corner of the picture, the tree used to stand to the right of our apartment, but from the storm it uprooted and fell in front of our apartment, completely blocking the stairway up to our apartment. When I got home, I had to climb over the trunk of the tree and Cuyler helped me climb up and over the banister of the stairway just so I could get into our apartment.

That's me next to our front door :) What an adventure!

Well, that's all I had written so far back in Novemeber, so I'll continue from there. Another exciting thing that happened in October is we went to the Arizona State Fair. 

I have never been to a state fair in my life, and since it was so close, it only seemed appropriate that we go. We enjoyed watching the Hot Dog Pig Races, and especially enjoyed eating funnel cakes and drinking lemonade (yum!). Our favorite ride was the ferris wheel. They had like 5 different ferris wheels, and I'm pretty sure we rode them all :)

Another perk of going to the fair was they had free concerts in the evening. This particular evening we got to see Colbie Caillat in concert.

She was great live and we both really enjoyed it.

(us at the concert)

Of course with October comes Halloween. We didn't go trick-or-treating, but we did have a halloween party at church, and took full advantage of the opportunity to dress up. After many thrift stores, and much debate as to what we should be, this is what we came up with...

I was a cowgirl. I know it's not very original, but I had all the stuff so it was free ;)

And Cuyler was...

Can you tell? Who do you think?

Of course! As Cuyler put it that night when anyone would ask, "I'm Don Johnson from the hit 80's TV show Miami Vice!" A lot of people totally called it. He looked great. (He still begs me to let him wear the suit to church some sundays, but I haven't given in yet)  ;)

Other than that, I spent October in grad school and doing my internship at LDS Family Services (love it!), and Cuyler worked part time at JCPenny. At the end of October/beginning of Novemeber he got a job offer to work full time for our bishop's metal working fluids company. See Cuyler's November post for more details on that.