The Best Gift

All the best experts and baby books in the world could not have prepared me for the blissful euphoria of seeing my sweet baby boy for the first time. On March 8, 7:37AM after only 17 minutes of pushing, I heard Rhodri's tiny cry and then felt the warmth of him as he was layed on my chest. He weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces, 20 inches long. He was as average as babies can be, perfect, and not a sign of down syndrome anywhere on his tiny body, though I wouldn't have loved him any less if there was.


I feel like I have always know Rhodri, that he was always meant to be my boy. When I think that I have had him for only a month and a half, it seems surprising to me. That's all? It's because of this feeling that I know he and I knew each other before this life, and he has been waiting for me, and now he is here.

Rhodri, about 7 minutes after birth.

A few days after we took him home, don't let the date fool you. Funky Camera setting, it's fixed now.

Sleeping peacefully

He must be extremely photogenic...

Beautiful smile


I love being a mom. It is the best gift in the Universe that Heavenly father would entrust me with this sweet spirit. He is perfect, and I love him more than words can adequately describe.

The Waiting Game

Today as I sit and write this I am 38 weeks and 1 day along. This baby is full term and it's just a matter of time now before he decides he's ready to come out and meet us. I've been lucky to have lots of appointments to watch and make sure he's healthy because of the positive quad screening from earlier in the pregnancy, and as of Saturday the nurse said I am 2cm dilated and about 80% effaced. The doctor doesn't think I'll make it to my March 11th due date, so my mom took that as the answer to book her flight earlier rather than later. She'll be here on Wednesday and I'm so excited!

I've been meaning to write a blog now for a while, but I just can't sit still long enough, but I figured there's not a whole lot of time time left, so I better just get it over with. My back already hurts and it's been like 3 minutes. Ugh.

I'm so excited to welcome our little Rhodri into our family. I'm excited to see his reaction face to face when I get to sing to him for the first time. He always gets so active when I sing to him now, and I know he loves it. I'm sure he'll be plenty energetic too. And of course I've been day dreaming about how he will look. What color hair and eyes he will have, whether he'll look more like me or Tyson. I don't know. I'm just so excited for this sweet little boy to get here!

I can't forget to mention how blessed we have been. We literally have everything that we need, and very little of the things we have were purchased by us. I can't begin to thank everyone who has helped us enough for all of their generosity. Heavenly Father has truly looked out for us and made it possible to give our little boy what he needs. I just hope that I can do my part now and be the best mom possible for Rhodri.
Here's a picture from me ealier today:

Something worth Celebrating

Today is the first day of 2012, which means a new year for everyone. I personally am not much of a fan of this holiday and especially not the parties or the silly resolutions people always seem to come up with and then almost always fall through on. But today is a special day that I think I am willing to make an exception for. 30 years ago today my parents decided to tie the knot. I haven't been there for all 30 of those years, but what I know is enough. My parents have done so much for me and for so many other people. They have showed me more places than most people get to see in a lifetime. They have taught me to love others unconditionally, be dependable, and always give second chances. I miss them both so very much since moving to Washington, and I hope that Rhodri will get a chance to know them well despite the distance. They have given me something worth celebrating today, and in this ever desparaging world when there are so few who seem to hold the same value in marriage, what more can I ever ask for from them? I love them so much and just want to say 'Thank you!' as loud as I can for being better than the 'norm', for loving each other so well, and for showing me how important family is.

My little Rhodri

Originally, Rhodri's Due date was March 21st of next year. At my 12 1/2 week ultrasound, my doctor found that our baby was measuring at 14 weeks, so the due date was changed to March 11th. Being 14 weeks along also meant that it was time to do some more blood work, one of which is the quad screening test which helps to determine if there is a risk for Down Syndrome. This particular test came back positive, so 1 out of 73 chance that he could have Down Syndrome, and since then there have been a lot of Ultra Sounds to monitor his growth and check for any physical signs.


After our first Ultrasound with the Specialist Doctor, Rhodri was measuring behind in growth by 10 days. The doctor was concerned that this was a sign of Down Syndrome and recommended that we do an amniocentesis to know for sure, but we decided that the risks for miscarriage were too high and we did not get the test done. We came back a month later for another ultrasound and Rhodri was now measuring only 4 days behind, which the doctor was much happier about. So, now we are just doing monthly ultrasounds to monitor his growth, but things are looking much better right now.


One of the benefits of these ultrasounds is being able to see Rhodri and take home some awesome pictures like these:

And this one is my favorite:

For the last 2 Ultrasounds, Rhodri has had both arms behind his head and ankles crossed. The last time the nurse laughed and said, "He's just Chillin' in there." You can see his arms up in this picture, which is why I like it. I think it's pretty funny.


It's weird how you can start to know your baby even before he is born. Rhodri has a tendancy to try and push things off of him if he feels something on him. Like yesterday, at church, I was folding my arms for the prayer and Rhodri kept kicking me until I moved them off of him. He did the same thing when I was visiting my parents and one of the dogs came to sit on me. And he tends to do the same thing during ultrasounds, always pushing or kicking the equipment away. His favorite place to kick me lately is my diaphram, and his kicks just keep getting stronger. He makes me laugh and I can't wait to meet him.

Rhodr "Mawr"

As many of you know, Tyson and I are now expecting. We are 24 weeks and 3 days as of today and we are having a boy! When trying to agree on names we stumbled on a name that was slightly unusual, but we both loved it. It was my way of compramising with Tyson since he didn't like the names I have had picked out since childhood, and I could not name my child after the parts of a dirt bike. So, I went to a baby names website, searched under anything I could find with a meaning that had something to do with motorcycles, and found the name "Rhodri" which means: Circle ruler or King of Wheels. At first it was just a name I threw at him, but then we both decided we really liked it. After doing a little more research I found that the name comes from a Welsh King, which I thought was great since I am part Welsh.

When I was telling my mom about this story she said, "Make sure it's not a bad king!" which I hadn't even thought to look up before. Slightly panicked that this name could potentially be no good, I went straight to wikipedia to find out what I could. I was relieved to find that King Rhodri was in fact a well beloved king of the Welsh people. You can find more information on him at these lovely websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodri_the_Great

http://www.castlewales.com/rhodri.html

Rhodri's Castle:

Later, when visiting with my mom and dad just a few weeks ago, my mom and I were doing some family research and found that we are descendants of Rhodri "Mawr" (Welsh for Great) not just once, but several times over. In fact we are related to all 3 of his sons. So, I can formally say "It's a family name."  Ha ha.

We have internet!

I'm so excited to back to the land of the living! I have internet now and you can bet I'll be posting a lot more stuff. I am so happy :) that's all.

My good news :)

I have spent the last week trying to think of the best way to get this over with, and this is what I decided on. For 3 years now I have been with Tyson, my love, my sweet boy with loads of personal troubles, but we have stuck through it and we have seen some amazing accomplishments in the last year. During this time I have struggled with my relationship with my family, never being able to be perfectly honest about everything and never being able to share the sweetest joys of victory because my family wasn't there for the fight. I'm not applying this to my sister because I was able to share most of everything with her; she has been a great support.

Last summer, Tyson and I were working hard on straightening out our lives. Tyson wanted to be a part of his son's life, and I wanted to grow up and be self sufficient. In July, very unofficially, Tyson asked me if I would marry him in the temple when we were ready. I said yes. It's been a long year, but so much has been accomplished: I became self sufficient working and living like an adult paying rent and all my bills on time, and Tyson was finally able to work out a parenting plan that will allow him to be a real dad to his son.

A couple months ago, I was sitting in sacrament meeting, listening to the ward choir which I was not a part of due to my work schedule, when I felt very strongly about 2 things. First, I needed to change my lifestyle to include more time for a full time calling within the church. Second, I needed to stop putting my life on hold, it was time to take the next step and Marry Tyson. I was overwhelmed by the strength of these promptings. I have feared the reaction of my parents for a very long time over this, though I'm sure that they somehow knew this would eventually happen. About 2 weeks ago, we met with my bishop in the single's ward, and he asked, without any suggestion from me, if we would like him to marry us. Funny enough, I had the paper work with me that I had prepared to ask him if he would do just that. I remember he said something about “Divine intervention” at that.

On May 20^th, 2011 Tyson and I were married with just enough people present to be legalized. It was an incredible moment and I am so very happy to be with my husband.

I am incredibly sad that I felt too afraid of my family's reaction to be upfront about this in the first place, and I am so sorry that this is how you, my family, will find out, but I love you, and I want you to know that I am so happy with this decision. I feel an incredible weight lifted off of me and a great comfort in my heart that my future will be filled with love and support and somehow, a lot more happiness. I hope that my family will be with me now, even though I have struggled with honesty and openness, because despite everything, I need them, and I really want to share my happiness with them.

Already, we are finding our new ward to be extremely friendly and wonderful, as if this is where we are meant to be. I feel blessed and so incredibly grateful for everything in my life.