Life's Pleasant Surprises

Just when I thought our grad school choices were limited to Creighton University (Omaha, NE) or Emory University (Atlanta, GA), we found out that Pete got accepted to University of Washington (Seattle, WA)!

Growing up in Washington, Pete has always loved UW, and his dad went to Medical School there. The Hoyt fam is only 2.5-ish hours away from Seattle (depending on traffic), and my family is about 8 hours away. Definitely closer than Georgia or Nebraska! When I came home one afternoon to Pete creating a UW picture collage, I knew he was pretty excited about the possibility of going there :)

To be honest, we were both kind of gearing up for being far away from family for grad school---most likely in Georgia. While we are now leaning toward UW, Pete is going to fly to both Georgia and Washington at the end of this month to check out the campuses, facilities, housing options, etc. To be honest...we both want to go to Seattle but are a little nervous that Pete might really like Emory or feel like we should go there. Ahh, such a hard decision! Or is it a no-brainer (UW is half the price of the other schools, close to family, cool city, good school...)? Plus if we go to Emory, I'm going to have to constantly be telling people that we didn't name our child after the school...we spell it differently...named her before we knew we were going there.

Speaking of our child...just when I thought I might be perpetually sleep-deprived and Emery might be an only child---she started sleeping longer at night! 6 or 7 hours between 2 feeds = a stretch of about 4 or 5 hours of sleep for me, which = HEAVEN. Last night I got 8 hours of sleep (in bits and pieces of course)! I don't even know what to do with myself...except pray that this continues :)

{Note: I wrote this yesterday and as it turns out, last night she decided to wake up approximately every 2 hours throughout the night. Guess I didn't pray hard enough} 

A rested momma makes a much happier family.

Emery is now 5 weeks old and weighs 8lbs, 3oz. She seems so big to me these days (compared to her birth weight) and I can't believe that lots of babies are born at 8 lbs or more! 

just when I thought winter would never end, the trees are blooming, the days are longer, and the weather is semi-warm! Lately, we have been going on walks outside at night when Pete gets home from work, enjoying the signs of Spring. It's a nice way to spend time together while Emery is (usually) quiet in her stroller. I've been thinking about how much I am going to miss Provo (never thought that would happen) when we have to leave! If we go to Emory University, we will move at the end of May and if we go to UW, we will probably leave at the end of July. Hopefully in two weeks or so we will know where we're going!

Our Little Owl

Can I just say that I LOVE all things homemade? 

It's been so fun to get homemade blankets, headbands, toys, etc. from family and friends. I treasure these things so much knowing that people spent time and effort to create them especially for Emery.

 Check out this adorable little hat that I got in the mail yesterday: 

 SO CUTE.

Thanks mom!

Letter to Emery (life the past three weeks)

Dear Emery,

You are over three weeks old as I write this! Time is going by fast, but slow at the same time. You are beautiful! Every time I look at your tiny little face, fingers, and toes I am amazed at how perfect they are. I am even more amazed that you are mine! However, I try to keep in mind where you came from---that you are truly a daughter of Heavenly Father.

cute little toes :)

 It's funny how almost anything you do is wonderful to us! Your dad and I could hold you for hours and be entertained simply by the funny faces you make in your sleep.

Dad laughing at your funny sleeping faces

For the most part, you have been a happy baby. I feel lucky and hope this continues! For your first week of life, my mom (your grandma) and the rest of the Jensen family came down to help us out. I don't think we would have survived without them! Having them make us meals, clean, do laundry, and help us get to appointments was life saving. After the Jensen fam left (and just when I was starting to subsist on cheerios daily), Grandma Hoyt showed up to help! What a blessing. It has been fun having you meet so many family members---everyone adores and loves you so much.

Emery and Grandma Hoyt

In the past few weeks I have felt overwhelming joy, love, and peace. However, I've also felt some physical pain, emotional stress and anxiety, and quite honestly, some grief regarding the loss of the way my life used to be. It's a big change to go from being spontaneous and free to living in a 4 hour cycle in which I sleep night and day, wear sweats and pajamas around the clock (when my incision was still a bit tender for jeans), am pretty confined to the house (unless the weather is nice outside and we go for a walk!), and ultimately my time, my life, my world revolves around one thing: you. I'm realizing that my life used to pretty much revolve around me. So far, motherhood has been a great lesson in unselfishness.

Some highlights from the past week: bath time! Well...sponge-bath time! At first you weren't too sure how you liked being bathed. We've found that as long as we keep it quick, you don't mind a bit. Your umbilical cord fell off yesterday though, so you'll be getting real baths now! You are also learning to nurse better (thankfully), and are gaining weight well! At your two week appointment you were up to 6lbs 11 oz! Still small...7th percentile in fact...but the doc said that's really good for you :) Take heart, though, your head size was in the 25th percentile---so at least your brain is good-sized. Also at your two week appointment, you were the unhappy recipient of one heel stick (PKU test), one shot, and a frenotomy (you were a bit tongue-tied, so they clipped the frenulum holding your tongue down). Let's just say it's a good thing the nurse left the room quickly after all of this because you weren't the only one that was teary-eyed! I was surprised at how hard it was for me to watch you be in pain.

Bath time!

Well, I've discovered that the key for me these past three weeks has been to take it one day at a time...one feeding at a time...one nap at a time. Being a mom is beautiful and I've had distinct feelings that it's definitely the most important thing I can do with my life---and it's what I want to do more than anything else! I'm trying to focus on just enjoying every minute of you, because everyone tells me you'll grow up too fast, that this newborn stage will pass too soon. In the meantime, know that you are wonderful, a miracle. Let's continue learning and growing together. I'll keep writing.

Love,

Mom