Christmas 2014

A Very Merry Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas Eve dear family and friends! We are feeling so blessed this Christmas season with the amazing year we’ve had.

We started off 2014 with a welcome surprise: I was expecting! For several weeks I had felt like I might be pregnant but we were both in disbelief. After two drugstore pregnancy tests, we believed. That semester Carter finished up his Junior of his two-major (Math and Economics) degree and I worked part-time at a group home for boys teaching math and science while starting a degree in Web Design and Development and suffering through morning (all-day) sickness. After finishing my Neuroscience degree at BYU back in 2013, I decided to return to school and pursue a degree in web design. After months of researching different programs, I discovered BYU-I had an online program and I instantly knew it was the right fit. If I take three classes every semester, I should be able to finish my second Bachelors in Fall 2016. Surprisingly, I’ve loved the development side of my degree much more than the design side. I’ve learned so much already and am excited to continue my education.

Carter was accepted for an internship at the New York Federal Reserve Bank so we traveled to New York, New York for the summer months. We lived just off of Central Park West and 103rd street and loved it. According to Carter, working just off of Wall Street with researchers who directly affect fiscal policy was one of the most amazing experiences of his life. I spent the NY months taking walks in Central Park and shopping in Baby Gap. With the impending birth of our child, I figured I should just enjoy one last childless vacation :). From Shakespeare in the Park to the Bronx Zoo to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and more, we tried—and succeeded, I think—to maximize our time as New Yorkers. Carter and I still have high hopes that we’ll return to live in NY in the future. 

In October, we welcomed Noah Carter Davis into our family on his due date, the 18th. The labor and delivery went well and Noah was born just 5 hours after I was admitted to the hospital. Noah did spend three days in the NICU due to low blood-sugar issues, but is healthy and well now. At his two month check-up he came in at 11 pounds and 23 inches. So he is definitely on the smaller side, but growing. After our NICU scare, we are even more grateful for temples so that we can be sealed to Noah for this life and the next. Caring for an infant has been a wild ride that we are happy to be on (at least most of the time)!

Carter is now applying to graduate schools in finance—I’m rooting for Stanford—and economics so we are excited to see where next year takes us! We have a testimony that God loves us and cares about all the little things we care about, even if it is just a New York vacation for a pregnant mama. His infinite grace and mercy astounds us every day, especially at this time of year as we focus on the miracle of Christ’s birth. This season, we are sharing the gift by doing more family history work (#HeIsTheGift). Some weeks that just means recording and sharing more of our own family’s stories of faith and hope.

We are thankful for our wonderful friends and family and wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Him and Her: 5 Surprising Things About Being New Parents

To continue what we started in 2013 with Him and Her: 5 Surprising Things About Marriage, for our second anniversary we're sharing 5 most surprising things about our latest great adventure: Parenting.

Photo credit: Kent Davis, December 30th 2014

Her

1. Breastfeeding, like the rest of parenting, is 10X harder than you think it's going to be. I am honestly surprised the human race has perpetuated itself this long.


2. Possibly because I'm the least sentimental person I know, I didn't bond with Noah right away. At first everything is so surreal and it felt like I was caring for someone else's baby. For the first two months, I didn't even get the 'it's so hard but worth it' feeling. Even though I was happy to have him healthy and whole I was just stuck with the 'it's so hard' part. I mean, cognitively, I knew it was worth it (for celestial and old age purposes) but I didn't feel it emotionally. It's been a slow process that's still building.


3. I didn't know that almost every conversation I would have with Carter from the moment Noah was born would revolve around how Noah is sooooooo CUTE. And that I would like it. He's deliciously adorable. Also, I have a lot more conversations with strangers since Noah was born.


4. I'm totally one of those moms who watches video of my baby after he's gone to bed, even after I've spent all day with him. He's an addiction and I'm in denial.


5. Carter is a hilariously (and adorably) protective father. If the people sitting next to us in church cough, Carter is already whisking Noah away. He told me the night we brought Noah home from the hospital he remembers wishing he had driven a less bumpy road home. Watching Carter become a father has been a particularly sweet part of this adventure.

Him

1. Baby doesn't even freakin' know how to sleep!


2. Before we had Noah, I thought we would let the baby play on the floor by himself when he was awake and then put him in his crib to sleep when he was tired. I had no idea that we would have to rock him to sleep then hold him the entire time or that he would get bored when there aren't people around to entertain him.


3. Seriously, babies don't know how to sleep.


4. You can always hear when Noah poops.


5. I always say parenting is more work that I thought it would be and it's sweeter than I thought it would be.

Here's to one more year of marriage! And may the next one be a good one too. Happy Anniversary, Carter Kent Davis!

6 Weeks

I took these photos at 6 weeks, just before we blessed Noah at church. It was beautiful and I cried. We named Noah with the biblical prophet in mind and Carter blessed our little boy that, though he would encounter opposition, especially in his religion, he would be blessed with the strength and determination to follow God's will. It was the best blessing I've ever heard.

I'm obsessed with his tiny fingers and toes! They're a bit of a trick to photograph though, because they are constantly moving. At 6 weeks Noah started to smile and coo. I can't even tell you what a godsend a baby smile is to a tired momma. Oh the validation!

Noah Carter Davis

Noah was, miraculously, born on his due date, October 18th. Only 1% of babies are actually born on their due dates, hence the miracle. I first felt cramping the night before at 8 pm, after my mucous plug fell out. They were mild, consistent cramps so faint I wasn't sure if I was imagining them. The cramps grew a little stronger over the next hour and a lightbulb went off in my head. This was it! In our true last-minute fashion, Carter went to install the carseat and we realized the car seat we had was all wrong for a newborn. So we purchased an infant carseat from Target the hour before it closed and then after installing it, debated for way too long whether we should climb Y mountain to see it lit up for homecoming (my last chance). In the end, I decided if I had to eject a baby in the next few hours then I should avoid strenuous hikes.

Awaiting the inevitable. At this point I'm thinking, "There is only one way this baby can come out..."

So off to bed we went, though I laid wide awake from both the contractions - which, by this point, were too strong for me to sleep through - and the excitement. I spent an hour googling "when to go to the hospital in labor" before I dragged Carter out of bed. We headed to the hospital where I sheepishly told the nurses, "I think I'm in labor?" They monitored me from 2 am to 3 am and then kindly told me to go home and not come back until I was really in labor. Disappointing. I, however, knew this was the real deal so we made a plan to eat bacon and omelets at Magleby's when they opened at 7 am and then come back.

I spent the next few hours perusing Facebook and Pinterest to distract from the increasing contractions and then, when that wasn't enough, I tried to imagine my cervix opening up and my baby moving down the birth canal. It helped, at least until the pain became too much for even that. A contraction would hit and all I could do was double over and wait for it to pass. At 7 am Carter woke up to intervalled moaning and he insisted we go to the hospital immediately. I agreed that we would go to the hospital and not leave at least until I received some kind of narcotic - preferably, a really strong narcotic. I self-diagnosed at 7 on the pain chart.

This time I shuffled into the maternity ward very slowly and huffed at every nurse that would listen that I was in labor. Although my water still hadn't broken, they admitted me at 8 am because I was dilated to 6 cm and progressing. I repeatedly asked for an epidural but FYI ladies, the process takes about an hour before the anesthesiologist can even get to putting the epidural in. So keep that in mind. Finally, the very nice doctor started the epidural and the heavens parted and angels sang hallelujah choruses and all was right in the world again. The greatness of epidurals cannot be overstated.

After the epidural, everything progressed quickly. They broke my water and in an hour I was dilated to 9 cm. Another half hour and I was fully dilated at 10 cm. At this point I was in shock so when they suggested I wait at 10 cm for an hour before pushing to let the baby descend down the birth canal, I readily agreed. I imagine if I hadn't had an epidural, Noah would have been born two hours earlier. When the nurses decided it was time to push, I pushed for ten minutes in 3 segments and then waited another 10 minutes for the doctor to get off her lunch break. She took her sweet time and then blocked my view of my birthing mirror, so I'm now wondering how necessary her presence was. In any case, twenty minutes after I started pushing, Noah was born and then my memory gets hazy. I remember wondering if something was wrong because I couldn't hear any crying and the doctor asking me questions about holding the baby or washing and weighing him first and then holding a little bundle on my chest and thinking the whole situation was too surreal. He didn't feel like my baby. I spent several minutes craning my neck to get another look at him because I kept forgetting what he looked like. Carter held Noah and I could tell that he felt something for Noah that I didn't feel. A belonging or ownership, I guess. I think it took me several weeks to get to that point. There were many moments where I felt like I was caring for someone else's baby and I would have just preferred if they would have taken him back. Cognitively, I knew that having a baby would be worth it (mostly because I need someone to take care of me and spend time with me when I get old) but emotionally I didn't feel it. I know many people feel bonded to their baby immediately, but I also think many other people have experiences like mine.

Now, of course, I feel very bonded to Noah. I enjoy the connection I have always heard other mothers talk about and I very much feel as though every moment is worth it. I feel grateful for Noah's physical health and inquisitive little spirit.

Carter: "Are you OK? You just had a baby!" Me: "What are you standing there for??? TAKE PICTURES."

7 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches, just like his mama!

A first hold.

A second first hold.

Awe, adoration, love and surprise.

A new face.

Conehead

So so beautiful.

Baby Love

My little sister, Alexa, truly is a godsend to my money-poor, photography-loving self. She has a natural talent  that cannot be denied and that I will wake up at 5 a.m. to sneak into an orchard and take pictures. Bless her talented heart.

These were all taken on a nice DSLR camera and then edited on my phone because I'm swag like that. Or because Photoshop is now a subscription service that I can't/won't pay for. Can anyone recommend a good, intuitive editing app for Mac?

Landon Family 2014

We're united again after 18 months but mostly it just feels like nothing has changed! They will be changing very, very soon though. Primarily, in the form of a melon-sized fetus. We are all weirded out by the size of my belly and excited for this baby's arrival. I'm feeling increasingly anxious about caring for a baby. Everything is perfect right now; am I ready to let a baby alter everything? I don't know but I also don't know that there is anything I can do at this point. He's coming whether I'm ready or not!

Life Update

We're pregnant! And by we, I mean me, although we've never really tried to get Carter pregnant. But that's another story for another day on Medical Mysteries. If truth be told, we weren't even trying in particular to get me pregnant but we are still so very happy about it! I'm even a little relieved. It's about time someone (God, the Fates, Karma, Carter's sperm, ect.) made some life-altering choices for me.

We'll be full-fledged parents around October 18th. I'm thirteen weeks along yesterday though I've only been growing this little human for about 11 or so weeks. Who knew that they date your baby from your last period? I guess that's when the follicle started maturing? #biologymajorproblems

In other news Carter is a smarty pants and scored an internship with the New York Federal Reserve this summer. So we'll be packing up and shipping out in June. I'm going to call it my doing-nothing-in-NYC vacation. I look forward to it as the last vacation where all I worry about is me. In the fall we'll return to Provo so I can push a baby out of my uterus and Carter can finish his last year at BYU. After that Carter has the option of returning to Manhattan to work for the New York Federal Reserve for two years or going to a graduate school.

Is it extremely lame of me that I don't want to live in New York, NY? I guess it all comes down to priorities and right now my priorities revolve around Caribbean vacations and home-ownership and backyards, all of which are not helped by living in New York on a pittance government salary. And if Carter takes the job and then goes to grad school we'll have an EIGHT-year-old by the time he actually graduates!

But if Carter goes straight to grad school in an affordable location, we might be able to buy a house/condo right now. And raise all our children in nice neighborhoods where they can walk themselves to school and play in playgrounds without rat infestations and enjoy water blobs in their own backyard. I mean. NYC is not the most kid-friendly.

The main argument for the NYC job is that Carter will have a regular 9-5 job and will be able to spend copious amount of time with our baby. So that's a plus.

So what would you do? Do you love NYC and think it's a great place for kids?

Missing This Cute Girl

sooo revealing of our personalities. Amanda, you're the boring angel

Alexa has been serving a spanish-speaking mission in the California Los Angeles Mission for the past 10 months. I can't say how proud I am of her! Missions are hard work and require a lot of sacrifice, so we are all very impressed. I 've loved seeing her mature through her letters. So that you all can see it too, I've collected the Best of Hermana Landon:

Oh hello sillies!!! Tell me about what's going on with work and school? did you draw any cool pictures at work Dad? Did mom buy any more pictures? haha my hermanas in mi distrito always threaten to send mom pictures of what I eat whenever I eat jello or a cookie. I tell them mom would never send me cookies or sweets in a package. She would send me an empty box! They think Mom is so funny from what I say! Everyone loves me? well everyone loves mom! (Ed. note: Everyone loves mom - slogan of my high school career)

Funny story about me. it was like Dumb and Dumber and the christmas story when i tried to eat a orange dream bar the other week. I had heard the ice cream bars can get so cold your tounge will freeze but I had thought my tounge wouldn't be a victim. So I went for a great big lick and BOOM! I was stuck.....Forever! I began to panic and tried to remove my tounge and notify my companion, but all of the elders in our district we sit by saw me and started laughing. I was laughing so hard/ crying wondering why I had been so prideful and dumb. I drooled and counldn't focus on getting un stuck. Everyone was shoving juice and milk for me to pour over my tounge but it would have spilled all over me! I finally pulled it off. My tounge was frozen for a long time after. 

 I get what people mean when they say they're not sure what language they were taught in the MTC, but it wasn't the mission language. It's hard to figure out what the latinos are saying, I understand a lot of words, it just goes by so quickly I don't get main point of what they said. Sister Curtis is SUPER helpful in teaching me. She will only speak to me in Spanish and if I don't understand she is so willing to repeat until I do. Yesterday I told her most of the time I only get half of what she says. So this morning in spanish she said to me "Are you going to keep pretending you know what I am saying" and of course I responded with a "yes" to what I didn't understand. She puts a lot of responsibility on me, but always bails me out when I need it. 

I Know God leads us to everyone in our path. We hand out copies of the Book Of Mormon like candy out here. If it starts out in the wrong hands it will end up in the right ones sooner or later.

An elder shared with me a poem about missionary life and it was hilarious how true it was. It said something about being on a mission you really do feel the happiest and the saddest, you've never before met so many crazy people and so many wonderful people. You never feel so forsaken and never so loved and comforted. You've never worked so hard and still felt like you've been lazy. You've never wanted to go home so bad and wanted to stay more than ever.
My comp and I were laughing about how every RM tells the best stories about miracles and awesome things that happen and make it sound like they happen all the time, but in reality they don't. It's hard every day our numbers sometimes show 0 success, so why am I so happy? Why do we feel so accomplished? For some reason- by the mercies of Heavenly Father- it's always worth it. At the end of the day we didn't get any lessons, I feel so worn out, but I think about all the people we talked to and how happy I felt with them and my companions.

We almost have 5 missionaries from our Spanish ward! That's so many! we hear things about there being about there being 50,000 then it's 60,000 and then 70,000! This must be the work of God or half of the things we do and half the work we put in would never turn out well or work. Everyday is a testimony to me. If this wasn't the true work of God I wouldn't be here anymore. This is way too hard to be a fun volunteer summer experience. I can't understand why I am so happy when I am so tired everyday and the night goes by way to quickly.
These people are worth it. I love every one of them!

I've been struggling in the work and fighting to be the consecrated missionary I want to be. It's been hard talking to people and loosing them. Sometimes I feel like I'm at my end. Like nothing I do will help anyone. But the atonement is real. Christ suffered alone. But I am not alone. He carries me every time I feel so bad. And He's always with me any other time. He loves me and I love him. That's why I'm still here working. Salvation is personal. But everyone needs it.

I have felt like the lord has bless me with the opportunity to help a lot of people be baptized, and with all the love I can feel, just lift my heart! but Now I feel I am at a point where I don't need that to feel happy. I am seeing myself change and become more like Christ. I am seeing my desires change. I am seeing sharing the gospel in even a more different way. A better way. The best way. There is no greater blessing than to use your whole heart everyday to help people understand clearly the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, and if they choose, accept it. We can do it on missions, we can do it as parents, we can do it with our friends/neighbors.

We gave a church tour to a man who said he wanted to learn more about the book of mormon and what it is...He understood he felt that it was truth and said he would pray to ask God if it was true. That was one of the first times especially that I felt I taught so simply they understood right away what we meant and the spirit confirmed the truth so strongly. it all rests on clarity and simplicity and telling them the pure truth so they can make the ful decision on their own to find out for themselves.

I have continually moved forward through my mission. I have given up all I was before to be new and better and more like christ. I has been such a challenge that I would never before have overcome or even began but My father has helped me. He is always there for me. He has always loved me.  

Everyone needs to sign this petition NOW

I mean, only if you care about the future of your children and country. Require Porn to be an "Opt In" feature with Internet Service Providers rather than a standard feature. Sign here please.

From the petitioners:

In its current state, Internet porn seeks out users by email solicitations and massive amounts of free content throughout Internet browser searches. The average person, even children, can type in the word "cat" or "home" or "soup" and instantly be inundated with offensive and disturbing pornographic images. Parents and individuals have to go to great lengths to install Internet filters that often don't weed out all porn. We are asking for greater protection and responsibility from Internet Service providers and our country. We are asking that people who are interested in porn should have to seek it and choose it. They should have to "Opt In" for it by making arrangements to receive it with their Internet Service Provider. Everyone else should be free from it and assumed "Opt Out".

Be like Britain! Sign this petition!(see what I did there?)

Reconsidering Sleepovers

So I read this article on LDS Living and I'm wondering: Is a no-sleepover policy a crazy mom or a informed parent rule?

In the article, Wendy Green argues that  sleepovers allow a slew of problems including:

limited parental supervision
differing standard between households (access to guns, use of porn, R and X rated movies, video games)
sexual abuse including from peers acting out victimization
increased peer pressure (you can be registered as a sex offender if caught skinny-dipping or streaking)
drug and alcohol experimentation

One family I knew told a story about a well-respected lawyer who was accused by his daughter's friend of sexual abuse and although she later confessed to have accused him over some rift between the friends, his practice was shot.

While I can sing to her melody, aren't all of these problems present during "late-nights" or even regular hangouts? Isn't this a more of a problem with prolonged time away from home?

What do you all think? Have your sleepover experiences been problem-free or somewhat troublesome? I've never had a problem at one, though there have been some odder experiences (mother making me take a bath with their daughter. I mean, I was eight, but still).

The Murri Family

A couple of weeks ago, on Mother's Day, Alexa took some shots of the Murri family and I've been editing them! Here are some of the final takes:

Awwwwwww. Aren't they adorable? What a pretty family!