Celebrating 5 Years

Technically our anniversary is on December 20th, but the cool thing about being adults is that you can celebrate things whenever you want too. We knew getting married that close to Christmas would mean less extravagant anniversary celebrations so we've just decided to celebrate when works best for us. #adultlife

Anyway, for our 5 year anniversary we took a week long vacation down to southern Utah! We'd toyed around with going to Mexico, a cruise, or back up to Washington, but ultimately with me being pregnant (no thank you Zika!), and our kids being so little, we decided to play it closer to home. Plus, my exposure to southern Utah was woefully lacking. We wanted to check off the iconic Utah landmarks if possible and I think we did an awesome job! We flew my mom in and she took care of the kids for the week, with help from both my sisters. Sometimes it's validating to realize it really does take a lot of effort to take care of two kids ;)

I'm a FIRM believer in making sure you take time for your spouse. Quality time is something Kyle and I really work for each and every day, now that we've figured out what quality time means for the other. No matter how deeply I love my kids, I will always and forever love Kyle more and getting an extended period of time alone reminds me of that! Plus it's just awesome to stay up late and sleep in on your own time table haha.

We set out Monday with our Harry Potter audio books and drove down to Arches National Park. We found an awesome mobile home rental in Thompson for $45/night that we rented for two nights. It was perfect. Fully stocked kitchen, washer & dryer, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, and even wifi available in the middle of nowhere. 10/10 would recommend that place.

We hit up Delicate Arch, Fiery Furnace, Pine Arch, Double Window Arch, and Landscape Arch. Fiery Furnace was probably my favorite because we were scaling and legit climbing rocks, instead of following a paved pathway.

Wednesday we checked out of Thompson and drove over to the Natural Bridges National Monument. It's not nearly as popular as the other national parks in Utah but it's equally stunning!

In the center of the picture there are some cool Indian ruins

After Bridges we drove through Monument Valley. We had every intention to stop at the Visitor's Center, but apparently they can close a half hour early whenever they want too. We're not bitter or anything.

We camped that night in Page, just on a beach at Lake Powell. The stars were stunning!

Thursday morning we woke up bright and early to try and get a tour through Antelope Canyon. When I called a few weeks prior they told me that I'd have to book the tour in person, but when we got there we were told we had to book it online? Idk. This is still on our to-see list! We had a slow morning and then headed over to Zion's!

That afternoon we hiked the Emerald Pool's (upper, middle & lower), ran into Kyle's parents and sister on the hike, then since we were racing against the sunset, we headed out to find another campsite.

Unbeknownst to us, it was Fall Break for most of Utah, so Thursday & Friday were way busier in Zion's than we anticipated. To beat the crowds, we got up early Friday morning to hike the Narrows. Kyle tried convincing me to do Angel's Landing but I think I'm gonna need 10 years to work up the courage for that one. The Virgin River running through the Narrows was like 51*. The first quarter mile was really cold, but then our legs went numb and we were good after that!

After the Narrow's we (and by "we", I mean, "I") were so tired, cold & wet, we decided to head on out. We stopped at the BEST Mexican restaurant we've ever been to in Hurricane, then drove up to a hotel in Cedar City. I took a nap, we went to see Suicide Squad at a discount theater and ordered a pizza.

We had plans to go up to Bryce Canyon on Saturday, but we were both pretty tired after a week of hiking. Instead we found an awesome Groupon for a couple's massage at a salon literally two blocks up the street from us, so we drove on home and did that. Now we're completely ruined and will never end a vacation any other way.

It was a great week and we felt ready to go home by the end of it. I think we struck the perfect balance of it being structured enough so we weren't bored, but unstructured enough to actually relax. We had moments of missing our kids, especially when seeing other kids reacting similarly to how our kids would've, but then we thought of trying to encourage them up a hike, or sharing a tent, and we were quite glad they were home ;)

Love you hun! Can't wait for the next adventure.

The Baby That Wasn't

Don't worry - I'm still pregnant!!

However, I feel like I need to share a bit of our summer. It's hard for me to write this. It's hard for me to admit that as well. I hope my experience, and my sharing that experience, provides a small degree of comfort for those that need it.

One day in June I woke up absolutely knowing that I was pregnant. I ran down the stairs to confirm it with a pregnancy test and I was completely right. Two little lines appeared! I excitedly ran to tell Kyle and then we tried to figure out the possible due date. Between nursing and being pregnant less than a year prior my cycles were extremely erratic. It dawned on me that I had actually just completed a cycle less than two days ago; how in the world could I have a positive pregnancy test this soon after a period? They're not supposed to be accurate until a week after a missed period. I called our midwife and she suggested coming in to start a blood test. It'd measure the HCG hormone in my blood and if it increased over time, then that would mean I was pregnant.

We were sort of pressed against a deadline because we were leaving on family vacation less than 10 days later. Over those 10 days I got two blood draws. I annoyingly called our midwife often to see if the results had come in. Finally, AN HOUR before we left for the airport, the results were in; I was pregnant! We would go in for an ultrasound once we got back to nail down a due date.

Our family vacation in Oregon with the Tuft's was awesome. I don't really start to having pregnancy symptoms until about the 5th week which would occur right about when we got back home, so I thought I was in the clear.

We were in Astoria touring a lighthouse when I realized something was very wrong. I hadn't been too crampy but I suddenly felt like I had wet myself. I ran to find a bathroom and found a lot of unpleasantness. This wasn't normal pregnancy bleeding. Since that first positive test, I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. A positive tests two days after ending a period was too suspect. I realized in that bathroom in Astoria that this little baby wasn't meant to be.

Did you know that your fertility increases after a miscarriage?

Did you know that 1 in 6 women experience a miscarriage?

Did you know that you can miscarry and not even know it?

Did you know that there are very specific reasons for a miscarriage, but that you'll hardly ever know WHY it happened?

Did you know it's not your fault? That nothing is wrong with your body?

Logically I knew all of this. I'd futilely try and comfort myself over the next two awful weeks of cramping by reminding myself of these answers. No, I didn't eat something I shouldn't have. No I didn't exercise too hard. No, my body wasn't defective. Yes, there's a reason for this.

But did also you know that logic doesn't help when in grief? That no matter how much you tell yourself that this is natural and normal and necessary you'll probably still feel on some level that you are to blame? No matter how much you tell yourself that this is probably for the best, it doesn't barricade you from the pain of miscarrying and hating your body for not following your wishes.

June and most of July really kicked me in the face. It's impossible to describe how it is to miss something you didn't have. It was hard to feel sorry for myself when I realized exactly how blessed I still was. And I do count myself as extremely blessed. As far as miscarriages go, this was probably the best case possible. I was extremely early in my pregnancy when I miscarried - I know the pain of it increases the bigger the baby grows. I already have two beautiful children - we know I'm capable of having children. We were sort of tipped off that something wasn't quite right by having a positive test so soon after a period - this wasn't a completely unexpected surprise. What if I hadn't miscarried? How would that baby and the pregnancy have turned out?

All of that aside, it's still hard. The hardest part for me has been that I know I needed to know that I was pregnant; I had the same assurance I was pregnant when we found out with both Livvy and Milo. It felt exactly the same that morning in June. Why did I need to know I was pregnant if I was just going to miscarry?

When we got another positive pregnancy test in July I had none of the same excitement in my heart. Coming just weeks off of a miscarriage, I couldn't help feel like this wasn't real, that I just had residual HCG in my blood which was triggering the positive test. I wasn't going to let myself believe that this was happening. To be safe, I tested every day for the next two weeks and those positive lines kept getting darker. This either meant I hadn't miscarried properly or that I was actually pregnant. Finally we did another few weeks of blood tests and we came back with happy results; the HCG levels were rising - we were pregnant. (Hilariously, due to a typo in our HCG results, we were seriously expecting twins for a few weeks! Turns out an extra "0" had been entered in my HCG levels so it seemed like I had MUCH more than one baby required.)

At 6 weeks along we had an ultrasound done to confirm proper growth and to try and get a due date. Our baby gave us a little miracle by allowing us to hear her heartbeat, which had just started beating days before. I will never forget that heartbeat so long as I live. Our baby was alive and we knew her chances of survival had increased dramatically now that the heartbeat was there.

I don't know what happens to the souls of those babies that are miscarried. I don't know if they're given another chance at life at a later point, with a different mother, if they're sent again asap to the same mother, or if they're even sent back to Earth at all. For me, being pregnant has helped tremendously with my grieving process. This baby girl could be called a Rainbow Baby; the baby that follows a miscarriage or any other infant loss. But I don't know if I think of her like that. Right now she's an answer to a lot of prayers and I'm just happy to call her ours.

To those that have suffered through a miscarriage or infertility of any shade, just know that we hear you and have some idea of this same pain too. It is hard and confusing and full of sorrow. Please do not close yourself off to those who can help you. All grief is real and needs to be addressed. Loved ones, others' experiences, therapists, and doctors are wonderful resources. Hopefully our experience can help as well.

Regarding Mom Wars

You know those opinions you keep to yourself for so long that eventually you learn to almost tune yourself out? Like you've trained yourself so well to keep a lid on things that it starts to not bother you anymore?

I was ALMOST there until I came across a random social media post where a mom was being absolutely roasted.

She'd posted a plea for help/tips on breastfeeding. She had a 4-day-old baby. Two women decided that the comment section was a perfect spot to rip into each other regarding scheduled feedings or feeding on demand. A third lady told this new mom to just give up and go straight to formula. And a fourth lady chastised this new mom for even asking for help because breastfeeding was such a personal matter.

I LITERALLY LOST IT. My phone was seconds away from being snapped in two!!

I very definitely have my own opinions about everything under the sun. I birthed in a birthing center with no meds, I don't co-sleep, my kids share clothes even though they're different genders, I'm not a huge fan of Barbies, I breastfed, my kids rarely snack, they nursed on a schedule, I slept trained them at 3 weeks old (the horror!!), we didn't use pacifiers, we don't fight them on food; they go hungry instead. Our days are pretty routine; they both take one massive nap in the afternoon, and they sleep from 9pm-9am. I was a working mom, now I'm a stay at home mom. I try and feed them veggies and don't have the current budget for all-organic, non-GMO fruits. We eat meat. They drink whole milk. THEY ARE HAPPY.

But none of that means that I would EVER consider myself a better mother than someone who chooses to do something else with their children. I have made my choices, I feel good about them, and I don't feel like I have anything to prove by shoving my opinions down another mom's throat. I am perfectly confident in my choices while still allowing myself room to grow and change as needed.

I am so tired of seeing women put down other women, while simultaneously, ironically, complaining about how hard it is being a mother.

It is a totally new ballgame being a parent in the world of Google. With literally thousands of reputable studies at our fingertips, we are bombarded with different parenting techniques and "finds" seemingly every day. It is EXHAUSTING to sort through it all (assuming, even, you're a parent who WANTS to sort through it all). For every opinion, there is an equally "studied" opposite opinion. Nearly every week I hear or read something like, "new study shows sippy cups delay potty training", or "co-sleeping linked with reading deficiencies in kindergartners". Who in the world knows what's accurate and what's not? WHO HAS THE TIME TO CARE.

On the flip side of this coin, we as parents also have a really great opportunity to genuinely SUPPORT other parents. Our own mothers weren't able to ask for help in breastfeeding and get such a wide response from so many different people. I have personally benefited from asking that same exact question. There are great resources housed in the device in my pocket that my mom is blown away by. At a time when it is SO easy to give an encouraging comment, instead I see mom's tearing into each other's throats in the name of "caring" and preventing "abuse" to children.

Side note: I have very little patience with people flippantly tossing around the term "abuse", particularly in regards to children. No, allowing your baby to eat gluten is not an abuse. Work in CPS for a better idea of what abuse actually is.

If your child is happy, healthy and loved, and the parents are sane, then I say "good on you! you're doing a great job". In the end, we are all just trying to do our best and raise successful kids. Can we move past the point of disagreeing over differences and simply support and encourage each other when we can? Shame on those that make it harder to do the hardest job in the world.

/end rant

Oregon Coast

I'm slowly getting my feet back under me as far as my normal routine goes. Summer seems like a good enough reason to not follow any schedule but the flipside of that is that I feel a little frazzled!

Kyle's brother Spencer returned from his 2 year LDS mission from Tegucigalpa, Honduras on June 23rd. He hadn't yet met Milo or Olivia so it was a great reunion! 2 days later the whole Tuft clan loaded up and flew/drove to the Oregon Coast for a week vacation. We stayed at a great house about 7 minutes from the beach. It was a total blast and something I hope at least Milo will remember. He and his cousin Audrey really bonded at that cabin! We spent a few days on nearby beaches, went up to Cannon Beach for a day, Astoria (which ended up being a bit of a bummer!) and the Tillamook Cheese factory. I love that factory; free cheese!! Anyone who has been to this coast will immediately tell you that these aren't beaches you lay around and tan on. IT. IS. COLD. I've been there a number of times before and even I underestimated the weather! Still was so much fun though. Hey Tuft's, let's go again next year!

Playing CodeNames

Kyle and I were attempting a cute pic of us, but Milo wanted to play "Ring Around the Rosie" instead

We dropped the Schmidt's off at the airport so they could head up to Alaska, but we weren't leaving Oregon without trying Voodoo Donuts first!

We also went to a playground and the rose garden; anything to get those wiggles out!

Life Lately

May seemed to mark the beginning of summer in my mind. We have 8 garden beds that hadn't been tended to in a loooooooong time and I attacked those with a vengeance this month. Then Kyle got me a ton of succulents for Mother's Day this year explaining that I've proven I can keep the kids alive so I'm probably ready for plants haha. Between the two, I inadvertently discovered a hobby of mine; gardening. It's really therapeutic being outside just working. It's hard for me to sit still and not do something productive for long periods of time. Gardening helps me stay active and feel like I'm accomplishing something. Also, I get tan ;)

My mom has quite the succulent garden herself and she's given me lots of tips on how to care for these things. I love the variety! I'm not a huge fan of color, but I am a fan of shapes and succulents come in SO MANY SHAPES.

For Jillian and Natalie's bachelorette party we decided to try our hand at Aerial Yoga. I was SEVERELY underprepared for this!! It was a total blast but I couldn't lift my arms over my head for a good 24 hours afterwards. I'm so stoked for them to get married!

With the weather warming up significantly, the kids and I have been making it a goal to get out in the morning. I am NOT a homebody and get a little stir crazy if I don't leave the house once a day! The mornings are our best time to go do something. We've been to about 15 of the 53 parks in the Provo/Orem area already, but there's still so many more to visit! The splash pads have opened up too and we've been going to them at least twice a week. I joined a group of moms via my friend Danica, who have a goal to get out and explore Utah this summer. We've got an Instagram, Facebook page, and blog where we post our reviews of hikes, parks, and splash pads. It's been an awesome resource! Also, I have to send out a ton of interwebz love to my sister, Nicole. She's been a lifesaver this summer in helping me with the kids. She's made exploring with them an actual joy instead of a hassle!

We got a double stroller this week after Milo legit nearly killed himself. We were at the library and while I was checking out our books, he ran out through the automatic doors into the parking lot, where a car skidded to a stop 3 feet away from him. I've never been more scared in my entire life and I'm about 96% sure I have a huge chunk of hair that turned gray from the experience. And I know this is payback for all the times I did that to my parents and that "it's the first of many" and yada-yada-yada.

Anyway, yes. Double stroller. GAME CHANGER. Though some of us are more excited about it than others ;)

For our date night in May we went to the new X-Men which is pretty good but I like Days of Future Past better. For Father's Day/June's date night I found a great deal to go river rafting down the Provo River. It was the worst day to go, weather-wise, but it was still a total blast. Mostly cuz Kyle made it so.

The kids are doing just great! Livvy has started getting mobile, and by mobile I mean we have a butt-scooter. For some reason I never thought we'd have one of those, but she proved me wrong! I think there's just a lot of her to try and move so she found the easiest solution. Livvy is eating nearly everything in sight. The baby-led weaning we tried with her was a fantastic success. 10/10 would recommend. Her favorite foods include mangoes, yogurt, and avocados. We moved her into Milo's room after transitioning her to a crib (she was in a rock n' play for a while since it helped with her acid reflux). She's saying "mama" and "dada" and is MUCH more attached to people than Milo was! She adores her brother and thinks he's hysterical.

Milo is finally, finally (!!) speaking! Kyle had to go on a long distance move and as we watched him leave, Milo turned to me and said "wheredadgo" - just like that; no distinction between the words at all! Now he's proficient in "wow what's that!", "broken!", "she's sad", and "wash hands". His imagination has exploded and it's been fascinating watching him start to use his toys in all different ways. He loves to line up his cars, read books, and throw the trains down the stairs. We're working on sharing things with Livvy. If she's fussy I'll ask him to pick out a toy to give her and that seems to have been fairly successful. He goes a million miles an hour, whether it's running around, thinking, or sleeping.

As a mom, I've had a few firsts with him this month; some kid started bullying him on the playground and pushed him down. It was awful to watch and I know that was harder for me than him (Milo didn't even react). Man though, if it's hard at this age I can only imagine what the teenage years are gonna be like!

very concentrated

Livvy is old enough now that Milo can interact with her and it's probably the cutest thing I've seen in my life. I try very hard to keep in mind how close they'll be in their later years when things get chaotic during the witching hour!

Shoutout to my SIL Megan for MAKING this for the kids' room. It's perfect!

May was a great month for us. I have never truly appreciated the sunshine until this time in my life. It does all our souls good!