So... the last year!

So I have not blogged in a very long time. I guess I'm just lazy! Here's what happened the last year:
I got pregnant and became very very large! This picture was the day before I gave birth to my 9lb2oz baby girl, Lydia Kimberly Moses.


So I figured I needed to write my birth story somewhere so i could have a record of it. So here goes:
Morning of July 1, 2011. I woke up around 8:30 feeling mild cramps. I knew that they were the start of labor because they were slightly more painful than period cramps. I called my Mom and she came over and started walking around the neighborhood with me. I was getting really scared because they kept getting worse and worse and walking was getting harder and harder. I'm so glad my Mom came over and helped me! I called Porter but he was stuck at work for a while. He got home around 1 or 2, and by then I was on my birthing ball trying to get her to come out faster! The birthing ball did help a lot with the pain, and when I had a contraction, I could bend over and grab the table, and it really helped. So around 6, my sisters Suzie and Michaela showed up. By then I was in screaming pain and we all knew it was time to go to the hospital. I got admitted and checked and I was only at a 2-3! But luckily they let me stay and an hour later I was at a 5. Thank heavens! Here is a picture of my last day being pregnant, and my sister Suzie at 6-7 months pregnant!

So they gave me my epidural and it worked great for about an hour. Then it fell out. Apparentally that has never happened to the guy who gave me my epidural, but of course it had to happen to me! They gave me another one, and this time it lasted up until it was time to push. By the time i was ready to push, the epidural was almost all the way gone, and i could feel every bit of pain. I was terrified. I never wanted a natural birth, I wanted pain relief! I pushed for about 2 hours, and at 5:04 in the morning my beautiful baby girl was born. She was very large, and i was in a lot of pain. The doctor stitched me up for about an hour (which was not pleasant). Sorr if this is tmi for people! I'm just being honest :)
So the whole time I'm being stitched up, my baby is starving. They tried to give her to me, but I was in so much pain that I couldn't hold her. She was screaming for food, and finally after an hour I could nurse her. The nurse put up my bed so I could sit up, and i immediately pass out. They tried to get me to wake up and eventually I did, but by then my baby was fed with a bottle because I just wan't able to do it right then. My family kissed me and left, and they took Lydia to wash her and check her out. Porter and I tried to sleep, but I couldn't I was just too uncomfortable. So they didn't know why I passed out but they didn't check my blood or anything. So the next night, I get up to go to the bathroom and I passed out again. They finally checked my blood hemoglobin levels, and it was very low. They gave me blood like a vampire, and I was back to normal! Kinda. They finally let us go home and I was so happy. Nothing worse than the hospital.
Here's a picture of my sweet baby Lydia;

She has been a very hard baby. She wanted to be held, she didn't sleep well, and she didn't nurse well. Despite all of that, I love her so much and I feel so blessed to be her mother! Now that she is four months, she is sleeping 9-10 hours straight, and then 3 more after i feed her in the night. She is happy, she will play on the floor for hours.
My favorite is first thing in the morning when she wakes up, she starts playing, and I go into her room. She sees me and she smiles this huge grin, and I just feel so lucky she is mine! I know its going to get harder, and I'm going to have more children, but for now I am just enjoying my sweet happy baby who is the second love of my life. This is a recent picture of us:

It is hard sometimes because Lydia really prefers me and Porter over anyone else. So when we go places sometimes she's a grouch if we give her to someone else. So not many people have seen just how sweet she is, but I think thats just part of being a baby. I'm glad my baby loves me!
So to update you on Porter and me, we moved to Nampa in August. We are renting a house, and I love it. I have been trying to learn how to decorate and how to take care of a house with a little baby and hungry husband. Porter has been doing great at work. He really likes it, and he has been super busy. We have been really blessed that he is part of CarMedic, and that he enjoys it so much. I am still trying to heal from Labor. I bought an elliptical and I am trying to lose the excess baby weight. Next time I am not going to gain so much I've decided! I only have 5 more pounds until I'm back at my prepregnancy weight. It has been a lot of hard work! Especially when I have to feed Porter regular food so he doesn't lose weight with me :)
I am in scouting and porter is in Young Mens. Its been challenging but we're getting better at our callings. We don't have a perfect life, but it is still a great one. We love each other, and thats all you can ask for. Some days Lydia is really grouchy and I just want to pull my hair out. Usually on those days, Porter is going to Young Mens to go play night games or something and I'm really really jealous. But thats life! I'm happy Porter loves his calling, and i"m happy that I get to stay home with our little baby.
Well this was a lot longer than I planned, so good job if you read it all! I will update again soon. I'm going to try to do better! :)

The City of Love!

So we went to france this last month, and we had a great time. Although we had lots of adventures! Starting with the day we got there, i had to go and find an adapter because I cannot sleep without my fan. So we searched and searched (all in a jet lag state), and everything was closed because it was a Saturday (which is very weird). We finally found one at a nearby hotel (they were pretty mad when they found out that we weren't even staying at their hotel-almost took it back!), and then we took it up to our room. I had bought a 3 dollar fan at Target, and we plugged it in, and laid on the bed to enjoy it. Not one minute later there was this awful smell, and it was smoking! It was a disaster. So needless to say, I spent the vacation without a fan. Yeah! So apparentally I can make it without one. Although I did sleep with earplugs. The next morning, we went on a train to Nimes. The countryside was so gorgeous. I wish we could have stayed in the country side more, but Nimes and Nice were gorgeous too. Here is a picture of the view from my window. (Sorry a little blurry).


Then we went to Nimes, and it was actually the city where Porter served part of his mission. It was really fun to see a couple of his old friends, even though I couldn't understand a word of what they said! My favorite thing at Nimes was probably the Pont du Gard. Its this huge aquaduct (sp), that the Romans built near the time of Christ I think. Its really beautiful!



We went to Nice next, and stayed in a little apartment by the beach. The beach was pebbly, but the water was so clear and blue! We rented a scooter, and drove to Monaco, and the Village of Eze. Monaco was pretty, but there wasn't a whole lot to do there but walk around. There was a couple of old buildings, and a museum but nothing too exciting. What was the prettiest thing about Nice was its coastline. So pretty!





The last place we went to was Paris. So we didn't have a car or anything so Porter tried really hard to direct us where we needed to go. It was an adventure! We got to the apartment we were staying at finally, and tried to find dinner. We got a panini (which was really really gross), and went to sleep. (We went to bed so early every night because we were just exhausted, we are not night people!). Luckily I married someone who likes to go to bed at a decent time too! We went to the Louvre the first day. It was huge! We didn't even see everything. Some of it was underground.



We went to the Eiffel tower (after lots of huffing and puffing up the stairs). It was cheaper that way so we climbed half the way up. I was pretty proud of myself! :) So we got halfway and decided that was good enough. The view was beautiful! It was really cool, and I'm glad we went to Paris, but I don't think I'd go back. If I could go anywhere again, I'd go back to Nice. Crystal blue waters and beaches! Although the beach in Nice was a nude beach which I didn't like. Lots of old ladies half naked! But overall such a fun trip, and I feel like Porter and I are even closer after going together. It was fun to see where he had served his mission, and he liked using his French. I'm sad now because Porter left me to do advanced training in Missouri. But he'll be back on Sunday! :) These are my favorite Paris pictures:

I think you all should see what I get to every day:) Cutie pie!

Crazy summer!

So this summer has defintitely been craziness. Porter has been working so much, because summer is the busiest season for his work. While I, have been bored out of my mind. Trying to fix that soon though :) So we recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary. It was on a Sunday, and first I had to pick him up from the airport because he'd been in Missouri all weekend for work. We just did things we normally did, nothing special because we decided not to give gifts because we're going on a huge vacation in a month. (FRANCE!!) So excited by the way!

Anyways, I just realized something about marriage. The little things you do for each other make a huge difference. If you're willing to put forth effort into making the other person happy, then they usually are willing to too. I am so grateful for my husband who is willing to do anything to make me happy. Who loves and supports me in everything I do. I wish I was a better wife sometimes, but I am learning I guess! This year has been the happiest of my whole life. It seems like everything had its purpose, even me dating odd, interesting, and at times psycho guys! But I would do it all again if I get Porter at the end of it:) I love my life. I love that I get to wake up to my husband's handsome face every morning.

I've been working on scrapbooking too, and I think some of the pages are pretty cute! I still need to get better of course, but it has made me think of a few fun things we did this year:

1. We tree thinned in the wilderness for 4 months. At first, I absolutely hated it (bugs and heat and massive trees falling in your direction!), but then I realized that it was the only time where I get to spend all day with Porter, and just him and me. So I tried to enjoy it after that!
2. Porter left me for 2 months for training in Missouri. I was so sad the whole time he was gone, i think i cried the first 2 weeks. But it helped me to appreciate him and not take him for granted.
3. We went to the Oregon coast twice, and fell asleep on the beach. if you know me, you know that I don't sleep anywhere but in my bed with my fan full blast, but it actually happened! I was quite proud of myself.

Some not so fun things happened this year too. I realized what it fully meant to lose something precious. I learned God gives, and he takes away for a reason. I learned how to move on, and how to become a better person regardless of my trials. Some people think that I have forgotten or moved on completely, and the truth is that I never will. I will never forget, but I will learn from it. I love my Heavenly Father, and I know that I am his daughter. It took me a long time to learn that, but I am loved! I love my life!

Ps. if you don't know by now, I am a VERY random person, as evidenced by my blogs!!!

Also: Something funny that happened last night: Apparentally we were both sleep walking, and lights were turned on and we know that we were walking around or looking for something, but we both can't remember what it is. Its a problem when you're both sleep walking! We both sleep talk too, so I would really like to record us some night, and it would be funny to watch!
Love you all!

Whats new?

Well, as I thought, I am horrible at blogging. Let's see, in April we moved to Middleton, where we are living in Porters grandparents house while they are on a mission to Africa. We love it here, even though it is wayyyyyyy more work than an apartment, but so worth it! And I have a garden:) Porter is loving CarMedic, and doing awesome and getting better every day. Its so crazy how its been almost a year since we got married. It seems like yesterday! Some crazy things have happened the last few months that I won't go into detail about, but we are very excited to be trying to get pregnant again later this month. Porter really wants a boy and I want a girl, so we shall see:) Actually I would just be happy with a healthy baby. My brother Robbie left on his mission last Wednesday. crazy! I'm just so happy it happened, and I pray for him every day. And my other brother is leaving next week! Craziness. Not much going on this summer. We're going to the coast for a little work/vacation next Wednesday and I am excited to get away for a little while! I miss all of my friends in Boise, and everywhere else. I love my life! Hopefully I can figure this thing out so I can add pictures:) Love, Madi

Lately...

I am so bad at this blogging thing! But anyways, things that have been happening lately. Porter has been at Carmedic school in Illinois for almost seven weeks. He is coming home on Friday, and I am so stinking excited! I knew I was going to miss him, but I didn't know how bad! I think we both realized just how blessed we are to have each other, and to be so happy. So we are moving to Middleton next month too. Crazy. I'm sad to leave our ward, especially since I've made such good friends here. But it will be a new adventure too, and as long as we're together, thats all that matters!

So I've been trying to go to the gym a few times a week, and sometimes i am good, and sometimes I'm really bad. My first day back at the gym in January was comical! I got on the ellyptical and five minutes later I was about ready to pass out. Literally. I ran to the bathroom and tried not to throw up. But since then, its been a lot easier to stay on it, and increase the level. So if anyone has any good exercise tips, please tell me!

So I've been thinking lately just how blessed that Porter and I are. We are so blessed to have enough money for our needs, for work, for each other, for the gospel. Sometimes i forget that, and start complaining. Especially since Porter has been gone, sometimes I just whine that I'm lonely or bored. When really I could find a gazillion things to do, and it would go by so much faster! I am going to try to learn how to sew I decided. Suzie said that she taught herself, so I can too right?! Well she's a lot more crafty than me, but I'm going to try!

The news about us

Well, I finally gave in and got a blog. Tons of people i know have one, so I thought it would be an easy way to share information. I'm not sure yet what i'll share on here. I guess our lives, and what we've been up to. Porter and I worked together for a couple months right after we got married. We thinned trees in the wilderness. Porter would chop them down, and I would thin them out with clippers. At first it was so stinking hard, but then I was so grateful that Porter and I had this time to spend all day together, and really get to know each other inside and out. I would recommend it to anyone. So now Porter is working with his dad until January, when he will go to a Car Medic school in St. Louis, Missouri. And no, I can't go with him :( So I guess i'll be a widow for two months while he's there. I am working at a montessori preschool, which I am really enjoying. Life is hard, but its also the best I've ever had. I have never been this happy or felt this good about myself. Love is worth it, and I don't regret a single moment.
When Porter and I got engaged, everyone thought we were moving too fast, or we got the "what the heck are you doing?" comments. But we both knew it was the right thing to do, and thats what counts in the end right? Hopefully something exciting will happen soon so I can post it! Ha