The giggles

Last night, we sat together on the couch. I held you to look at me, and you smiled. My natural reaction was to smile back. We kept this on a few seconds until your eyes made me laugh. I laughed out loud, and you laughed back. It was so cute to hear your giggle! These are rare sounds we hear from you, so we try to take it all in when we can. You made me laugh SO HARD! We sat there giggleing at each other for about 5 minutes, my tummy hurt! You kept egging me on, and I kept you laughing. We did this off an on. This is a moment I will always remember. You are one silly kid!
I will always love you, Porter boy!

Porter with Uncle Ryan

Evan,

We've been through a lot in 2 years: Surgery, commuting, boards, graduation, miscarriage, pregnancy, baby, purchasing, traveling, conferences, remodeling, landing a job, and we've moved 3 times!

You bring so much joy to my life. You are my best friend, my listener, my sunshine, my everything. Every night before I sleep I say to myself how lucky I am to have you in my life. You are very near perfect. You make me laugh everyday. I thank you for giving me a chance at life with you, and I think we're a pretty good team. There are so many dreams I have, and you're in every one of them. You work hard, and I love that. You've seen me in every light, and still rush home to me everyday, and I can't tell you how much that means to me. Thanks for your honor to God and to yourself. I want you to know I watch you doing that, and it gives me strength. You keep me in line, you effortlessly support me, and you share in all my hopes, dreams, and dissappointments. You are the reason I wake up in the morning and get things done. Every day I thank God for the wait I had to go through. You're so worth it. Thanks for taking me to the temple and saying YES. We've had a pretty good 2 years, and I guarantee the years to come will be even better!

Happy Anniversary! 12.26.08

We've been married for 2 years! Believe it or not, we planned the 26th with a lot in mind. Yes, it would be hard to leave for a getaway, yes it would never be convenient to celebrate, and yes, everything is more expensive this time of year. So, we decided to celebrate our anniversaries in June. Thus far, it hasn't happened yet.

It was my year to plan. The fun part is that we keep it a surprise until Christmas, then celebrate the next day. Last year Evan took me snowmobiling up Logan canyon. This year I took him skiing. We haven't been since our honeymoon, and anything else with child care would have been difficult. I took Evan to a quaint little B&B the 26th, then we went up to the Canyons for an awesome day of skiing. We got a lot more than we bargained for, but had a good time.

Christmas

This Christmas was the best yet. The best part was spending time with family. Tea and I got together with mom on Christmas Eve and made goodies. We ended the evening with a candle-lit dinner and a program. The only thing missing was Travis with his family. We went up to spend one last Christmas day with Evan's family. I will miss them terribly. Though the weather outside was frightfull, we kept ourselves busy playing games and chatting, and resolving disputes with the "little ones".

There's a certain magic at Christmas with a little baby. My mind often reflected to Mary and her obvious love for the Christ Child. I wonder how she could have loved him so much knowing she had to give him away. I feel that I understood much more this year what Christmas is all about. I think of starting the traditions that will carry through the years as my children grow. I think of the stories that soften my heart. I loved having my family close.

Thanks for the memories, mom and dad.

Our gifts to each other: Evan- stuff for his bike

Toni- a new stove!

Porter- sleeping through the night!

borrowed Christmas!

We finally got a Christmas tree! We put it up the 23rd. Evan's parents are on their mission, and didn't put theirs up this year, which spawned the question, "Do you want to borrow it?" Followed by, "Yes please!" We took it home and all the decorations. Yes! We can put off buying a tree for another 2 seasons! (sense the excitement!)

The nap

How could you not love that face! As I write, my sweet little guy is still asleep! Evan has been out of town this week, and I promised him while he was gone, that our little man was gonna be crying it out. The purpose of this was so Evan could get some quality sleep from now on. He has been getting up with little P every night the past few weeks to put him back down, cause he's not hungry, he just fusses and wakes himself up.

Night 1: P gets up at 2:10 and cries for 1 1/2 hours. Falls asleep. Wakes up again at 4:50 and cries for 1 hour 15 mins. I wake him up at 6:30 to feed him, and we sleep until 9. I know this will be a long 3 days.

Night 2: Bracing myself for the worst, and knowing I can't go through with it another night, I put him down at 8:30. After his 10:30 feeding, he sleeps until 7:45. What!?????! He slept the whole night! Could it possibly be that he learned I'm not coming in to get him in just one night? He is very smart, but really?

Night 3: I'm not counting on a blissful sleep. Again, he proves himself conquerer of dream world! I rejoice in the morning, and smile all day.

Last night Evan came home, and lo and behold? Little P got up 4 times. WHAT?!!!?!!! Of course Evan took over. Really? Really? Is this how it'll be? Dad spoiles him, mom lets him cry.

Thus, after a long night for all of us, Little P is fast asleep in his car seat. Let me emphasize that he never does this. He'll sleep in the stores, in the car even when he's not tired, but the second we walk through the front door he's awake. Thus, we're relishing in the long nap in the car seat in the front room. He is unpredictable, this we've learned, and we still love him!

The Call...

The Call finally came! My in-laws have been waiting for their mission call for awhile, and THEY GOT IT! They told us they wouldn't be around for Thanksgiving, but to our excitement, they leave after Christmas! They're going to the Guam/Micronesia Mission! Serving in the Family History Center, as this was a little joke in the family. My sister-in-law teased they would serve a family history mission, to which my mother-in-law replied, "Well, we'll have to learn all about it then!" Their previous mission was in Thailand as Humanitarian missionaries, to which, I'm proud to say they are VERY good at. We all expected the same type. God has a sense of humor though, and we're very excited for them! I hear Guam is nice in September...

Can you belive these 2 have this much posterity already? It blows my mind to think that all these people came from them alone. (with a little help). My in-laws are two of the best people I have ever known. They are like steam engines without a station. I marvel at how much service mom gives. She is always mindful of everyone's needs, and I've never known her to overlook anything or anyone. If you compliment them they say, "Oh, we're common as rocks." That may be true, but to me, they're heros. They raised 9 children. 9! And they're all wonderful! How did I get so lucky to join this family? I know they will touch many lives in Guam. It's hard to forget a tall farmer and his on-the-go wife.

We love you. We love what you've taught us. And we will miss you more than you'll know.

THAT was really stupid!!!

What was I thinking? If you have ever owned a cat, you'll know what I'm talking about...

As I sat at the computer bloging, I heard my cat start hacking in the front room. Every time I can catch her, I throw her into the bathroom so she'll throw up on the linolium and I won't have to clean up the carpet. This particular time, I was fortunate enough to catch her, by the neck and throw her into the bathroom. Just as she landed in the bathroom, I looked to find the bathmat was down (rare), and of course, she was perched over the mat. I instinctively grabbed the corner of the mat and threw it into the tub. Then I immediately began congratulating myself for having avoided another cleanup project when I looked up. This is what I saw... yeah, gross!

I had thrown the bathmat just as Precious threw up on it. Now I have 2 messes to clean up. Thus my stupidity gives way to yet another project. I believe that the guy who invented chlorox wipes deserves every penny! (Though I think it was a woman)

Baby Porter in his blessing outfit. Thanks everyone for your love and support!

Crying it out

I'm sick of 45 minute naps. I guess I've always known this needed to happen, but lived with it until now. We've come to the end of our rope with middle-of-the-night feedings. I guess we shouldn't complain, cause he's a great nite-sleeper. He goes right down at night, and then right back down after he's fed, it's just the noisy wake-ups we hate.

Maybe I should feel bad about this, but I don't. He has never slept in our room. After a week vacation I am so glad this is the case. We didn't sleep remotely well with him in the same room with us. In fact, we keep our doors open at home, but keep a fan going so we don't hear his cute little noises he makes in his sleep. Then we know only to get him when he's really awake and hungry.

Yet, the time has come to teach him to sleep through the night. Any more putting it off, and it'll just get harder, right? One thing we know...he's stubborn! He will not give in easily. In fact, as I write this right now, he's crying away in his crib, cause he doesn't want to go back to sleep. I say nap time isn't over. I have to force myself to let him cry, though I hate to listen to it. This morning I took a shower during his cries, and now I have the drone of the computer fan to keep his cries muffled. He will learn, right?

So we decided to let him cry out his nights starting this weekend. From what we've heard and read, it should only take about 5 days, right? Then it's the dreaded Thanksgiving weekend, and we'll be at Grandmas, so he'll have to be sleeping throught the night by then, right?

I feel like I can't do this, but do I have a choice? He's healthy, and giving him a good night's sleep is really for the best, right? Help!

Is there a chance he's in that 5%-tile that won't learn by crying it out? I'm warning the neighbors tonight.

He's a pumpkin... literally!

We had our traditional halloween this year. Every year we get together with Evan's sister to carve pumpkins the week of halloween. Now that we live closer, we were over every night last week. Now, I'm not talking about carving pumpkins the way you're thinking, I'm talking week-long sculpting and planning, tracing patterns, power tools, intricate carving knives, etc. Laura goes all out! Last year we carved something like 62 pumpkins.

Anyway, we had a good time this year, as usual, and Evan's other sister, Terri suggested we put baby P IN a pumpkin! That sounded easy enough. I sculpted out his name, and carved out 2 leg holes, and Voila! His first Halloween costume was born. As you can see, he didn't really like it, but he'll laugh at the pictures in years to come. Thanks Laura for letting us tear apart your house!

The BEST man

I have the best husband in the world. I write this because he has done so much for me over the past month, and I need to give him credit. He’s the type of man who gets home after a long day at work, and starts with, “what do you want for dinner?”(And he’s a great cook.) He’s one to do housework without being asked. He constantly gets things for me I’ve left behind, refills my water bottle, does the dishes, feeds the cat, changes diapers, gets up with us in the middle of the night, and calls during the day just to say hi. He loves his little boy and takes care of him whenever possible. Evan is a man who lets me have my own thoughts and nights out, if I need them. He listens to every word, cries with me, laughs with me, and consoles my fears. He honors the priesthood, sets goals, respects me, and puts his family first.
Evan, you are my life. You are worth every second I waited to find you. You have made me the happiest girl in the world. You are perfect and I love you so very much. You have brought so many wonderful memories to my life, and I want to tell you you mean the world to me. Our son has the BEST father! Thanks for giving him to me, and thank you for making my life complete.

Pumpkin or prisoner?

Little P with grandma

My mom has a bunch of newborn size halloween outfits. She had 5 or 6, and we washed them and put one on right away when we went to visit mom and dad for conference. We laughed so hard as we dressed little P in this bright orange "jump suit". He looks like a little prisoner, doesn't he? It's so sad that they outgrow all their little outfits too fast. It seems they only get to wear them once or twice before their britches are too big! He's already graduated from newborn sized diapers. And yes, I cried.

It's a corn party!

Terri shucking the corn

Every year around this time, Evan's family has a corn party. Not to be confused with apricot jamming, salsa making, apple saucing, bean picking, and pea parties. His parents own a farm, and thus, lots of produce. They used to sell lots of it at the farmer's markets, but now, most of the proceeds go to feeding their 9 kids and growing families.


We get together whenever possible (and necessary) to help with whatever it may be. In this case, corn. It's really simple, it just requires doing lots at a time. In this party, we cooked and froze 32 dozen ears, with 60 dozen still left to harvest. The process is: pick the corn, shuck it, wash it, cook it, blanch it, cut off the kernels, bag it, freeze it. We love having fresh frozen veggies all year long. Thanks mom and dad!

Toni and Sarah washing the corn

Dad cooking the corn

Our Cougar

We recently took little P to a BYU football game. We have season tickets every year, and we were looking forward to dressing up little P in his blue gear for the games. The weather was particularly nice for this game, so we took him with us. He slept through the whole thing, even the canon blasts. Gooooo Cougars!!!

He discovered my eyes!

From the title, my post is pretty self-explanitory. We were doing wakey time. I laid Porter down on my lap, and took off my glasses. He was being very alert and looking around at whatever. I leaned in really close to his face, hoping to catch a glimpse. He stared right into my eyes! I could have melted! We kept the gaze for quite a while, and he seemed to know who I was. Of course it made me cry, and I wiped my eyes and we did it again! What a blessing it is to be a mother. He also does these really cute smiles when he's dozing off. I can't wait until they become concious reactions.

The Routine

We are using a daily routine method recommended to us by a teacher of mine. It's called Baby Wise. If you've ever heard of it, it's a book written by Gary Ezzo, and it's all about getting your child to sleep through the night. I wanted to try this out ever since my teacher talked about how she can spot a baby-wise baby a mile away because they're so well behaved. We bought the book months ago and have been studying up and preparing to use the recommendations in the book. Here's how it works:
The point in to teach your child to learn to fall asleep on his own, without needing to be rocked, swung, fed, sung-to, pacified, etc... Mr. Ezzo suggests we change the order of the daily routine from the normal, wake-feed-sleep to the feed-wake-sleep. We have been making sure little Porter gets a full feeding every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs, then we keep him awake as long as he'll allow, and when he gets fussy, we know he's not hungry, so we put him down for his nap (usually 1 1/2 to 2hr nap). The first week was really hard, cause we didn't know if he was eating enough, or what he needed. As the 2nd week started, Porter started regulating himself to do these things naturally. His body is responding to the 3 hr. feedings, and he stays awake more. He (usually) goes down for a nap without fussing. At night, he sleeps for 4-5 hr. stretches, and would sleep more if I didn't wake him up to feed him. He is such a good baby! The only hard part is not knowing if his happy disposition is because of this routine, or because that's how he is. He is very predictable, and it's helped us as parents have the confidence in knowing we're giving him what he needs and determining his needs. Every day gets better and better!
Now, just to clarify. We're not those kind of parents who stick to the routine "do or die", for all those concerned. We are flexible, and we do understand that somethings are more important than naptime and "on the hour" meals. For now, we're very happy and we'll keep you posted on how its going.

My New Son

Here's our new delivery!

Sept. 4th. 2008

Porter Eldon Zaugg

He was 7lbs. 6 oz. and 19 inches long.

He is a joy and a good baby. We are so proud and overwhelmed by how much we love him already. I sat in the nursery with him the day we got back, trying to let it all sink in. I sat there with him peacefully dozing in my arms, and this surge of emotion shot through me. I started sobbing, just overwhelmed by all the feelings I have for him. I love him so much! I knew somehow I would feel this way, though I didn't know when. How amazing it is to love someone so small and new!

It is a total experience trying to figure out what he wants and when, and what to do when. Evan is really good at getting him to calm down. He is pretty easy, except when he cries, he cries, and wailes, and screams, and sounds so desperate. It's so cute! If only he's sleep more during the night, and be more alert during the day.

A Saturday Stroll

Last Saturday, with the cold weather coming on, we decided to hike the "Y" instead of our usual brisk stroll down the provo parkway river trail. We left at 7 in the morning and took it easy. Evan hardly broke a sweat we were walking so slow. We made it to the top of the Y, and enjoyed the view for a few minutes before our walk back down. The downhill was almost harder, with the extra 25 pounds I've packed on, my legs were shaking by the time we finished. I'm still dealing with sore calves though Evan has no repercussions!

What the Dr. said

We went to our weekly Dr. visit this week, and I was told I'm doing above average for my due date. I'm not sure what that means. I'm 2 cm dilated, and 70% effaced. That doesn't really mean the baby will come early, but we're ahead of schedule apparently. We also had an ultrasound to measure the fluid levels (cause I'm measuring small). Everything is normal. We were hoping to catch a glimpse at the sex of the baby but, just like the first time, it was very uncooperative. She did tell us there is hair on its head, how much she couldn't tell. We hope there's lots. Also she said the placenta looks like its on the demise. That's good! The proposed weight of baby Zaugg is 7lbs. 2 oz. The Dr. said babies don't gain much more weight after 38 weeks because of the placenta's degeneration. I'm okay with that.
I've been walking for an hour every morning I don't work, and I've only gained my weight goal of 25 lbs. (And NO MORE!)
I keep getting several Braxton-Hicks contractions consistently throughout the day, the baby's room is all ready, and we're just a packed bag away from having this baby!

My miracle

Allow me to put in a plug for my favorite product. Certain Dri has made me happy for over three years. Here's how it works: You put it on at night, like a roll-on deodorant. You wake up in the morning, and you don't sweat! I have had dry armpits since I've started using it. Even through all my training and the whole marathon! I swear by this product, and I've recommended it to so many others! If you have "embarrassing stains" or wetness, you should try this, it really works!

The only downside I've heard about is sensitivity to aluminum chloride (that's what MD's prescribe for excessive persperation). I know some people don't like how itchy and sens. it makes their underarms, but I personally haven't experienced this. I've only found it at Target.

Good luck!

I've been tagged!

Here's the game:

Post these lists on your blog. Your 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 facts about yourself, and 3 current obsessions/collections.Then tag 5 of your friends at the end of your blog by leaving their names. Let them know you tagged them by leaving a comment on their blog.

3 joys
my new house
my new baby
my husband

3 fears
losing a loved one
spiders and other creeping bugs
offending others

3 goals
getting my baby to sleep through the night
being financially savvy
losing baby weight

3 facts about myself
I love decorating
I hate working
I don't eat candy or sugar on a regular basis

3 current obsessions/collections
Blogging
baby gadgets/junk
finding cheap gas

I now tag...
Stephani, Tara, and Lynette

My cute, cuddly little girl!

Isn't she precious?

Project baby's room

We finally finished painting baby's room. I'm still not sure about the green, but the brown is fav. We went around the home-made borders with a little miracle stick called the paint pen. It has a flat caligraphy tip on it, and the paint flowes from it. We were thinking something like white-out, but this was a find! The only things left to buy are the few odds and ends, and the crib. (Why we've put that off so long, we don't know!) We'll get one this weekend I'm sure.

The doctor says I'm ready to go when baby is. I don't know how exactly I should feel about that. Today I decided I'm ready to hand this baby over to someone else for awhile. I'll take that as a good sign. I'm not really dilated, but 50% effaced, and the nurse told me I'm above average for most at this time. I hope this little Zaugg is getting anxious as I am. I'm just glad project baby's room is coming to an end.

Anyone have any tips as to laundry detergent that's best for little spit-ups and blow-outs?

A baby shower surprise!

Am I clueless, or do people REALLY know how to keep a good secret?

A couple weeks ago, my mom invited me to a super saturday the relief society was doing in her ward. She said they were doing some really cute crafts, and of course, I agreed to come. I had a baby shower that day at Evans family's house, but it wasn't until the evening. I spent part of the afternoon shopping. (You know, the usual: nursing bras, maxi pads, warm socks for delivery, just a typical day of shopping). I met my sister at mom's house a few minutes late, and we rushed over to the church. I had no idea!

We walked into the relief society room, which I thought was weird, cause don't they usually do these things in the gym? I saw a bunch of ladies sitting in a circle, all of whom would normally be there. I walked in and heard a big, SUPRPRISE!!!!!

This was so much fun! We played a bunch of games, including, don't pop the balloon, (as you try to tie your shoes), the price is right, the "can you name everything in this basket?" game, and the dirty diaper candybars.

My friend Jenny took it upon herself to plan this, and bless her heart, it was so fun!

Here are pics of the two showers. Thanks everyone. We love you!

1st mommy moment / What will we name it?

This is kinda pathetic and emotional, but what isn't with me these days?

I received a diaper in the mail from Huggies. I don't know why they sent one to me, cause I didn't ask for it, but here's the story: I was sitting on the couch opening the mail, and I opened the diaper package last. It was a newborn size, and I sat looking at it, staring at it. I turned it over to the back side, and just started crying. Something about holding that little diaper put life into perspective. It hit me that my little baby's bum will soon fit into that! I could actually picture this little life, this tiny baby with all its parts, and I just took a moment and cried. I guess it was good for me. I never really pictured myself with an infant before (I can't tell if that's good or bad). I suddenly got really excited. Maybe it's the fact that I don't know the gender, so I haven't attached myself to it yet. Now I'm getting there.



We picked out names this week! We have 2 names for each sex, and we'll decide once we see it. Don't laugh please:

Boys: Porter, Elliot

Girls: Lydia, Anna

Middle names are undecided. Any suggestions?

Please note, some of these names were chosen by Evan, so if you don't like it, it was probably his choice!

Chile, Switzerland, Boston

Here's some fotos of our summer vacations! Whew! Glad that's over!