We are that "old" married couple now.

We've been married 4 years now!

It's crazy how slow time used to go when I was a kid in school... once you graduate, time goes by incredibly fast it's almost scary. Anyways, we are no longer the "newly" wedded couple. 

We decided to spend 4 days celebrating our 4th anniversary, and I mean, why not!? 

Saturday - I got back from a trip to Flagstaff with Paige from visiting my sister and her kids. I came home to a super clean house, laundry done, grocery shopping done and this....

Colton made this for me :) he said it took him 2.5 hours and he had to go to a craft store where he was the only guy in the whole place. Best part, he found the idea on Pinterest. I might have converted him to the Pinterest-ing ways of the world!

Sunday - We woke up and had a delicious breakfast together, played with the baby and went to church. After church, we went to my parent's farm and had dinner. We played games together after Paige went to bed and just relaxed at our house.

Monday - Since Colton had the day off work, we used our Pogo Passes and went to the Sea Life Aquarium with Paige. If you haven't had the privilege to meet her yet, you should know, she is a very active baby. Meaning: she loves to be entertained, look at new things, interact with people, etc. So she gets bored hanging out with just me all day while Colton works. Anyways, Paige absolutely LOVED the Aquarium. 

Tuesday - September 2, 2014. Our actual 4 year anniversary. Colton had to work that day so he was gone all day. I woke up to a cute card and the sweetest text from Colton. He always knows exactly what to say to make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world, and I definitely am. I got my sister-in-law to babysit Paige for a few hours in the morning and went to the Gilbert temple for a session with my brother, Cam. It was unbelievably special to be in the temple that whole morning and to be able to be in there at the exact time I was sealed to Colton 4 years earlier. 

Later that day, I had one of Colton's favorite meals and his favorite cupcake from Sweet Tooth Fairy waiting for him when he got home. After Paige went to bed that night, we stayed up "late" (10:00pm) watching his favorite movie, any guesses!? .... Count of Monte Cristo. 

"If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently... It becomes special because you have made it so. Eternal marriage is just like that. We need to treat it just that way. I pray that we may all see it for the priceless gift that it is."

I'm grateful for my priceless, loving, eternal husband, who is a better man than I ever imagined I would end up with. 

The Girl Who is the "Old, Married Couple" Now,

Erica Walker

4 Month Update

Paige is now already 4 months old!

4 Month Check Up:

Monday, July 14th - 4 months 4 days old

Weight: 15lbs 3oz

Height: 26 inches

Shots received: 4

Reaction to shots: Cried for about 30 seconds then fell asleep. 

Her 5 current "loves":

1. She loves to chew. Everything.

2. She gets a nightly bottle with rice cereal now and she loves to hold it by herself.

3. She loves to stare at her Uncle Mark. And Proud sister moment, Mark FINALLY held her for the first time! She was almost 4 months old and he asked, on his own, to hold her on the beach! :)

4. She loves sleeping on her mama.

5. She loves to stand! She gets SO proud of herself when she's standing.

After her 4 month shots with dad.

The Girl Who Has the BEST little family,

Erica 

Colton

Colton's Birthday Blog Shout Out 

Colton had his 28th birthday on July 9 :) We celebrated by going and getting as many "free" birthday things that we could get for him. We had dinner with family members and spent the entire day together. Exactly how he wanted :) 

I don't often post about our marriage/relationship on social media because I don't feel the need to. If you know me at all, you know I am the HAPPIEST I've ever been in my life over these last 5 years with Colton. I've never laughed so much, been loved more or treated better in my entire life. He deserves this little "blog shout out" because he is definitely one of a kind. Every day I am incredibly grateful he picked me... HE PICKED ME! :) I never believed in "soul mates" and all that stuff until I met Colton. On our first date, I felt completely different with him then I ever had on any other dates I went on. The day I told him I loved him was the day I knew I would never be truly happy if he was not in my life. It felt like I had found someone I had been searching for for 20 years. I'm so thankful for every moment and every person in my life that led me to him. It was a long journey for both of us to finally be ready for each other, even though he was always in the background living so close. I now strongly believe in soul mates and all that gushy love stuff. I bought this quote and it now hangs in our home and it basically sums up exactly how I feel about Colton..

"If I had my life to do over again, I'd find you sooner so I could love you longer"

I'm grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and know for a fact that there will never come a day where I will stop loving Colton. 

 "True love doesn't have a happy ending because true love never ends"

The Girl Who Is Grateful for True Love,

Erica 

2 Month Update

Well it's been over a month since my last post and with how fast this baby grows, things have definitely changed! So I'll just get right down to it...

Friday, April 11th - Paige went on her first vacation :) Colton and I took Paige up to Flagstaff to visit my sister and her kids. On Sunday, Colton drove home to go back to work... boo... while my sister, her 2 kids, Paige and myself packed up in my car and drove to Vegas to surprise my little brother at his volleyball tournament. We stayed in Vegas until Tuesday then Paige and I drove the 5.5 hours back to Flagstaff to drop them off and 3 hours back to Mesa. Paige did AWESOME! As for me, I never want to drive again...

Sunday, May 4th, 2014 - Colton blessed Paige at church. He always used to tell me, "aside from my wedding day, I have looked forward to blessing my first child the most" and secretly he always hoped he would have a daughter to name Paige first so it was even more special. What was ever more special to me, she was blessed in the same dress I was blessed in.

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 - Paige found herself a best friend. This "best friend" has to travel with us where ever we go. This pink giraffe calms her down when nothing else will. At night, I just lay her in her crib with the giraffe on her belly and she passes out. Cutest thing ever! She loves holding on to it.

2 Month Check Up:

Monday, May 19th - 2 months, 1 week, 2 days old

Weight: 11lbs 13oz

Height: 24 inches

Shots received: 4

Reaction to shots: Cried for about 30 seconds then fell asleep. 

2 Month Update:

Sleep schedule: Paige goes to bed around 8:00pm and sleeps 9 hours straight. She then wakes up, wants to nurse for 10 minutes and goes right back to sleep for another 3-4 hours. I am not sure I can call myself a "true mom" yet because I have not had to stay up longer than 20 minutes with her at night. I sleep better now than I did when I was pregnant. Knock on wood.

3 days old on the left, 2 months old on the right:

Her 5 Current Loves: 

1. She loves to smile. She wakes up incredibly happy! Who wouldn't after sleeping 12+ hours a night!? 

2. She loves bath time. She will sit, just kicking around, in the bath for 30 minutes a night if we let her.

3. She loves to sit up. She's been sitting in a bumbo since she was 7 weeks old.

4.  She loves to be tickled, especially by her dad.

5. She loves "talking"! She tries so hard to make all the noises and sounds we make. She almost can giggle/laugh. 

More Pictures, just because I'm obsessed with her cute face :)

She loves when her cousins want to play with her... even if their dolls are almost as big as her!

She went to a lot of her uncle's volleyball games in her short 2 month old life

This baby enjoys a nightly walk with her parents

First visit to the temple, she slept the whole time :)

Until Next Time Blog Readers...

The Girl Who Is Obsessed With Her Baby,

Erica Walker

4 Week Update

As of April 7th, Paige is 4 weeks old! Man, days and weeks go by in a flash when you have a baby. I absolutely LOVE being a mom! It helps that we have the best baby too. Seriously, we do. Paige came out a natural-born eater and sleeper. Since our first night home from the hospital, Paige sleeps 9-10 hours at night and only wakes up 2-3 times to eat for about 10-15 minutes then goes right back to bed. For this momma who LOVES sleep, I feel very fortunate to have passed on one of my favorite and most desirable hobbies to my daughter.

We had a few rough days there at the end of March figuring out an issue Paige has with milk. We found out Paige doesn't digest Milk Protein which is in breast milk. I've drastically cut back on how much dairy I eat and eliminated milk entirely and we've seen a significant improvement. Our doctor told us she must be a strong baby if she can handle everything she's had going on and still be smiling and happy. Like I said earlier, we have the best baby!

Her current weight: 9lbs 2oz as of Friday, April 4th
Her current length: 22 inches

Paige's loves:

1. She loves her Chicco car seat

2. She loves "stretch time" and her bouncer 

3. She loves being milk drunk

4. She loves having her hand up by her face

5. Mom and Dad Love: her CRAZY hair!

Being a mom changes your life. Not just your schedule and plans. I'm talking about how it will change your whole outlook on what love really is and what truly matters in life.  Come on, how could you not love this face!?

The Girl Who Loves Being a Mom,
Erica Walker

Birth Story

I figured I would celebrate Paige being one week old by sharing her birth story...

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, March 10th, 2014 at 3:00am... Yes, you read that right. 3 o'clock in the morning!

The night before, I fell asleep around 9:00pm and woke up at 10:30pm with horrible back contractions. Ironic that I started going into labor hours before I was scheduled to go to the hospital. Around 2am, I got a call from the hospital saying there was not a bed available for my induction and they would call me back whenever one was available. I was told it could be hours, later that day or even the next day. Ugh!

Finally, just a few hours later at 6:30am, the hospital called saying a bed became available and I was to be the hospital by 7:30am. I woke Colton up, he got 8 hours of sleep that night haha, we packed up and headed out. My sister came to the hospital with us and my mom came before I got put on the pitocin. Colton, my mom and Heather were going to be my support team for the day and be there when she was born. I could not have made it through the day without my wonderful husband, loving mom and supportive sister!

I got admitted and hooked up to all sorts of fun machines. My doctor came in around 8:30am to check how dilated I was. At that point, I was in active labor dilated to a 4 having back contractions every 3-5 minutes. I tested positive for GBS so my doctor wanted me to get on an antibiotic for 2 hours before I started pitocin to kick up my labor.

At 10:30am, my nurse hooked up the pitocin and then it was a waiting game. Immediately my contractions started to get more painful. At 11:30am, it was recommended I get my epidural since the anesthesiologist would be busy for awhile with another patient. My nurse and anesthesiologist were shocked because I was having contractions every 3 minutes and I was dilated to a 5 yet I was still talking through my contractions, laughing and having a good time with them. I got my epidural and all it felt like was getting a shot to get my blood drawn. After that, life was good! I even got to take a nap :) I also got to watch Pirates of the Caribbean and Blind Side. The hardest part was not being able to eat any food. I was starving!

Around 5:00pm, I was dilated to a 10 but my water still had not broken. My nurse told me that my baby was still really high and we would try 3 practice pushes to see if she would eventually move down. If she didn't, I would have to get a c-section. I did my three practice pushes and she showed signs of moving down! No c-section for me to which I am extremely grateful for! I was warned though that it would take a long time to move her down with lots of pushing. From then on I started pushing every contraction... which was every 3 minutes.

Around 6:15pm, my water had to be broken. The nurse started to notice that with every contraction, my blood pressure and baby's started to get very low. I was put on oxygen and monitored closely.  I fought back throwing up and having a massive headache the rest of the time pushing. Finally, at 7:00pm, my doctor was called to come deliver my baby! "Lucky" for me, by this point, my epidural was starting to wear off. My legs weren't numb and I could feel a lot of what was going on. Props to all you moms who have your babies without an epidural! I had to have some "extra medical treatment" to help get my baby out. At 7:24pm, after 21 hours of labor and 2.5 hours of pushing, Dr. Beck pulled out our precious daughter.

First time holding his daughter :)

Paige Carlene Walker was born at 7:24pm on March 10th, 2014 weighing 8lbs 2oz and 20inches long.

The Girl Who Gave Birth,

Erica Walker