Living Traditions

David with a living statue in front of the park



We found this at the Dutch booth....there are 7 picture frames. coincidence?



Something a blacksmith guy made


The blacksmith guy making something


My dads wife Ana is from El Salvador, and part of the latin community here in Salt Lake so she had a booth at the Living Traditions. Its pretty much a big culture fest where you can watch dances from different countries, and there are arts and craft booths where you can watch people making things and you can even buy some of the stuff. The booth Ana was in was part of the food. They have people making authentic food from different countries. She was making a whole bunch of stuff I never even heard of but it was pretty good. They had an Indian booth where they were making fry bread SOOOOO good!! but it was the longest line they had there so we didnt get any.
In the Arts and crafts section we found a family making Navajo weaved baskets, for a set of 5 baskets it was 3000 dollars!!!! I should be learning how to make these things so I can make that kind of money!!!
We bought a little hand made bracelet that says Marley. Its spelled wrong but its cute and we liked it. We stayed there for a few hours and watched the Salvadorian dancers. They were really entertaining. My dad played with Marlee while he was with us but most of the time she was carried around in the snuggie thing we borrowed from Teresa. I loved it! We are going to look for one now. And we finally found the missing pieces to our stroller so I can actually use it now! YAAY!
We are not too good at taking pictures when we go out to these things. Mostly because we dont want to carry the camera around. We would rather have fun than worry about taking pictures. Well okay David would rather not worry about taking pictures and Im sick of not being in any so were on a picture strike lol.
My little brother Zack and Viena were there for part of the day and before this we visited with my other brother Nick and his fiance Lizzie. All my brothers are so funny to watch with Marlee. Austin is finally starting to talk to her, but everyone else doesnt know what to do so they just look at her and shake her arms a little. They will learn eventually!

St George/Las Vegas

YAY!!! our first EVER vacation together!



We found a room at Circus Circus for 30 bucks! but it wasnt even in the hotel part, it was a cheap motel thing behind it lol. Oh well! We got out of Utah!


We could see this from our hotel, and that was about it lol.



On the way down to Vegas



David being a goof while driving



This is the best pic I could get of Marlee while she was in her car seat. She slept most of the time unless she was hungry. We had to stop once to feed her.



Caesars Palace is the only big fancy hotel we went to.



We sort of got lost because all the statues look the same.



David chased fish around the giant fish tank



Especially this one



Back home, notice all the smashed bugs on the windshield??


So I have a few buddies from great life that live down in St George. I was talking to one of them who wanted me and the baby to come visit for a few days. I was about to talk to David about it when he came home with a giant unexpected check! It was the week of my bday and the weekend before mothers day so we decided why not? Lets go to Vegas! My friends agreed to watch Marlee over night and then we spent the next night in St George with them. Im sad we didnt get ANY pictures of St George, but we will be back before the summer is over!
David worked Wed night, I stayed up all night cleaning and doing laundry so we could just hurry and pack and leave in the morning. Around 4 I got tired and decided to sleep with Marlee. SO we didnt end up packing till around 930 and at 10 I had to go to Walmart to get some shorts and Capris, then we were on our way!
We got stuck in traffic for about an hour, so it took us about 4 hours to get to St George. When we got there David got out of the car and spent about 5 min walking around telling me how hot it was. My friend met us and we followed her to her house. I cried when we left Marlee so we had to do it quick. Then we were on our way to Vegas!
Remember David has had NO sleep yet. We got stuck in more traffic once we got into Las Vegas for another hour, so we finally checked into the hotel around 6. We had to walk really far to get to our room, because it was in the back Motel section of the hotel. They were really cheap rooms. Our first one stunk really bad because the toilet was clogged with someone elses feces!! So we complained and got another room.
In this room everything was unplugged. All the lamps, the tv EVERYTHING. I had to keep pumping to make sure my milk didnt dry up so every 4 hours I was pumping. While I pumped David went and explored our hotel, for about an hour! I didnt know the tv was unplugged so after about 20 min of pumping I just got to sit there and wait for him to come back.
It was even hotter there so we decided we werent going to walk around in the hot, we stayed in our hotel. We played the slots for a while. I was so afraid even tho I am finally 21, I still feel like I am going to get in trouble. We found a Mcdonalds for dinner and watched a free trapeeze show whie we ate.
It doesnt smell as bad as Vegas usually does because of a new clean air act. People can only smoke while they play games now, so unless David was smoking I couldnt even smell it. I actually left without smelling like an ashtray! We went to bed around 10 because we were so tired. David had been awake for almost 2 days and it was amazing! a full 9 hours of sleep uninterrupted!! What is that!? I should let people take her over night more often! I couldnt handle that, but it was nice to sleep.
We planned on walking the strip after we ate breakfast at the buffet, but we decided to be lazy. We drove to Caesars Palace and parked there, walked around the shops and headed outside. Didnt see anything we really wanted to walk to so we went back to the car and drove down the strip to see the rest, and headed back to St George. It was time to see our baby!
When we got there My other friend had her so we headed to her house. She had her 4 kids with her and had so much fun with Marlee. She is a hair stylist so of course she did Marlees hair all cute. When her hair is wet it is curly so she put gel in it and made it stay curly. She painted her toe nails and gave her a bath. David was in heaven because they had a pool table, a fooseball table, a wii with every game ever made for it, a ping pong table and a giant 72 inch tv!
We got pizza and our other friend and her 4 kids came over. The kids played in the pool, but it was windy so they got cold fast. Around 10 we headed back over to the house we were staying at and went to sleep. When we woke up in the morning we headed back up home. We did get Jack in the box first to eat. AMAZING! We loved the food!
It was a fun vacation, I didnt love wasting our money on stupid slot machines. At one point David doubled 10 dollars, and I turned 1 dollar into 8.75 or something like that. It was a paper voucher and we forgot to cash it in. So we now have an 8 dollar paper souveneer. We didnt have enough to buy my brother anything and i promised him something so we went to one of those stretch a penny machines and made him one that said my lucky penny on it.
Cant wait for our next vacation this summer. There are a few planned!

My very own blue eyed Indian

This is her Easter dress, and her big blues!



We finally ate at the new burger place in Lehi, it was expensive and not very good at all!! but Marlee had fun playing with us while we ate it.



She LOVES to be naked, she thinks she gets to have a shower.



This is her hair right out of the shower, her hair is curly when its wet.



Zack and Viena spoil her a lot!! She really loves when the come to visit!



My momma with her grandbaby



She very rarely will sleep in her crib, and when she does its only for 45 min tops, but it is a cute crib and cute crib sheets!



Marlee and Me



She likes to give the peace sign. She was eating so this is how I covered up to take the pic :)


These are all the random cute pics I have of Marlee. There is no story really to any of them so they get their own post. Some of the new things I love that she does......we can have conversations. She will make a coo or a little noise and I copy it, and then she will make another one. We have gone on for a few min doing this, but usually its only a few times back and forth.
She watches David or me around the room, she almost always has her eyes on one of us.
She LOVES when daddy comes home from work. As long as she is awake he will come in and play with her and that is when she smiles the most. He doesnt even have to say anything....as soon as she can see him she will start smiling.
She HATES blankets, and being wrapped in them. I prob spend most of my time covering her back up just to watch her kick them off again.
She really is the best baby I have ever seen (star used to have that title until recently) she almost never cries, most of the time when she is hungry it is just a little fuss. I honestly dont think she has ever cried because of a dirty diaper, and she doesnt like her car seat. Other than that she is always happy just to lay there and look around. When she is ready to go to bed she just wants her binkie and will fall asleep.
I never knew how much love a mother could have for her daughter. I cant imagine having another baby and being able to love it as much. I will for ever and always remember Marlee as my little baby.

Easter dinners

Uncle Nick, afraid to hold her. This was his first time ever!


Lizzie, his fiance loves her


Grampa Cardon


Aunt Maggie playing with Marlee


We always have 2 family dinners to go to on holidays. My moms started at 2, we showed up late. It was just lunch with all my brothers and their girl friends if they have one. My mom bought Marlee a little Easter dress, well it was a little big on her, but it still looked really cute.
Next was dinner at Aunt Maggies house with my dads family. It was the first time meeting Marlee for most of them there so she was passed around the whole time. David was undefeated in the fooseball tournament they had all day. It was a nice relaxed Easter.

Day with Grama

Thrursday David went out with Ryan so Marlee and me went to my moms for the day. We brought my pack and play to stay there for when Marlee comes, we dont have room for it anywhere in our apt so it can stay there. We went to a book store and to visit a friend. When we got home grama watched Marlee while I caught up on much needed sleep.
I couldnt figure out how to finish putting together the extras on the pack n play so Austin finished it when he got home from school. Him and Branden were on pacifier duty for a while. Any time she would make any noise they would run over to her with it.
Grama days are nice and relaxing for me. I think we will have more of them!

Rocky and Marlee

Best buds already



They are holding hands



She popped his binkie out



All of us sleepin in Marens big comfy bed

Over Easter weekend we all got together at Marens house for Easter fun. Teresa her kids David and I all slept there Friday night. Saturday morning while Teresa was taking the older kids to Easter egg hunts David and I stayed home with the babies and tried to sleep some more. I had been up ALL night with Marlee hurting from her ear infection and still didnt sleep any more because the babies were playing.
They are going to be the next Star and Braxton pair!

Marlee Moo

Just laying with daddy



This is how much she loves our bed, she really has room to stretch out lol.



She loves falling asleep like this on me



Full tummy

She loves to sit with us and look around. Her eyes are still blue, but are getting darker. A darker shade of blue for now.


We are kind of slacking on the picture taking thing. Teresa has more pictures of Marlee than we do! So here are the few that we do have. Now that I am not a walking zombie (most days) I will take more.

Other updates...we had a WIC appointment last week where they measured her. She has already gained all her weight back plus 2 oz. We have her 2 week check up appointment Friday so we will see how much more she has gained. She is a chunker!
She has been giving me breastfeeding problems. I have one good boob, the other nipple is about to fall off so I am pumping that side for now. If it wasnt so offensive I would take a picture and post it so you can all see how bad it hurts. It actually hurts worse than looking at it. (when feeding) the pump isnt too bad. Still painful, but tolerable.
I have been getting worse with with postpartum depression so I finally called my Dr, his nurse told me I could just come up and pick up some samples of Lexapro to try. I picked them up but have way too many questions to just start taking them. I am not a fan of pills of any sort. Before, and during my pregnancy I didnt even take Tylenol for headaches. I just find other ways to handle pain or whatever. It takes a few days of a cold before I will go buy medicine and usually its just cough drops. SO this is a huge step for me to take these pills and I know nothing about them. I dont know if it is safe for me to be breastfeeding while I take them, when I want to quit taking them are they going to give me side affects? What side affects am I going to have while taking them?? Anyone have any clue??!!
I had a few rants that I dont think I blogged about so I am going to write them just so I can look back and remember what upset me so much in the first week. Most of you have already heard these tho.
First day I got home from the hospital David had to go back to work, so my first night I was alone. I dont think I slept at all I was up worrying about EVERYTHING! Trying to count how many diapers she was going thru. Counting hours in between feedings to make sure she was eating enough. Worrying that my milk hadnt come in yet so she wasnt getting enough milk. Then repeating that the next day while David slept. I didnt wake him up to ask for help, I just handled everything on my own which was the worst thing I could have done! He over slept while I didnt at all that whole first weekend, then he went back to work and I was home alone again. My postpartum blues turned into huge anxiety attacks, which turned into huge sob fests. After a few more days of being alone I now am deathly afraid of being alone with the baby. Not in fear of hurting her because of this depression, but worrying that I am not doing anything right, or that something is going to go wrong. So when David wants to leave it has been starting HUGE fights. His friend Ryan is leaving out of town for 4 months this weekend so they have been wanting to go do things before he is gone. I have huge issues with this and talking about when he is going to leave, or right before he leaves, or when he comes back are the biggest depression moments I have. This Thrs he is supposed to be gone all day, well I already know it is going to be horrible so I am not looking forward to Thrs at all!
So things that added to the depression were the pediatrician we HAD to go to the day after we came home. She needed a jaundice check so at the hospital we had to make an appointment before we could leave. Well we got there and the Dr couldnt even do the check at the clinic, he wanted to send us to another hospital the next day. That is not what we asked for and our hospital wanted it done that day. Then he said she was losing to much weight (8.5%) so I needed to start her on formula. I was taking Hydrocodone and Ibuprofen for pain and swelling, well according to him moms only take pain medication for 1 day and then quit so they can breastfeed. That was another reason I wasnt good enough to bf. So I quit taking all medication besides my antibiotic for 2 days because this stupid Dr told me it was bad for my baby. We ended up going to our hospitals lab to get her jaundice test, it came back ok or negative. She didnt have jaundice! But all these things were just weighing me down, plus the no sleeping. I was maybe getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep a day, and I had NO appetite what so ever. Unless I remembered I hadnt eaten yet for the day I wouldnt. I just was not hungry, and because I wasnt eating I was shaking all the time. By the time the cracked nipple happend I was ready to give up on everything. Every feeding I would cry the whole time, not just little tears. They were huge crocodile tears with sobbing and pain sounds. I was awake now because I was afraid for the next time she was going to be hungry because I had to feed her. I wasnt talking to David because every time I did we would end up fighting and it would bring on another anxiety attack/cry fest. All this in a week and a half!
Then the weekend came. Susan was in town. I got out of the house for the first time and went to Teresas to visit. I was in pain still but it was worth it to have people to talk to. We ended up out of the house every day that weekend with the family. I was doing tons better and even somehow got thru to David about how I was feeling. But now its back to being alone at night and having more anxiety attacks. This week I have been able to catch up on some sleep. I still dont think I have been able to get 8 hours of sleep in one night/day, but I feel like I am doing better.
Now back to the thought of introducing the pills. I am stuck and am not sure what I am going to do, but I know I can not continue with anxiety like this every time David goes to work. Or somewhere else where I am left alone.

That is my life right now, I will have to post more often because they turn into novels like this when I wait too long.
Marlee is doing great, no matter how much I worry every thing is perfect with her. My grandpa picked me a fool proof baby. She only cries when she is hungry or has gas, and lately when she wants to cuddle. She smiles a lot in her sleep, and when she is awake she is perfectly happy just sitting with anyone and looking around. She goes crossed eyed lots but still looks cute. She loves the shower. She hates the bath tub. She has a very strong neck. She will hold her head up to get a good look at you, or to make you look her in the eyes when her head is on your shoulder. And she scoots her head into your neck to snuggle better. We love her and love spending time with her!