yeah... it's been a while!

(Macie on the beach July 3rd, 2009-Pacific beach CA)

Wow, we need to be better with this whole blog thing! So much has happened in these last 5 months I don't really know where to begin... so here's a quick update: We bought our first home towards the end of June and have been busy moving and settling in! It is near Lindsay and Brown roads here in Mesa, and we are loving it!

Macie learned how to crawl beginning of July and has been a busy body ever since. She is everywhere and gets into everything! She's almost 9 months already and is always smiling and laughing at something, she loves our new house and I’m sure she can’t complain about the new carpet either (so much softer than the nasty linoleum tile for her to crawl on at our old house at ASU). Macie currently has 2 teeth and is cutting 3 more; she eats everything and thinks it’s a game to squeal and race across the floor to eat the remote, a cup, cell phones, or anything else that may have dropped onto the floor. I’m sure it won’t be long before she’s walking. She is strong and a little too good at standing up and walking around tables and chairs. She says “dada” and “hi” along with waving and that’s about all we can understand from our conversations! All we can say is they grow up WAY too fast! We love being parents and are pretty confident we have the cutest kid in the world hands down!

Sarah is enjoying her last summer vacation and not too excited for school to start up again. She will be taking 18 credit hours this fall and 15 in the spring to graduate with her bachelors this coming May. Between juggling Macie, school, and decorating the house she’s keeping busy! She is an amazing wife and I feel pretty lucky to have married her!

I've been busy with work and building the business. We feel very blessed and are glad to be staying so busy with work. In addition to our business I worked a little off and on for the City of Mesa again this summer teaching CPR and lifeguarding classes as well as training and evaluating all of the lifeguards in the city. It’s more of a hobby for me than anything else.

All in all life is great and we feel very blessed! No complaints. Oh and Sarah promises to post pictures soon of the house and more of our adventures.

Hello! Sorry it has been a while...

Hi! I apologize for not posting in forever. I have been meaning to but each day just flies by. We are doing good. We are very BUSY!! Currently we are awaiting to find out about an offer we put in on a house over in Mesa and are hoping we get it! We have been looking for the past month or so and have found a house that is ironically in my parents ward, but is just perfect for us:) Macie is getting so big! She can almost hold her own bottle, she has rolled over, she talks (or makes noises) all the time, and smiles big! I love her and am so thankful that she joined our family. Jonathan is busy working all the time. Thankfully his business is doing good and we feel very blessed. And I am busy trying to do the whole mommy thing along with school. This semester has been one of the hardest so far and I am just so anxious for summer to come. After that, I will only have a year to go and I will graduate! Life is good for us! I am just stunned at how fast time is flying. Just a year ago I found out I was pregnant and now I have a fourth month old! Crazy! Who knows what the next year will bring. I am just hoping to get into a new house and then take things from there. I willl try to post some pictures soon. I just don't have the time right now to wait for blogger to upload them! It takes forever! I will try to be more dilligent in updating everyone on our lives!

An Update Finally :) And Merry Christmas!

Well, once again I am long over due for a blog post! I have been overwhelmed with several papers to write for school and an upcoming Religions final. But, once the final is taken, I am going to be able to relax a little bit more. It has been rather hard to find homework time because I just want to hold my little girl all the time because she is so cute and a great cuddler! Besides me being stressed out with school, life has been really fun and crazy at our house. Jonathan has been really busy with work for the past couple of weeks and it has felt as if we haven't really seen each other because he goes to bed way before Macie and I do and is gone before we wake up! I am adjusting to sleeping on the baby's schedule. However, I am very thankful for all of his hard work and the opportunity to stay at home and have an abnormal schedule with the baby because there is no where else I would rather be. Macie has been really busy eating, sleeping, peeing, and pooping. It is hard work being a baby. She has done remarkably well however and has gained a lot of weight. At the doctor's on Friday we learned she now weights 8 lbs 13 oz and grew an inch, making her 21.5 inches long! The doctor was very pleased with her progress and I am thankful for a healthy baby. Along with school, I have been enjoying not pregnant! I have laid on my stomach while reading, I have touched my toes while stretching, I have started jogging, and am enjoying feeling like my old self again. My biggest stress however is my desire to lose all my baby weight which some how I packed on during the past nine months. I am anxious to get the go ahead from the doctor so I can really start working out! I miss running and long to get back on the treadmill.

So, what else? Well Thanksgiving was a blast! We had a lot of fun spending time with both of our families and watching them go gaga over the baby! :) They are all so very sweet with her and I feel blessed to know we have so much support! We ate at my family's house and had a great feast! My dad roasted the turkey and ham in a deep pit barbecue and it tasted amazing! I however was stunned that I ate very little food this year! I have never eaten so little on Thanksgiving ever! The reason for my small appetite was because I am breastfeeding little Macie and that translates into a very strict bland diet! I am limited in what I eat because Macie's little tummy isn't mature enough for a lot of foods and when I mess up and eat something that she can't handle she spits up and cries a lot from really hurtful tummy aches!

Black Friday was also another positive day because instead of going Christmas shopping like the rest of America, Jonathan went and bought household items that we needed. Last year while we were engaged we bough a nice set of pots and pans on sale for really cheap. The pots that we bought have been nice but since we have an OLD gas stove that has a mind of its own, our pots have slowly gotten ruined and the nonstick lining flakes off into our food! GROSS! So, this year Jonathan went and bought me some stainless steel pots on sale. He also bought himself a nice new pair of shoes, which makes me happy because he has needed them badly!On the following Saturday, we set up for Christmas!!!! Our first Christmas as a married couple and as parents! Crazy! So, because we didn't have any decorations already, we let Dollar Tree decorate our house! I am excited to have the time to make our stockings next year, but this year I bought three really cute ones at for just $3! I also wrapped a lot of our empty cereal boxes and placed them under the tree for decorations! I like the look of presents under the tree but I haven't had the time to go shopping and because of our small size as a family there are not too many gifts to put under the tree. Jonathan did a great job at putting up Christmas lights around the house! Our house is the only one lit up on the street and although we wish our neighbors would be more festive, we are pleased to spread our Christmas cheer through our Holiday Light display. I am hoping to get all my shopping done, but with Macie who knows what will happen!

And finally, I promise to try to update this blog on a more regular basis. Now that school is ending and Macie and I are getting into a routine I can make more of effort to blog and record our lives! I am thankful for all that I have! Merry Christmas!

Lesson Learned in Two Weeks

The past two weeks have been incredible! I have learned so much as I have tried to mother my daughter. I have learned her different cries- the “I am HUNGRY” cry, the “I have to BURP! Help me!” cry, the “I am tired” cry, and the “Please Change My Diaper” cry. All of her cries are still surreal to me because I am slowly realizing that I am a Mommy and that she is my daughter. I have learned to live and function off of very little sleep as well. Macie somehow got her days and nights mixed up and loves to sleep during the day and keep me awake all night! I love her anyways! I also have gained a deep gratitude for my mother. I never knew that having a child was so difficult (It is also very rewarding!). I never knew that it hurt my mother when I fed on her just like it hurts me when Macie eats! She has a strong suck! I never knew my mother lost so much sleep in my behalf! And I never knew how much my mother loved me until I met Macie. Motherhood is a marvelous thing that really can’t be described adequately enough. It is a something that truly has to be experienced. I have also learned more about the love that our dear Savior has for his children. The veil has been thin in our home since Macie came. It is really hard to describe but there is a quite peaceful feeling here that makes me not want to turn on the TV and it makes me want to sing Primary songs to her as I rock her in my rocking chair. I have learned that God does love His children and that the love he has for us is powerful. I know this because I feel an overpowering love for my daughter that I am not sure where it came from but I know I love her and would do anything for her. Overall, these past couple of weeks have been a joyous, hard journey that has taught me to be grateful for the many blessings that surround me.

On a lighter note:
I have learned that I no longer can make plans and keep my appointments like I used to. This past Sunday we were headed over to Jonathan’s parents for dinner. (His mother is a great cook!) Jonathan and I were already and all we had to was put Macie in her car seat. No problem right? Wrong. When we picked Macie up we learned that she had pooped up her backside and that she needed to be wiped down and changed again. (She had already peed on me earlier in the morning!)So Jonathan and I went to work, we helped each other take off the outfit to eliminate more poop getting all over Macie. We then pulled her diaper off and she decided that she wasn’t finished and she shot out more poop all over the changing table! I was laughing very hard because it was really fun to see Jonathan squirm (this was the first time this had happened to him). However, when he went to pick her up she decided to pee all over as well. We decided that she needed a bath, so we washed her down. And then we had to feed her, get her dressed, and then finally attempt to put her back in the car seat. Needless to say we made it to his parents’ house an hour and a half later than we had planned on. I no longer have a schedule; I am forever on Macie’s schedule and will have to figure out how to fit my life into hers!

Our Little Miracle

The past week has been one of the most trying, exhausting, emotional, and incredible weeks of my life. I have learned that our God is indeed a God of Miracles and have felt His gentle hand in my life over the past couple of days. Tuesday night, Jonathan and I headed to the hospital to start inducing my labor. We arrived at Banner Baywood at 5 pm but didn't start any of the inducing medicinces until 8:30 pm. In those three hours I managed to have three attempts at an IV (little did I know I would need a new one the next day), two nurses, two sets of visiting parents, and a lot of nerves. My induction had two steps. I will spare you all the details. The first part lasted for 12 hours and it caused me to sleep very little because I had to lay in certain positions that would allow the monitors to pick up the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. In addition I had a blood pressure cuff, an IV (those are hurtful!!!!), and a device to pick up my pulse on my index finger. I was literally chained to the bed! The second part of my labor began at 9:00 am when my Doctor came in to check on my progress. Well, I guess it was more like my lack of progress. I was only dialated to a one after the first 12 hours, but inspite of that the Doctor broke my water! That was weird and maddening because I couldn't go to the bathroom to finish my hair or take the walk the nurse had promised I would go on after the first set of drugs were done. Basically, I had spent 14 hours in bed and had no way of getting out of that confining space. Jonathan did however- he had a good breakfast and walk! I was jealous but also happy for him because it was his Birthday and that was my gift to him- freedom to move around while I was chained down in labor! So, after the broken water, I was given pitocin to start my contractions! OUCH! That little drug can really do some damage! I was in pain! In addition to the little drug that made my insides hurt like crazy, I was also on penicillin to treat another disorder I had. And that also hurt like crazy going into my veins. I was trying to "go natural" but after three hours of crying, squirmming, and looking at my husband like a helpless two year old, I got an epidural. I was checked after the first three hours and was only a two and told that I had 12-15 more hours of labor to endure and I knew that I couldn't handle that and needed relief. (This is one of the many miracles because we found out that the epidural wasn't going to cost us as much as we thought-the Lord blessed us). After I had received my epidural I was able to relax and take a nap. In the middle of my nap the nurse came in and put an oxygen mask on me because the baby's heartbeat was dropping. This was scary for a minute. The Doctor soon came in and checked me before he was headed home to go eat dinner. He expected to come back much later that night for the delivery. To his and my surprise I jumped from a 4 to a 10 in an hour!!! Hence, the drop in the baby's heartbeat- she was in the birth canal! Crazy! He immediately called everyone in to start the delivery and woke my husband up from his nap! Dazed and confused, Jonathan stumbled over to me and gave me the "is this really happening" look. After 10 minutes of pushing, Macie Mae Schnepf was born! She weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 20 inches long. She is now the love of our lives and the best Miracle God has given us. Her size worried me at first but after talking with my Doctor, he told me that she was capped at her current size because my placenta was small and wouldn't have allowed her to grow any bigger. We spent 26 more hours in the hospital and then came home. We have enjoyed our first weekend together. Jonathan has been catching up on his sleep, I have been recovering, and Macie has been adapting to her new home. She is a doll and I am so thrilled to be her mommy!! I am thankful that although the first part of my labor seemed a little difficult, the delivery went smoothly and my recovery has been great! (another Miracle). There have been many spirtual experiences that have occurred this week that have strengthened my relationship with Heavenly Father. I testify that God is a loving God and that he knows and hears the prayers of His children. My heart is full of love when I look at my daughter and think of all that has happened to bring her to us and us to her. We love our daugher very much and thank the Lord for sending her to our family.

And We're Off...

Okay, just a quick update on baby news. Today, well this evening, we are going into the hospital to be induced!! So, with any luck the baby will come tonight or tomorrow on her Dad's birthday! I am so excited and very humbled at the same time. I am thankful to feel my heart changing as I prepare for the sacred and joyful calling of motherhood. I do not knowing everything but I do know how to pray and since I know that, I know I will be a good mom. I have learned to rely on the Lord very much over these past few days. I know that He has sent me this little girl for a specific reason and that I am supposed to be her mommy! I love her very much and am excited for the joy she will bring to our family! We will post all updates on here as quick as we can. If all goes well we should be coming home Thursday, so we should have her pictures up by the weekend! Wish us luck!!!

Happy Birthday Jonathan!!

Tomorrow, the love of my life will be turning 23!! Crazy huh? Not crazy because he is turning 23 but because another year has already come and gone very fast. But, I wouldn't trade the past year's experiences for anything! I just want the world to know that I am madly in love with my husband and that I know he is my perfect match- he truly is my other half.
I love my husband for the following 23 reasons:

1. He is an AMAZING husband.


2. He will be an AWESOME dad.


3. He is a greater provider for our family. (I couldn't be more spoiled!)


4. He is very Christlike and quick to remember Him.


5. He is very willing to give service.


6. He makes my life worth living.


7. He is generous to others.


8. He is very supportive to my needs.


9. He is a great help around the house. (Thanks Babe!)


10. He makes the best breakfast sandwiches.


11. He has cleaned the bathrooms so beautifully for the past 9 months! (Don't worry-once this baby is out, I will start cleaning them!)


12. He is very knowledgeable about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.


13. He makes time to talk to me and makes me feel special.


14. He is a good listener- I talk his ears off!


15. He is a great driver! (I appreciate him driving us everywhere-I don't enjoy driving!)


16. He inspires me to do better daily!


17. He is an AMAZING kisser!!! (What woman doesn't think that about her husband? Right?)


18. He loves both of our families very much.


19. He takes care of me, even in my rather pathetic moments.


20. He is full of patience.


21. He is my best friend.


22. He is my other half!


23. He is the one I choose to continue to spend forever with! I look forward to our journey together!

I LOVE YOU JONATHAN!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!