Baby Shower #1: Tri Cities

as I'm sitting here looking at pictures i can't believe my first baby shower has already come and gone!? time is flying by!! it was such a beautiful shower put on my Grandma Hunter and my cousin Amanda for myself and Wesson and my cousin Sarah and her soon to be Hazel :) Sarah is due April 25th so come the end of April the race is on!! It was so nice to see so much family come and support us so thank you ladies!! Wesson and Hazel are already so blessed with such love and support.

Here are a few pictures from the shower... enjoy!!












I'm so looking forward to this weekend for our shower here... I'm so excited to all my beautiful friends :)

Also a congrats to Justin and Tori! they had their beautiful baby girl Emma Friday night... not gonna lie I'm a little jealous and reeeally hoping these 7 weeks fly by :)

Plan B.

things have been slightly stressful here to say the least. i am now 31 weeks tomorrow and we're still laid off. typically we wouldn't be stressing about this because its part of this apprenticeship unfortunately but prepping for a baby is a little crazy... so instead of dwelling on this fact we're trying to pick up the pieces and move to plan b. have Wesson here.

chances are mike will be back to work by April 24th but now that i'm going to the doctors every other week its just less stressful to think about changing doctors and just accept that we're here. Mike will just need to hurry his booty back once Wesson starts to make his way into the world. of course i have many mixed feelings about staying here... its been incredibly difficult not to put my nursery together, and lets face it you all are bummed too. i know you wanted to see me pull off a nursery in a trailer. well its still happening just a little later than we thought. besides Wes won't even be in his crib until around 4 months! for now little mister will be sleeping in a cradle that was i believe (correct me if i'm wrong!) was my aunt Amys than my cradle.

we've been staying busy by taking any and all baby prep classes we can find. we started our birthing class 3 weeks ago and its been really good for us. not only with the information we're learning but really connecting us together as parents. Mike cracks me up he is so into getting everything perfect when lets face it its not going to go perfect! but its sweet he's trying :) hes going to be a great daddy! i'm still doing prenatal yoga every wednesday. i know i preach about yoga a lot but i seriously cannot stress it enough... i plan on pushing all of my friends to start prenatal yoga as soon as they get pregnant even though yes i'm pushing non preggo friends into yoga now :) there are just so many benefits!

8 week challenge update: we've just finished week 5 already! and yes i'm going to brag a little here, i am very proud of myself :) so i am almost 8 months pregnant and have gained a grand total of 8 pounds! before anyone tells me i'm not being healthy and thats not good for my baby please take a second to think. obviously i would never do anything to put my baby or myself in any danger. trust me i've talked to my doctor about everything along the way. i walk every. single. day. i do yoga and lift weights daily and of course my prenatal class that is definantly a work out once a week. i eat very clean. do i give in to splurges? of course. but i don't use my pregnancy as an excuse to gorge myself and let my body go. although i've only gained a little weight i'm fully showing now and fully feeling very pregnant. Mike laughs every time we walk because i swear at least once i have to stop and really work those kegels and try to not pee my pants! thank you Wes for jumping on the bladder! My ankles are starting to feel the effects and are feeling a little weak.

Wesson is fully active now and can be found in mommy's rib! i love it though... constant reminder that our baby boy is healthy and happy. i have a feeling he's going to come our swing dancin away! :) Thank you those friends who have really stuck with us through this stressful/exciting time. your friendship means more to us than you know :)

Dirty Bits from a Linewife.

the books still haven't moved. shocker. i swear we think its not going to be a long lay off and it always is... although it has only been 3 weeks i'm aloud to panic a little. why? well i'm 28 weeks pregnant, living with my husband in my parents house of course we kinda feel like losers. we shouldn't and we know that but still this obviously was not in our plan. its temporary of course... we get laid off every year and we prepare for it. we have bills paid up until March so our unemployment checks are all extra and going into savings to prepare for our outrageous medical bill that we'll have to pay in a few months.... surprise having a baby is expensive!

i should be in my cozy trailer right now putting together Wesson's nursery, instead his crib set is sitting in a box in my old room.

we should be taking any and every birthing/baby class we can find to prep for this... not taking a CPR class here because we just want to learn a little! Mike just redid his CPR class in December and mine is still good until next year.

we should be arguing over different colors of car seat covers and how i think Wes really doesn't need another camo outfit but instead we're bickering over how sucky our situation is. lets face it Mikey becomes a bit of an ass when he's not working... dirty truth :)

i caved and found a studio here... i just finished my first prenatal yoga class tonight and of course loved it. the woman are all so sweet and encouraging and i already want to spend the rest of my pregnancy on a mat next to them...instead i'll be searching for another studio in a new state.

i'm getting way to used to having my morning visits face to face with my mom, going shopping around town together, and watching our silly shows together...

Mike and i should already have a developed relationship with the doctor who will be bringing our little boy into the world, instead i'm stressing about changing doctors for the third time...

when we get laid off Mike gets grouchy and i question everything. "well Mike if you didn't pick such a dumb career we'd be in our own house painting our nursery today!" yes low blow on my part. i don't mean it... i love my husbands job just as much as him. i'm so proud of his hard work and determination... it takes a very strong man to be a lineman. its just so rough to sit and wait for the phone to ring. i swear my heart stops every time his phone rings. i know how quickly we can get moved out of here but this is what i married into. after all who do ya think put his dumb ass through lineschool???

times like these is what really pushes us through... pushes Mike to work harder and get his hours in so we can move back home faster. i will be so incredibly grateful when we no longer have to worry about being laid off and he will come home every night... until that call we're just hanging out, we have wonderful parents who have taken us in and don't make us feel like too big of losers.

positive note? Mike and i have an amazing amount of patience build up. we're saving it for the teenage years :)

healthy, fit mama.

what normal sane person would start an 8 week challenge 25 weeks pregnant? oh me but i've never been one to turn down a challenge.

eating healthy and staying active hasn't always been on the top of my list but of course its on every one's mind. confession time: one of my first thoughts when we started discussing kids "am i ready to loose my body and gain all that weight?" selfish, cold and disheartening? i know. i'm not proud of those horrible thoughts that used to pop into my head, and occasionally sneak up still BUT i've gotten better. this pregnancy has been a mental battle but its also made me very aware of what i'm putting into my body to keep myself and Wesson healthy.

so back to this challenge. i can credit this craziness to non other than my crazy family and Pintrest (go figure!) yes it is technically a weight loss challenge but i will be sticking to the healthy side of it. here's a link to better explain it all... http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/2012/01/8-week-printable-weight-loss-get.html

my favorite part of course the print offs, we all know i like a little structure and hands on motivation so if i have to keep a food journal to earn my little sticker (yes i bought stickers for my charts) and am so excited bout it! :) the hardest part probably kicking the sweets but good thing Wesson craves Jamba Juice and beer.

i want lead by example for our kids...
-healthy snacks are tasty! (even though their dad still thinks ice cream and cake is perfectly fine for breakfast, lunch and dinner)
-i want us to always be able to chase our kids around the playground
-be able to sit for 3 hours on those uncomfortable bleachers cheering our kids on
-i will show Wesson yoga is okay for boys too (even if his dad makes fun of him!)

i'm so excited for April, rather end of April to be here. i'm so ready to hold my baby boy and get settled into our new routine. i know its going to be overwhelming at first. of course it is but i still have a year old puppy that needs attention too so we'll try to walk daily. obviously i'm shooting high with my routine but hey after all this is my baby he's going to love structure just as much as his mama does :)

twenty-twelve.

2012: the year the world ends? naw the year life got a little bit more awesome.

i know everyone keeps saying "wow can't believe its 2012" well i'm going to put that on repeat and say it... HOLY COW its 2012! 2012, we've put it in everything. our emails, passwords, and even our garage code in our apartment. why? because its the year Mike is finished with the apprenticeship. yes that's right FINISHED!!
we've always known its going to be a huge, wonderful year and we're so incredibly ready to start it.

in true Cayla fashion i've created a few lists for the new year. i love resolutions and goals. typically i'm pretty great at keeping and conquering them. my last years resolutions were:
-stop texting and driving: bam! nailed that one. yes i text at stop lights but for the most part i've completely eliminated it.
-pay off student loan: we paid off the big one of the three. our original thought was i would still be working so that was a little difficult to completely finish.
-be the best friend i can be. with that said--- i'm done wasting time on friends who don't try back: alright this one is a little difficult to judge. based on my current relationships i'm about half and half :)

so for 2012:
my resolutions
-have a natural birth
-after baby arrives, be a healthy, fit mama! (i know typical right!)
-yoga. now this one is kinda a far fetched one given i'm going to have a new born here soon BUT shoot high right? i would really love to get certified as a yoga instructor for regular yoga, prenatal and baby yoga.
-i need to stop letting people get to me. i put a lot into my friendships and expect it back. i need to understand that others just don't think like me. i need to develop a thicker skin. besides i have an amazing husband, a healthy baby, a supportive family, and a few wonderful friends- why bother with people who aren't at the same point as us?

family resolutions
-stop cussing
-pay off 2nd half of loan, my ring and our four wheeler.
-get journeyman lineman's ticket by 2013
-Remmi needs to listen better ;)

so here we go.... welcome 2012. we're excited and nervous but ready! oh and by the way Happy 24 week Wesson. 6 months down!! :)

1st half of being home

I've been home for almost 2 and a half weeks now (geeze! where's the time gone!) I've been super busy during the first half home. Spending many hours making memories and laughing with friends that I've missed so much.

Mike got in early Thursday morning, which of course the fog gave us a little scare- the pilot announced they weren't going to land in spokane but montana. luckily it broke long enough for Mike's plane to land. Thursday night we got all of our friends together and went to dinner. Thank you again for all those who took time out of their crazy Christmas schedules to spend some time with Mike, it meant more to him than you think... Friday was a little nuts with puppy training class and fitting in family time. Christmas Eve was our Christmas with Mike's side, it was wonderful they brought Christmas to us and it was so fun. We spend Christmas morning at my parents. We definantly got spoiled by both sides, Wesson and Remmi included!

Mike left Christmas afternoon to head back to Wyoming :( I am very, very thankful he was even able to come home for the few days but man was it hard saying good bye and letting him go without me and Remmi in tow. The plan as of now is he is back in Casper for the week. His last day is Saturday. His dad offered to fly down Sunday morning and help him drive the trailer up to Helena where we'll leave our home and Mike will drive up here where we'll wait. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stressed out.

I've been pretty okay up until this point about the whole unknown thing but with Christmas over I'm starting to freak out. There's about a 50% chance we could get placed in Montana- BIG SIGH! It would be so great to be close to home with the upcoming baby craziness. But I have a big feeling we'll be sent to Utah for work. Ugh such is the life of a linewife, worry worry worry. Hopefully we'll get a call after a few weeks and won't have to stress for too long.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and was able to spend lots of time with family. :)

Storm and Frozen Pipes

"I came here to be your taxi driver, NOT your maintence man!!" my 19 year old brother has mentioned this to me a few times in the last 48 hours :-/

alright what a crazy weekend... Mike called me Friday afternoon saying I'm leaving you. uh okay? hope she's cute? oh leaving me for Utah gotcha! Mike has been on trouble calls (work that last a few hours at night but is home to kiss me good morning) but this was our first storm! I got his bag packed and had dinner waiting for the ten mintues I got to spend with him before he left. He had the "look." the look only other linewives know and the look my brother and I grew up with. My dad used to get this look when he got called for a CRT call out (crisis repsonse team) My charming husband walked through that door with the biggest shit eating grin I've ever seen. He tried to hide it because after all he was leaving me! He had a blast, working 19 hour days and boozing it up with the boys. He sent me a couple neat pictures I'll upload evenutally :) He thought he was going to be gone all week but once again the good timing bug hit us and he got home tonight. So why am I on here while my brother and husband are home... oh because they needed to go get some things for the trailer (more on that in a few) and I was informed it was brother bonding and I was invited.

so backing up now. I picked Christopher up Saturday morning from the airport. Apparently because I'm carrying Mike's child that means I'm incapable of driving myself home so he bought a one way ticket for my brother to come down and drive home with me. Not complaining about the company even though I know he'll sleep most the way ;-) Sunday was a total shit show....

woke up and wham no water! uh... okay well it could be worse. I could be alone but i have my brother! yay! haha... well panic first, call dad second. He spend the morning on the phone with dad and the other unders the trailer. To set to scene real fast... its a slight blizzard out, the temp is going between 12 degrees and -1, and the wind is blowing like a mutha. Alrighty so he got a heater hooked up to start thawing pipes and breaker blows. No big deal I blow breakers daily. whoops! strange thing is all of a sudden its not working at all. so we mess with that for a bit before we notice this fun water spot leaking in the middle of the living room. One problem at a time. We decided after trying everything Mike was telling us to do and it still wasn't working we needed to save it for my sexy lineman ;) (side note: normally on storm the guys can't call, luckily Mike's forman is a doll and wanted to make sure I was surviving so he had mike call me, a lot)

after a long day of not really accomplishing anything we decided to call it a day. a really stupid day! after blowing breakers we didn't have heat in the back room so I made Christopher sleep with me :) so while laying there watching Dukes of Hazard we had a mass flood of water! YAY!!! pipes unfroze!!

Now we're here we are Monday night... we picked mike up and instead of wanting to sleep Mike wanted to work on the electric stuff... as i'm typing this the boys got back and wham bam my lineman fixed it!! Honestly don't know what was wrong but its working! Now they're working on the mystery water spot in the living room. I'll keep ya posted with this one :)

In conclusion, we survived our first storm. I'll tell ya what, if Christopher wasn't here I would have bags packed, driving home, with my finger out the window to the state of Wyoming and its Negative degree weather! :) but we're alive. Mike had a blast on storm "making some coin" and boozing it up! Christopher made it clear its been an interesting wyoming trip and its too damn cold to live here. Now tomorrow we'll finally have a fun, relaxing day. Mike got the day off so we're dropping Remmi off at doggy daycare, going to breakfast, and going to check on Wes at 11:30! I get two of my favorite boys there! This is our first official ultrasound too, it'll be fun to see how big he's grown in 3 weeks. Christopher and I than leave Tuesday night around 2 am to head home... with us getting transfered soon Mike's trip home will be cut short to just Christmas weekend. He's bummed he won't be able to spend time with friends but its his attitude about it that makes me even more proud to be his wife.

Hopefully we'll know more soon about where we'll be starting the new year! but for now my lineman made it home safely after his first storm :) xoxo!