A Month of Firsts!

Someone just turned one month old!

I can't believe it's been a month already. Part of me feels like he was just born, but then part of me feels like he's always been in our lives and I can't remember how it was before him. This has been the most exciting month though because everything he does seems to be a first for something.

Obviously, one of his biggest firsts was his first Christmas! We were so excited that he was born in time to be home for Christmas! I'll admit, I got really emotional this Christmas whenever I thought about Mary and Joseph. Even though Christ is the Savior, he was still someone's little boy, just like Trevor is our little boy.

He had his first bath a few days after he came home from the hospital. Well, his first bath at home at least, since we didn't get to be there for his first bath in the hospital. He didn't cry or scream too much, but I think he's not really a big fan of baths quite yet. Taylor and I can't wait until he loves bath time and it's actually fun for him, but right now, it's strictly business.

Another first we were excited for was taking him on his first walk. My parents got us an amazing stroller (the Bumbleride Indie) and I couldn't wait to take him out in it. I walked a few miles every day during the pregnancy so I think he really liked being back out on walks too. We were worried though with the cold we wouldn't be able to take him out for a while, but my dad came to the rescue and got Trevor the cutest bunting suit. Kristina said it looks like someone shrunk Taylor and stuck him in a snowsuit, and I tend to agree!

And though it's lost some steam, Trevor also joined in on his first internet sensation, planking. And I am very sad to say that these froggy bottom jammies no longer fit him. He really is growing up.

Trevor also went to his first museum this month. Earlier in the month, Alyssa came up to visit for the day and we took him to the National Archives and we saw the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Then, last week, Taylor and I took him to one of the galleries of the Smithsonian. He enjoyed looking at the yellow wall in the entrance area the best haha. We thought since we were being so classy and taking our baby to the museum that we should dress him up in his finest tuxedo shirt.

Trevor also made his first friend, a stuffed dog that rolls on the ground and laughs that my dad gave him. He often has staring contests with him.

Next up was the little man's first Sunday at church. One of the girls I worked with gave him this darling church outfit.

And now, just for kicks and because I can't help myself , some cute pictures of him sleeping... because he really is the cutest sleeper...

Trevor William King

Fair warning...this is extremely long!

Since it's been over a year since I've updated this, I figured I should finally post the big news!

On April 11, 2011, we found out I was expecting our first baby on December 21, 2011!

We were both thrilled, but I think a little nervous that it happened as fast as it did.

As the morning sickness set it, I went about trying to hide the fact that I was pregnant at work. We both decided we wanted to wait until I was out of the first trimester to let anyone other than family know. Surprisingly, my claims of having the stomach flu, eating something not right, and just not sleeping well worked for six weeks and we finally starting announcing to people that we were having a baby!

In July, the long awaited anatomy scan came! While I was pretty confident we were having a girl, Taylor thought boy. My mom and sister, Kristina, were on my side about it being a girl. But the night before the appointment I had the most vivid dream that it was a boy. Then, the morning of, my sister texted me and said she changed her vote, she was sure it was a boy now. One clear shot of the goods later, it was confirmed...we were having a little boy! They even did a 3d scan for us and we could already tell he was going to look like Taylor, so we set about picturing our dark-haired, dark skinned, dark eyed boy. It had been decided several years ago that our first boy was going to be named Trevor. When Taylor and I were dating we were at a Lakers game and when Trevor Ariza took the floor, we both looked at each other and said we really liked the name Trevor. So when we found out he was a boy, we knew Trevor was still the name. His middle name was going to be Thomas after my dad, but since both my sisters had made Thomas the middle name for their first boys we decided on William. When my dad was in high school he had a baby brother named William who passed away, so we decided William would be a good middle name tribute to him.

In October, my mom and all my sisters came out and surprised me with a Baby Shower at Founding Farmers in DC and a girls weekend. It was one of the biggest highlights of my pregnancy. We were able to go out to eat, get pedicures, and I got to take them touring around DC a little bit. It was really a weekend I'll never forget.

Finally, December rolled around. I'd been counting down to this month since April! December 2nd was my final day at work and the people I work with were so great. In November they threw me a baby shower and set Trevor up with all the clothes and things he could possibly need, and then on my last day, they all got me a card and some awesome gift cards for eating and pampering after he was born. Now with my last day of work over, the clock was on to have the baby before December 31, which is when my insurance with really awesome maternity coverage was set to expire. My doctor doesn't do inductions before 42 weeks, which would put me at Jan 3rd if the baby decided not to come on his own. Since I'd stayed really active the whole pregnancy, I spent the first three weeks of December walking up and down big hills all around Arlington trying to get this baby moving. We were all hoping for a December 18 birthday since that's my nephew Bradley's birthday, and it would be my parents' 10th grandchild in exactly 10 years, and Taylor would be finished with his finals then.

On December 17th, my mom came out to DC so she could be there when Trevor was born. We tried eating spicy food at PF Chang's and walking more hills. On Sunday, I had a few pretty strong contractions and started thinking this was going to happen soon! On Monday, the 19th, we decided to go to the mall and buy some last minute things for Christmas and get lunch. I was having a lot of stronger contractions but they were only every 10 to 20 minutes. At the mall there was this set up of massage chairs so my mom had me get one. We kept asking the person to try acupressure to send me into labor but he kept pointing at my big belly and shaking his head no. But, it might've worked anyway, because after a 20 minute shoulder massage, my contractions picked up to every 5 minutes and only got closer from there. Around 4 we finally went home because it was starting to get a little hard to walk through. My mom and Taylor kept saying I should probably call the doctor but I didn't want to until I was POSITIVE I was in labor, I had this big anxiety of going in only to be turned away, so I wanted to wait as long as possible. So when we got home, I put my feet up, turned on Game Show Network, and had a big bowl of peppermint ice cream (that my mom and I had turned Arlington upside down looking for). That turned out to be the last thing I ate for quite a while.

At around 7 pm, the contractions were now coming every 3 to 4 minutes. I still didn't want to call the doctor just yet, I still wasn't completely convinced and I didn't want to be the crazy lady who cried "Labor!". I started finally packing a bag for the hospital just in case and after I was done packing, the contractions were now every 2 to 3 minutes apart and I definitely couldn't talk and walk through them anymore. Luckily the hospital was only a 10 minute drive away, so off we went. My mom said, " The next time you walk through your apartment door, you'll have a baby." That's when it finally set in that I was definitely having a baby soon!

When we got to the hospital I was barely able to hobble myself in and go up to the 3rd floor. However, mom wanted to make sure we had one last picture of just Taylor and I. While I was less than thrilled to take it at the time, I'm glad now that I have it.

They got me checked in and set up in my room around 745 pm. I was having a harder and harder time working through each contraction. There wasn't really any pain in front, it was all situated right on my back and felt roughly like knives in my hip bones. Apparently, I was having the dreaded "back labor". I asked the nurse if she thought I'd be admitted, and she said the doctors wanted to watch me for an hour just to make sure I was progressing, but that they were crazy and I was definitely in labor. Sure enough, I was admitted! I had talked about trying to go natural but this pain was getting excruciating and I told the nurse I wanted the epidural after all. So around 930ish, they came and set up to do the epidural. The hardest part was sitting still through the contractions but I had a great nurse who helped me through it. However, after the epidural was placed, the pain still wasn't going away, it only took the edge off. After another twenty minutes or so, even the edge wasn't being taken off and it was actually getting more painful than before even. I thought if this is labor even with an epidural, I don't know how I'm going to do this. I was even shaking violently and uncontrollably for a while. One contraction was so painful and literally off the charts on the contraction sensor, and I felt a big pop, and my water broke. Finally they came back in around midnight to check why I was still in so much pain, turns out the catheter pumping in the pain meds had actually come out shortly after it was placed. I had also gone from 3 cm to 8 cm dilated in that 2 hour span, which would explain why it was SOOO painful. They set me up with another epidural and it was like night and day. I finally stopped shaking and feeling like I needed to vomit and was finally able to relax for a minute, and Taylor passed out for a couple hours.

At this point, the nurse came in and told us that there was meconium in the water and that when Trevor was born he couldn't be placed directly on my chest and they'd have to make sure he got everything cleared out first. Needless to say, this scared me a little but they all said it'd be totally fine. Finally around 3 am, I started having the "urge to push" that they tell you about. And it's exactly what it sounds like, an urge to push. So they started coming in and setting things up. The nurse had me start pushing around 345 am. Taylor and my mom were there for it all and were so encouraging to me through it. At around 445, his little head started coming out and the shock of the century happened...he was blonde! I couldn't believe it, for months we'd joked about how he would be covered in dark hair, and he was blonde, white blonde almost! He even had blonde eyebrows and eye lashes. Twenty more minutes of pushing and at 5:06 am, on December 20th, 2011 Trevor William King made his debut and 20.5 inches and 7 lbs 12.9 oz. They held him up for me to see for a second and then the NICU team jumped in and made sure he didn't cry so he wouldn't aspirate any meconium into his lungs. Taylor followed him to the other side of the room, but not being able to hear him cry or see him while they sewed me up was the most terrifying thing. Finally, after about 5 minutes, they told me he was fine, didn't swallow anything, and let me hold him for the first time. Let me tell you, me and this baby were made for each other. He melts my heart and is the sweetest baby. He's beyond calm and still doesn't really cry, just whimpers. They let me try breastfeeding him for about an hour after he was born and I think that made all the difference, because he's a nursing champ now.

Two days later, on December 22, we were able to take him home. I still can't believe he's ours forever!

My dad was able to make it out on the 21st and my brother Matt and his wife Alyssa came on the 23rd. It was amazing to have family out here for Christmas and to meet our little boy. He's been the biggest blessing in our life, sleepless nights and all.

Brazilian Blowout: Great hair treatment or greatest hair treatment?

What do you get when you combine these two? Nope, not groovy television incest, but my hair texture. Since I don't have pictures of my parents in the 70's on my computer, these doppelganger's will have to do. With my dad's afro-esque hair and my mom's fine straight hair, you would think I would get the best of both worlds, like my sister Kristina's thick, straight hair. Unfortunately, the two hair types combined evil forces and produced something along the lines of this .

You may think, "Wait, Melissa's hair has always been straight!" False, after countless hours of blow drying and flat ironing and using enough product to choke a whale, I've managed to seldom to be seen with my hair in it's natural state (for an idea of what that natural state is, refer to picture above).

Last Christmas my life changed forever (not an exaggeration) when my mom's friend told me about the Brazilian Blowout. I'd read about celebrities doing it and after a not so great run in with a chemical straightener I was hesitant to try any more treatments. "But this one is great for your hair!" all the ads boast, so I gave in...and it worked! My hair was magically turned to silk! Instead of spending my usual 25 to 30 minutes blow drying (also not an exaggeration) with clips, multiple brushes and two different products, followed by a thorough burning of my hair with a flat iron section by section, I was able to finger blow dry my hair in about 7 minutes and glide a flat iron over it in about 30 seconds to polish it off. Also my hair had shine to it, something I'd never been able to force my lackluster strands to do.

Several months ago, I started noticing my hair was getting harder and harder to manage. I couldn't figure out what was happening, until I remembered that the hair I'd been dealing with since January wasn't my "normal" hair, and that after about 7 months my amazing treatment was finally washing out (they say it only lasts about 4-5 months, so I was grateful for the 7).

After a couple more months I was able to go home last weekend for Thanksgiving and experience my second Brazilian Blowout. I've fallen in love all over again and now my hair looks like this

Blog Resurrection

I don't know if this counts as a blog resurrection seeing as we only ever had three posts to begin with, but I'm going to go ahead and say this is the start of new blogging habits...maybe. I'm also hoping that with blogging more, I'll actually start taking pictures more. In the year it's been since I've blogged, Taylor was accepted and got a full ride to George Washington Law School, graduated and went to China for a few weeks, he came back, we moved to DC, I started a job working for the doctors for the Wizards and Capitals, Taylor started school, and I just completed the longest run on sentence in history.

A couple of weeks ago we went hiking with some of our friends at Great Falls. It's just outside DC and you drive through McLean, VA to get there so we got to see some pretty amazing houses on the way. The views were even better once we got there though.

Finally a new update!

So it's been about five months since I've updated our blog. I was really rolling with my first two posts, and then life took over. So, in order since the last post here is what we've been up to:

After four years at BYU, I graduated with a BA in Political Science. My parents, most of my siblings, and Taylor's mom all came to see me, Brian, and Amanda receive our degrees. Words can't even describe how stoked I was to be done. I still have recurring nightmares (as recently as last night) that I failed one of my classes, or forgot to take a class, and they revoke my diploma. Luckily, it hasn't happened yet.

Next up was a trip to the Oakland Temple. On April 30, I received my endowment. Taylor was there, naturally, along with my parents, Taylors parents, and Matt and Alyssa. It was really great to have them all there. I'm especially glad Alyssa came, it was nice to have another girl my age there haha.

After that, it was time to get married (finally!). My mom and I drove down to Newport Beach the Sunday before the wedding. The next day, I took my bridal pictures down at the beach in Laguna Beach. It was so much fun to have my mom and McKenna and Dani there with me.

Throughout the week, my siblings started coming in. It was fun to get to spend the whole week with everyone at one of my favorite places in the whole world, The Newport Coast Villas. We always have such a good time when we're all there and this time was no different. It was so nice walking down to the beach with the kids and eating in Downtown Disney.

On Saturday, May 16, 2009, Taylor and I were sealed in the Newport Beach, CA Temple. It was a really good ceremony and the sealer couldn't have been nicer. He said so many great things to us before we were married. After the ceremony and infinite pictures, we had a luncheon reception at the Chart House in Dana Point, CA. It was probably some of the best food I've ever had at a wedding, so needless to say, we were both ecstatic with how everything turned out. Our florist and cupcake baker are sisters, and they decorated the whole restaurant to the nines. I'm so glad for people who have creative vision like that, because I'm completely lacking in that department. The whole day had the perfect crisp, yet comfortable feel we wanted. Taylor and I danced to "When I First Saw You" sung by Jamie Foxx on the Dreamgirls Soundtrack and my dad and I danced to "Slipping Through My Fingers" from Mamma Mia, two of my favorite musicals. I'm glad we danced to songs that were a little more original for weddings. There's one country song that people do for almost every father and daughter dance at weddings I've been to, and frankly the song is a little creepy to me haha.

The next morning we left for our honeymoon. Almost all of my brothers and sisters have gone to Hawaii on their Honeymoon, but since both Taylor and I had been a couple of times already, we decided to look elsewhere. Lucky for us, Marriott had just opened a brand new hotel in Costa Rica. My parents generously offered us Marriott points and Taylor's parents topped it off with two plane tickets. We stayed at the JW Marriott Guanacaste. It's been almost three months now and we still talk about how much we wish we could live there forever. We developed quite the schedule. We'd wake up late, go to the amazing breakfast buffet (smoothie bar, omelet bar, every pastry imaginable!), read by the pool, play in the ocean and find new beaches, more laying by the pool with pina coladas, go back and shower and then off to dinner. Our favorite restaurant was the poolside grill. They had coconut rice with pico de gallo on top that was literally to die for. Their spa was also the nicest one I'd ever been to and Taylor and I got a great massage there. On our way back to the airport the morning we were supposed to leave, we went to drop our rental car off but nobody was there yet. When they came it was an hour until our flight was supposed to leave, but luckily it was less than a mile from the airport. When we went to check in, there was a large group of people that were already standing there and said they hadn't been allowed to get in the line for the last 15 minutes, when they finally opened the line, the man at the counter said, "Sorry, you had to check in last night if you wanted to be on time." Then he changed his story to an hour early check in. The crazy thing was, we were all there an hour early, he just wouldn't let people come in line until it was too late. A few shouting matches later, we, along with the other group of people, missed our flight out of Liberia and decided to try and catch one in San Jose (because they only have one flight leave from Liberia to the U.S. every day). We tried to take an 8 seater plane to San Jose, but the first half of the group got in line first, and then we were informed there would be no more flights available to San Jose that day either. So we, along with another couple, decided to take a bus (really a sketchy van) to San Jose (4 hours away through winding jungle roads!). We made our flight, but almost missed our connecting flight from Houston to LA. All in all, by the time we got home it had taken 22 hours to get there and we were exhausted, but we actually had a lot of fun along the way. And we got to see more of the country that way. Taylor and I are officially throwing this resort in for consideration for the next Phillippi Family Vacation. (Mom, there's amazing spas, and Dad there's great golfing!)

This is just a picture I took with a normal camera, it really is that amazing there.

This place was near the hotel, a little sketchy.

On a beach in Tamarindo

We went to this really good Asian Fusion restaurant on the property. I stuck with a fork, but Taylor was excited to use his chopsticks.

At the poolside grill, so good!

The chairs on the beach

Our balcony

A giant toad at dinner. We were actually glad he was there because he'd eat all the bugs

Taylor exploring the coast

After our honeymoon, we went to stay in Vacaville for a few weeks while we worked for my dad and made some money. My parents also threw us an awesome Open House for Vacaville friends after Taylor finished his LSAT. Then it was off to Utah where we are now living in our first apartment, completely decked out in Ikea, we LOVE it! I finally found a job working as a receptionist at a pain clinic and Taylor is finishing up Summer term. We have one year here in Utah and then we still don't know where he'll go to law school. I'll try and post more regularly so I don't have to do these massive ones at once.