Almost everything that has happened in a year summed up in one blog

So here we go!
 Let's just start right where we left off:

September: 

-Adjusting to life with a baby is....relatively easy! It's like he's always been a part of our family.

-I go back to work after a really really short maternity leave. 

-Finds out people give you looks of incredulation when you tell them your baby sleeps through the night at 1 month. (Oh, September Ricqui, you have no idea what's in store....)

-PORTER SMILES!!!!

-Brigham City Temple is dedicated

October:

-Porter had his first 'accidental-bump-on-the-head-caused-by-mom-and-mom-is-so-guilty-she-doesn't-set-you-down-for-2-hours'

-BABY HESS IS BORN!!

-Porters first shots :( 

-Justin's birthday! WAHOO 26!

-started a book club with my sisters

-Halloween! Dressed Porter up as a lion. Make up does not stay very long on a baby. He kept rubbing it off. 

-Porter has his first sucker and LOVED it

November:
-Porter is a snuggle bug

-Discovered that Porter has Eczema. This caused a bit of a panic because at first we thought it was an allergic reaction.  We had to stop using the Burts Bees baby lotion and soap because it dries his skin out like crazy! For a while we switched to Eucerin and Hydro-cortizon. Then we ended up with just coconut oil and lavender.

-Elections. We'll just leave it at that

-Gave Porter rice cereal for the first time. HE LOVED IT and did so good eating it. Had no problem at all with the spoon. In fact I couldn't give it to him fast enough. 

-THANKSGIVING WITH THE BRADLEYS! They were kind enough to let us invite ourselves to their thanksgiving :) 

December:

-We find a puzzling Ugly Christmas Ornament. 

-Along with the holidays, the age-old argument about Santa has re-opened in the Griffiths house. 

-Women wearing pants to sacrament meeting...*sigh*

-THE HOBBIT!!!!

-Sandy Hook shooting. Porter slept in our bed for the next week after this. 

-Porter Rolls!! and rolls...and rolls...and rolls..

-Christmas in St. George with family and friends. 

January:
-LES MISERABLES IN THEATERS

-I start teaching Basic Computer Skills for Adults gor the next 8 weeks in which I learn how horrible our IT guys are.

-I meet the author Jeffery R. Savage and had a few books signed. Pretty cool dude. He also gave me a zombie sucker. Though, it really wasn't all that tasty. Can't complain too much, I mean, it's a ZOMBIE sucker

-We get a new hamster and promptly name him Gusterson

-A horrible snow storm hits us...and it just keeps snowing for the next 4 months

February:
-Porter is officially 6 months old 

-He can also army crawl and climb up the stairs, and the baby gate, and the chair, and his crib

-Gusterson the Hamster dies. (We decide we are cursed with Hamsters)

March:
-Porter can say Momomomomom and Dat (Dad) and can sit up and crawl with the best of them.

-We discover the Treehouse Children Museum. It quickly becomes one of my favorite places ever

-IT FINALLY STOPS SNOWING...for like a week. then snows again...then seriously stops snowing! 

-This month was our "Every household appliance breaks" month. Serious. Our washer and dryer went out within a few days of eachother, We get a cracked windshield and our brakes needed to be replaced. 

-Ports first tooth comes in!

April:
(This was a really uneventful month)

-We started our garden

-I start teaching Basic Computer Skills for Seniors in which I learn a lot but mostly that our IT guys STILL suck.
-My birthday! We celebrated by running a 5k!

May:
-IRON MAAAAAAN. Porter and I go down to St. George and volunteer at the Iron Man Race. Fun times!

-Golden Spike Re-enactment with Randi and her Kids. For a little museum out in the middle of nowhere this was actually really enjoyable. 

-Mothers day <3 div="" nbsp="">

-I have disagreeing opinions with Porters Doctor and Porter gets tested for low Iron levels in his blood. Everything is fine. Except My pride. 

And that brings us to June!
Not too much is happening for us this month. But we're only halfway through it so we'll see...
As usual I made Justin open his Father's Day presents early because I hate waiting. Porter is growing up so big. He climbs on everything. He's beginning to stand up by himself too. Yesterday he took 2 steps before he fell down. He'll walk if you're holding on to him. 

Hopefully we'll catch up with everyone before another year passes or almost passes. No promises! I'm working on some more projects as well. I have some clay stuff and Hopefully soon a quilt that I can show off. 

Porters Baby Blessing & 1 month!

This Labor day weekend we went down to St. George to bless Porter. We decided to do it in St. George because that's where most of our family and friends live and it would be easier for us to make the trip instead of everyone driving up here.
I can't believe Porter's a month old already! He's growing up so much!
The blessing was beautiful and it was so wonderful to see all of our family and have them meet Porter. He's one lucky boy to have so many loving relatives!

-10lbs
-20 inches
-He's staying awake longer
-Loves rattles
-Loves binkies
-Wants to be held ALL the time
-Starting to smile a little more

Grandma G meeting Porter for the first time.

Joseph and Porter

Porter and Aunt Jess

4 generations of Griffiths

Porter's middle name is named after his Great Grandpa and he looks exactly like his namesake! They could be twins!

I love this one cause his tongue is sticking out!

Great Grandparents G.

Daddy's boy.

The day I became a Mother.

I've been putting off writing this post because I'm afraid I won't be able to convey accurately how wonderful that day was and the array of emotions I felt. It's important for me to get my story out there because when I was pregnant I was surprised with the negativity that the majority of women have for giving birth. In our society it has become a very scary thing, the boogey men for women. It was such a contrast on how I viewed my pregnancy. It was such a happy experience for me. I loved watching me each week get bigger and feeling his kicks. I thought about what he'd be like and how much I loved him already. It was so wonderful so how could the labor be any different?

Me at 33 weeks

When talking about my pregnancy with other women, I was constantly met with everyone's horror stories of their labor and it was told in such a way that that's just the way giving birth is; Painful, scary and life threatening.
Seemed a little dramatic to me.
At first the thought of giving birth terrified me. I'm a wuss when it comes to pain and it didn't help that no one could give me an accurate or a consistent description of how painful it was going to be or what to even expect. The unknown of what was going to happen or how my body was going to react was even scarier to think about.
Sure, there are drugs that could help ease the pain but going all natural was very important to me that they weren't even an option.
Eventually, I came to the decision that I needed to learn more about the birthing process. I needed to educate myself on how my body was going to react and what to expect as far as hospital procedures go. I needed to find out what I wanted when it came to giving birth.
I don't remember how I found out about Hypno-Birthing but I'm very very very VERY glad I did!
There was a quote on my instuctors page that caught my eye and prompted me to research this more.

"To those who say it's not possible to birth naturally and without pain, I say, "But what if we're right? Wouldn't it be wonderful?"-Lorne R. Campbell, MD

There are many aspects to the Hypno-Birth method but the main concept of it is bringing the joy back into giving birth, the way nature intended it to be. Why should we leave the hospital feeling like we missed out on something? Why should we be scared to meet our little babies?
The classes were once a day for 6 weeks and they were 2-3 hours long. In the classes I was taught what to expect and how to deal with it. When in labor if a womans body is stressed and scared, her muscles tense up and makes it harder for the baby to exit the birth canal which is where the pain comes from. It's like pulling too small turtle neck sweater over your head. But when she's relaxed and calm the muscles relax and the baby can make it's way easily. I was taught methods on how to relax. It mainly is breathing techniques and self-hypnosis (going to your happy place, in layman terms). They focus on breathing the baby down instead of pushing him out. By the end of the 6 weeks I was confident in my body to do what it does naturally and confident that I could do this. It no longer scared me. Justin loved the classes as well because we were on the same page. Hypno-Birthing really supports having the dads be part of all aspects of the birth. It's awesome because I think we, as women, forget how special a time this is for them too. This is their baby as well and they might be freaking out as much as we are. In the classes we were both educated on our roles. They're viewed as the protectors and guardians of their family. It was up to them to help us relax and create a safe environment as we labored. We knew what to expect from each other and what each others roles were and that made a huge difference for both of us. We grew closer in our relationship.

So August 1st comes. I was sleeping on the couch because it was the only cool place in my house. Porter at this point was a week late and I was feeling a little down because I really wanted to meet him.  It was around 6:30ish I think. 3 hours earlier I had dropped off Justin at work because I needed the car to go to my doctors appointment. I had been feeling a few labor pains here and there but nothing real consistent until that morning. I got hit with them hard right off the bat. They were 5-7 minutes apart and I knew that's when my midwife wanted me to go in so I woke up my mom and told her I think I was going into labor. She told me to take a shower and she'd call Justin. I should mention the night before Justins phone got wet so it wasn't working so we had to call Randi's husband, Ryan, who works with Justin. Justin told me that when he got the news he had just finished prepping some stuff at work and had to fill out some paper work. He said his hands were shaking so hard and he didn't remember what he wrote down. Ryan said Justin was white and his paperwork was a mess.
My mom and I picked up Justin and made our way down to Brigham City to this little hospital there. We had pre-registered about a month before so we didn't need to really fill out any paper work. We gave the nurses our birth plan, told them we were going all natural so no epidural or an IV. They pushed the epidural at first trying to get me to sign a consent form "just in case" but we were firm and said we didn't even want the option so they stopped asking. The first little while was boring. We watched the Olympics while I breathed through the labor pains which really weren't that bad. I was fascinated by how my body seemed to adjust to the pain so easily. It seemed like once it got used to the pain with a couple it would amp it up and adjust to that pain level. It was cool. For a while we just hung out creating a very quiet and calm environment. Justin would rub my feet with some essential oils every once in a while, my mom turned on some really calming music...it was just a lot of waiting.
Then around hour 13 my midwife came in and checked me I was at a 8ish and my water still hadn't broken. They discovered that Porter was posterior and was getting stuck on my tail bone (which explained the back pain for me :P) and that was why I was stalled. So this really awesome nurse who is going to school to be a midwife taught me this neat technique to get Porter to turn. It was literally minutes after Porter was turned that I could feel him drop lower and the surges became more intense. Midwife checked me again I was completely dilated and my water broke.
The next little bit was a blur for me because I went pretty deep into concentration. Justin and my Mom both said it was weird cause they couldn't tell when I had contractions I was so deep in my hypnosis. I could feel everything though. I could feel him moving lower and wiggling his way down. I could feel my body building up to the surges. The most overwhelming feeling was the intense spirituality of the whole thing. It's almost as if I could feel him making his way through the veil. I was overwhelmed with pure intense love. A couple of times I was so overcome with everything that was happening that I just wanted it to be over and panicked a little bit. Justin, my mom and the nurse all did such a wonderful job of calming me down and encouraging me through it. I tried to just think of how wonderful it would be when he was here. It was over so quickly. Next thing I knew he was out and laying on my chest, wiggly and slimy. Squawking and sucking on his hands.
Labor was 16 hours done at 10:18 PM.
 He came out pink and a healthy 7lbs 10 oz. 18 1/2 inches long.

Birth isn't scary. I was lucky and didn't have any complications but still even if I did I'm sure we could've handled it just fine. I'm a firm believer in the Hypno-Birthing method. It helped me tons. Still, if you're pregnant, find what works for you and stick with it! It's such a beautiful experience and a woman shouldn't have to feel disappointed or unhappy by the end of it. We live in a society where life and the process of giving life has lost it's beauty and sacredness. Where giving birth naturally has become a phenomenon and usually met with odd looks. It has become such a mystery that the nurses in the hospital were completely blown away by the fact that I had gone natural. They next 3 shifts of nurses kept saying how incredible we were for doing that. I don't understand why they were so awed by that and was a bit sad that people who have made it their lifes career to know the human body and it's functions were blown away by the natural process of life. The whole process of creating life is so miraculous and I didn't do anything that I wasn't designed to do.

I'm so happy. Looking at my baby boy, it's hard for me to imagine my life without him. He's always been part of it. I'm also so happy that Justin and I were married in the temple. We are a family forever. I cannot imagine the celestial kingdom without my family. I'm so excited to be starting this new adventure and I'm excited to be sharing it with everyone!

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and love.

Porter Mont Griffiths

Babies have big heads and big eyes, and tiny little bodies with tiny little arms and legs. So did the aliens at Roswell! I rest my case.
William Shatner

How great is this quote!?  Shatner always seems to come up with the best quotes.

I realize I haven't really posted anything about my baby! Yes. I'm pregnant. In fact, I'm 28 weeks pregnant. We're having a baby boy and we're super super excited about it.

When I first got pregnant I was so sure that I was having a girl. I was having dreams about a baby girl, I had tons of names for a baby girl. I was even calling the baby a 'she'. Justin kept telling me not to get my hopes up and, well, he was right! 

20 weeks came and the ultra-sound tech lady took her sweet time getting to the good bits. She was kind of weird. She kept telling us that in her 15+ years of experience being a Ultrasound tech she had never been wrong on the gender. I don't know if she was trying to reassure us or just brag but we thought it was odd. We didn't really need any reassurance cause when she finally got to the private parts, even we without a degree in reading ultrasounds, could tell it was boy (He's...uh...well endowed...lol). 

A boy is a magical creature you can lock him out of your workshop, but you can't lock him out of your heart.-Alan Marshall Beck

 

I was very happy that it was a boy but it threw me for a loop. Mentally, I wasn't prepared for a boy. I had all of these little girl ideas in my head and now, all of a sudden, I had to think boy. How exactly do you do that? I ate steak for a while, looked at pictures of bugs, read "boy books", looked at pictures of my nephews and finally played a little bit in the dirt. What really put me in the mind set of boy though, was looking at the men in my life. My dad, my husband, my brother, uncles, in laws. I am surrounded by some really amazing men in my life. Very smart, intelligent and worthy men. Seeing them and the examples that they set made me so happy I was having a boy. He has the best role models to look up to and I want to teach him to be like them, upright and outstanding men.

I can only hope that I will be able to teach him how to be a worthy priesthood holder and how incredibly important it is. The task is very daunting to me and I don't feel in any way worthy to do it. I will do my best and I have the best companion to help me with this. 

So far we've come up with Porter Mont for his name and I don't think we'll change it. Unless, he turns out not to be a Porter then I don't know what we're going to do. 

 We chose Porter because Justin's hero and role model in his life is Orrin Porter Rockwell. One of Joseph's Smiths bodyguards and (as Justin likes to call him) a Modern-Day Samson. He was a pretty cool guy and I encourage you to read up about him if you haven't already.

I came up with Mont kind of on accident. I was flipping through a baby name book and saw it, liked the sound of it and asked Justin about it. Turns out Justin's Dad and Grandpa are both named Mont. We liked the idea of Porter being a 3rd generation Mont so much we decided to keep it.

I'm also taking hypnobirthing classes which deserves a post all to itself. I highly recommend it to everyone! It truly is an awesome class and I've connected with my baby on a completely different level since I've taken it. I was so scared at the thought of giving birth but this class has really calmed me down and now I'm looking forward to this beautiful experience in my life. 

I can't wait to meet Porter. I have been surrounded by so much love and support that I can't wait for him to meet all of you and this amazing circle of love. I am so blessed to be given this wonderful experience. Thank you to everyone who has been there for me and Justin during this transition. We are a truly blessed family.

A letter to the current Government Officials

To whom it may concern,
I think we have a misunderstanding.
I married my husband on December 18th 2010. When I married him I made many vows and commitments which I fully intend to uphold. I also chose HIM (now pay attention cause this is important) to live the rest of my life with and raise a family with.
As I understand it, polygamy and bigamy are illegal in this country. I married one man and am starting a family with one man. Where in the world did you get the idea that I wanted YOU to be in my marriage or in my life? Let me be clearer:  My husband is the only one that I will discuss how to feed my children, how to raise my children, when to have children, how to live our lives, where to worship, where and when I go to the doctors. Most importantly, My husband and I will be the only ones who decide the intimate details of our sexual lives as well. I married one man and intend to only have one man make those decisions with me.
 I am a fully functional adult female. I have a brain. I know how to take care of myself. My life isn't perfect and I make many many mistakes but those are MY mistakes and I will learn from them.
The fact that you feel obligated to tell me how to live my life is, frankly, insulting and degrading. I am capable of making hard choices, I do not need you.
 I believe whole heartedly, that the people of this country and I are fully capable of facing difficulties and trials that come with life. We have survived through enough already and have come out (somewhat) unscratched. What have we done that you should have such little faith in us?
What ever it was I would like to point out something that you seem bent on us forgetting: We are strong. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that but I for one will NEVER forget it. I would just like you to know that I will tell everyone I meet and teach every single one of my children that We are strong, our country is strong and we have the power.
Stay out of our lives.
Sincerely,
Ricquelle Griffiths

Too tired to think of a title.

I should've updated this a while ago but that just seems to be the story of my blog. I've been hesitant to put this up because I'm never sure if my mom reads my blogs and what I'm going to post up now is her birthday present. I'm still working on hers, this is just a model. Also, My internet connection has been having major mood swings lately so there is a possibility of this post getting more and more sarcastic as I try to deal with the frustration.

Presenting: Rice Therapy Bags!

(Sorry for the quality of picture, it was taken on my phone)

Isn't it cute? It looks like a little owl! This is actually a rice therapy bag in it's cover. The cover is closed up top with 2 yellow buttons. Originally the design called for velcro but I had these buttons on hand that I wanted to try out. Next time, I'm gonna use velcro. I messed up big time on the button holes. I was trying to figure out the "button hole" setting on my sewing machine and it wasn't going too well

The blue rectangle is the actual rice bag, the owl looking thing is the outside bag that the blue thing goes in. I like it cause then I can wash the outer bag. 

I mixed with the rice some lime essential oils cause I really like the smell and it relaxes me. The odor has kind of faded from the use but it's still there. If you don't want to mix in essential oils you can always just put a drop or two on the outside cover.
 I found this wonderful pattern on this website----->http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2007/11/rice-heat-therapy-bag-tutorial/ This is actually a really awesome website. It has a lot of cute tutorials on lots of different things. I want to try some of the pillow tutorials, they're cute. 

On a side note:

I just found out that I've had 498 page views on this blog!!  2 of those page views has been from Alaska and 1 viewer was from LATVIA! How cool is that?! This new layout also tells me who my top viewers are so Grandma and Devery! Thanks for reading my blog.  I love you guys! :D  

An *exclusive* look into the making of Collins the Pig

Meet Collins the Pig.

My first hand-sewn stuffed animal! *cue fanfare!*
Yessiree bob! I made this guy and I am immensely proud of him. I've never done anything really like this and I was stunned by how simple it is.

The idea for Collins came from this book:
I love love love love love this book. My only complaint is it doesn't have instructions for all of the animals. The creatures it this book are adorable and imaginative!

Collins was so incredibly easy to make. I made it out of 2 socks, 2 buttons, 2 beads, 4 cotton balls, some thread, and a bit of cotton. I recommend this book to everyone. Do not be intimidated by the hand sewing! It is so incredibly easy. Also, just keep one thing in mind. If Ricqui can do it, you can Definitely do it! I'm a horrible seamstress, not to mention worse hand-sewer but this was easy and I managed to create something that I'm proud of. Collins was created in just a few hours.
Currently, I've had a request from my husband to make a sheep. So that's what I'm trying to do and somewhat succeeding. The best part about making stuffed animals is that it's OK if things are disproportional or sewn crooked or lumpy cause all of those "Screw-ups" gives it character. It makes it yours!
I'm determined to create my own little misfit island of stuffed animals and even though some may come from a book, I still can claim them as mine!