Joshua has arrived!

In case you haven't seen the millions of posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, our baby boy has arrived!

Joshua William Bonds arrived at 3:45 am on Monday January 5th 2015. 

He was 6 lbs 8 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. 

He is absolutely adorable and I am happily biased.

I'll back up briefly though for a moment to explain how we wrapped up the end of 2014.

We got to finish the year out by seeing our dear friends Ron and Bryton get sealed, which was beautiful to see. We are so happy to have gotten to share that special day with them.

We then got to spend New Years with our wonderful friends Katy and Sam!

Below is the gorgeous Katy!

And of course Sam. Garett and Sam met on their missions to Zimbabwe.

Who knew that they would stay dear friends through both getting married and now us having a baby.

Honestly we spent New Years playing Terraria with them and getting them hooked on it. It was a fun filled evening with great friends and lots of laughs.

I guess this was the last picture of me pregnant at 39 weeks. 

 Little did we know that on Sunday January 4th around 4 am, my water would break and everything began to change.

After almost 24 hours of labor Joshua arrived to us. I think I'll do another post on my labor story. It was an exhausting one, but worth it.

I apologize for my swollen face, I ended up having to have a c-section and all those medications made me puffy. I can honestly say I was just tired and happy.

Garett immediately took to being a dad and it looks good on him.

Right after he was born they moved us to a small temporary recovery room that only had a chair for Garett to sleep in so I had him join me since I had just lost a bunch of weight and and room for him. He immediately passed out and so did Joshua. 

 And now for tons of pictures of Joshua. 

If you don't want to see a ton of pictures of my baby, then I am sorry for you.

Last week was honestly a blur. Garett and I were up for over 24 hours straight and pretty much no food and no rest. 

While we were in the hospital it felt like we were in a twilight zone. I never really knew what day it was and time didn't seem to matter since 

He mostly sleeps and eats, but even when he is asleep he is adorable!

When he is awake and not eating this is a common face of his.

He always looks like he is contemplating deep and important things that might save the world one day. I have to wonder what is going on in that brain of his. 

Like I said Garett is taking to his fatherhood thing.

Joshua's favorite thing to do is eat and then fall asleep in mommy's lap. 

=]

We love having in our lives! I have never been so tired in my life, though it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. He is precious and sweet and I wouldn't change a thing about him. Truly our lives will never be the same and we're excited for this new chapter. 

Thank you to our friends who came to see us in the hospital, to the sweet friends in our ward that brought us meals and to my dear mom for coming and helping us out for a few days. I can't wait for the rest of our family and friends to get to meet him. We love you all and thank you for all your well wishes and support. 

-Megan

Almost the End and A New Beginning

First and foremost I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah or any other holiday that you may celebrate this time of year. I know we had a nice quiet one which will probably be our last quiet one for possibly the rest of our lives. 

We are at an odd place in life right now. As of last week I have graduated with my Bachelors in Photography and as you can see just about ready to explode. 

I am so grateful for an incredibly patient husband, as these last 2 semesters have been a roller coaster ride between morning sickness and other pregnancy adventures and finishing up my degree. Garett graduated in July so he was working and waiting for me to finish these last few months. I could not have survived all of this without him. 

Also to my dear parents whom invested greatly in me and always pushed me to work hard. I thank them. They have always supported me in doing what I love and have encouraged me to try new things. I owe them more than I'll ever be able to repay in my lifetime.

We loved getting to spend time with them this past weekend and were sad that we couldn't be there for Christmas. 

Regardless we had a wonderful Christmas. Below is my phenomenal homemade, personalized stocking made by Cathie, Garett's mom. (Just fyi Cathie I absolutely love this! You can ask Garett, I was dancing around the house for joy when I got this in the mail. Thank you for working incredibly hard on this for me! It means the world to me). All the Bonds kids had stockings like these and I think it is the coolest tradition ever.

This year it was just the 2 of us in Idaho. We decided to stay in town, being that baby boy's due date is in 2 weeks and I would hate to be stuck in another state when he arrives.

Garett made our Christmas loads of fun by jumping out of bed yelling "It's Christmas!" and dancing around the house. We of course had to be wearing our Christmas pajamas and start with the stockings. Garett pushed the couch out of the way so we could reach the presents easier and then proceeded to dump out his stocking on the floor. His facial expressions were priceless and though we are not quite parents yet, he had enough excitement for us and 3 of our unborn children. 

 It was nice to have one little Christmas to ourselves, but of course we missed out family that is spread over the country. 

We got to enjoy the rest of the day with our friends Bryton and Ron. We had brunch at our place where Garett cooked up a storm and then enjoyed a fantastic Christmas dinner made by Bryton. We were definitely stuffed full with delicious foods for Christmas. It was really nice to be able to share the day with our friends and enjoy some great company. (Thanks for sharing your Christmas day with us Bryton and Ron!)

 Rexburg also did not disappoint as it gave us almost a foot of snow for a beautiful white Christmas. Up until now Rexburg has been unusually warm and you could still see the grass on Christmas eve day. Literally overnight we got this beautiful blanket. I am grateful I didn't have to deal with this during the semester and it was nice timing to have it during the break. I would have been sad if our first and last Christmas in Rexburg was snowless. 

Now I am 38 weeks pregnant (below is at 37) and kind of just waiting.

It's weird waiting to become a parent, to bring a child into this world. I think it is finally feeling real that he can come whenever he wants now. Part of me wants him asap and part of me is content with waiting awhile longer (probably the insanity of having to actually give birth to another human being plays a part in that). I am both thrilled and terrified on a daily basis.

It is also strange to think we are basically done with Rexburg. I have had a wonderful 4 years here and 3 of them with Garett. I have truly grown to love this town as it has become my home. It is where so much of my life changed for the better. I have met some incredible people here over the years including my amazing husband Garett and some of our dearest friends. It is where our story began. It is about to be the beginning of our little family and it will always be dear to me.

Now we are starting a new chapter. 

We are about to have a baby boy, to become parents.

Our lives are about to change forever.

We are working on figuring out where we want to go for grad school.

Everything is about to change and I am sitting on the edge of the cliff waiting.

It seems rare that we get to hold on and savor the turning points in our lives.

Often they happen suddenly without warning, for better or worse.

So here I am waiting, waiting for this new chapter to begin, for everything to change.

I guess I should count it as a blessing that I get to be in this place and take it all in.

It is exciting, terrifying, thrilling, overwhelming and incredible.

I am grateful for an amazing husband to share in this adventure with.

I'm grateful to our family and friends that have supported us in everything we have decided to do and are always cheering us on.

This new road is coming and knowing that I have the greatest support from the most incredible people gives me peace. 

I know it will be a new and challenging road, but I also know it will all be okay. 

I am blessed beyond reason and know that when tomorrow comes I will welcome it with open arms.

Here's to new beginnings and with the new year, will come a new road and a new adventure.

Thank you all for being a part of it. 

I love you all and wish you the best in this coming year.

May it be filled with great and marvelous joys and experiences.

-Megan