Garrett: Referring to his dad "He just keeps getting weirder!"
Rylee: After seeing Santa at Macey's, "that is NOT the real Santa Claus he is JUST a human dressed up like Santa."
G: "Daddy, you have exposed your brilliance."
R: "Does Santa have a penis?" Luckily my mom got to field that one. "Of course"
G: "My brain has hatched an idea!"
R: After seeing Austin for the first time and he had on his beanie hat "Was he born with that hat on?"
G: "You are the most beautiful mother I ever had." Yes, that 8 1/2 month pregnant mother cried!
R: "You are the worst mom" Yes, that 9 month pregnant mother also cried.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The December Blur
It just went by to fast. There wasn't enough time...or more accurately, I didn't have enough energy to really "do" Christmas this year. But we managed just the same.
Fruit Salad has nothing to do with Christmas but I thought it was so cute when Garrett came home from Kindergarten with his take home book entitled "Fruit Salad" with instructions on how to make one. He was thrilled when I suggested we make one for lunch. He and Rylee helped pick out and cut up all the fruit and they even ate it!
These two are just too cute.
Rylee and her best buddy Hannah.
They just make me laugh!
On the 6th I took the kids and my mom for lunch at Spaghetti Factory and to see Santa at the mall. Garrett hopped right on his lap and told him a few things that he wanted and Rylee wouldn't even take the free sucker from him. Maybe next year!
On the 10th my parents took us (me, Jon, Alisa and Brian) to dinner and then to the temple to do sealings for family work that had been worked on throughout the year. This has become a tradition around Christmas and I love it. Taking a step back from all the commercial parts of Christmas and do something extra special. This year was still great the only difference was after one hour my fingers had swollen to sausages and I had to squeeze me feet back into my shoes long enough to walk out of the temple.
On the 11th Shellie and I took the kids to see Utah Regional Ballet's The Nutcracker. This was Rylee's first year to attend and she couldn't wait.
She sat on the edge of her seat (or my lap) the whole time and enjoyed watching all the beautiful ballerinas.
My very own Rudolph's came flying through the house.
On the 17th was the Christmas Sing and school. Garrett promised he'd sing loud for us. Singing at all was exciting for me!
Isn't he cute! He just grinned ear to ear when he saw me, Rylee and his grandmas in the audience.
That same night Shellie had the kids over for her Polar Express sleepover. When I picked Rylee up the next morning I thought something looked different but we were in a hurry and it wasn't until we got home that I realized she had these new sweepy bangs. She was insistent that "Nana said my hair was too long so she cut it." It wasn't until after a bath and I could really see we had a slight mullet going on since not only were there bangs but the sides had been cut too. I questioned her again and she only said "don't tell Nana". A few minutes later Shellie calls and says she just got back home and found a ball of hair in her hallway and was anyone at our house missing it!
The little stinker with her new do (after a professional fix). Luckily it wasn't a drastic cut and we had something to still work with.
My cuties ready for church!
On the 21st we of course welcomed our sweet Austin James
and were able to bring him home on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day!
Garrett and Rylee were so patient while I finished feeding Austin and changing his diapers before we opened presents. This was one of the redeeming parts of the day...seeing these happy faces.
The much anticipated and constantly asked for pillow pets. They didn't disappoint!
The aftermath...where did the presents go?
This was the other redeeming part.
Garrett made Jon and I a present in school (a snow globe) and this was my favorite gift of the day- the card.
"I hope you like this card"
He was so proud!
Rylee ready for church in her new dress from Grandma Sue and Papa!
Holy cow! I have three kids!
The rest of the month was spent holding, loving and snuggling our "Christmas Baby" as Garrett nicknamed him.
Fruit Salad has nothing to do with Christmas but I thought it was so cute when Garrett came home from Kindergarten with his take home book entitled "Fruit Salad" with instructions on how to make one. He was thrilled when I suggested we make one for lunch. He and Rylee helped pick out and cut up all the fruit and they even ate it!
These two are just too cute.
Rylee and her best buddy Hannah.
They just make me laugh!
On the 6th I took the kids and my mom for lunch at Spaghetti Factory and to see Santa at the mall. Garrett hopped right on his lap and told him a few things that he wanted and Rylee wouldn't even take the free sucker from him. Maybe next year!
On the 10th my parents took us (me, Jon, Alisa and Brian) to dinner and then to the temple to do sealings for family work that had been worked on throughout the year. This has become a tradition around Christmas and I love it. Taking a step back from all the commercial parts of Christmas and do something extra special. This year was still great the only difference was after one hour my fingers had swollen to sausages and I had to squeeze me feet back into my shoes long enough to walk out of the temple.
On the 11th Shellie and I took the kids to see Utah Regional Ballet's The Nutcracker. This was Rylee's first year to attend and she couldn't wait.
She sat on the edge of her seat (or my lap) the whole time and enjoyed watching all the beautiful ballerinas.
My very own Rudolph's came flying through the house.
On the 17th was the Christmas Sing and school. Garrett promised he'd sing loud for us. Singing at all was exciting for me!
Isn't he cute! He just grinned ear to ear when he saw me, Rylee and his grandmas in the audience.
That same night Shellie had the kids over for her Polar Express sleepover. When I picked Rylee up the next morning I thought something looked different but we were in a hurry and it wasn't until we got home that I realized she had these new sweepy bangs. She was insistent that "Nana said my hair was too long so she cut it." It wasn't until after a bath and I could really see we had a slight mullet going on since not only were there bangs but the sides had been cut too. I questioned her again and she only said "don't tell Nana". A few minutes later Shellie calls and says she just got back home and found a ball of hair in her hallway and was anyone at our house missing it!
The little stinker with her new do (after a professional fix). Luckily it wasn't a drastic cut and we had something to still work with.
My cuties ready for church!
On the 21st we of course welcomed our sweet Austin James
and were able to bring him home on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day!
Garrett and Rylee were so patient while I finished feeding Austin and changing his diapers before we opened presents. This was one of the redeeming parts of the day...seeing these happy faces.
The much anticipated and constantly asked for pillow pets. They didn't disappoint!
The aftermath...where did the presents go?
This was the other redeeming part.
Garrett made Jon and I a present in school (a snow globe) and this was my favorite gift of the day- the card.
"I hope you like this card"
He was so proud!
Rylee ready for church in her new dress from Grandma Sue and Papa!
Holy cow! I have three kids!
The rest of the month was spent holding, loving and snuggling our "Christmas Baby" as Garrett nicknamed him.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Austin's Arrival
Disclaimer: This post is not for sympathy but rather for me 1) to be reminded in the future of what it was really like 2) to impose a little guilt, if necessary, when Austin grows up 3) for Alli who, I'm afraid, thinks that I've been sugar coating motherhood.
I'm a bit of a superstitious person and should have known things weren't going to transpire as I had envisioned with this delivery when I went to bed the night of the 20th and couldn't get a single ounce of sleep. I laid awake all night tossing from one aching hip to the other. I finally got up around 2:30 and looked out the window to see mounds of snow. Beautiful, yes, but would also make driving to the hospital a bit treacherous. At 4:00am I showered and got the rest of my things ready and off we went to the hospital...it only took 25 minutes (instead of the usual 10). I checked in and look how happy I am - and ready to POP!
(I know, can you believe I'm actually posting this picture! It's for posterity)
Next came the IV. On my left arm the nurse blew the vein once it was already in. On the right arm she hit a valve which wouldn't allow any flow. She gave up and had another nurse try my left hand. Finally, a working IV. As 7:00 was approaching, which was my scheduled c-section time, there was no doctor. Dr. Broberg, who delivered Rylee so beautifully, was nowhere to be found. They paged him twice and never received a response. This isn't looking good. The doctor who was to assist was there and grabbed another doctor to go ahead with the delivery. SPINAL BLOCK. To be honest this is the part of having a baby I fear the most. All went well...at first. While they start cutting I get what can only be described as an electrocution up my spine and into my head that completely freaks me out and is incredibly painful. Both doctors and the anesthetist acknowledge they've "never seen that before". That pain finally goes away. During the rest of the c-section my blood pressure dropped four times down into the 70's which was remidied by a quick shot of epinephrine. This made my pressure jump up and with that I felt like my heart and lungs would explode from my chest. Afterwords the anesthetist tells me that when it drops that low that's usually when people start to vomit and go out so luckily I escaped that outcome.
Here Jon is introducing me to my newborn son Austin!
Isn't he sweet! He was born at 7:56 am, weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.
Me and my baby once I finally got to hold him!
Daddy and his boy!
Just bonding.
I love this precious little face!
Garrett and Rylee were thrilled to come meet their new brother...
and ride on mom's bed.
I'm a bit of a superstitious person and should have known things weren't going to transpire as I had envisioned with this delivery when I went to bed the night of the 20th and couldn't get a single ounce of sleep. I laid awake all night tossing from one aching hip to the other. I finally got up around 2:30 and looked out the window to see mounds of snow. Beautiful, yes, but would also make driving to the hospital a bit treacherous. At 4:00am I showered and got the rest of my things ready and off we went to the hospital...it only took 25 minutes (instead of the usual 10). I checked in and look how happy I am - and ready to POP!
(I know, can you believe I'm actually posting this picture! It's for posterity)
Next came the IV. On my left arm the nurse blew the vein once it was already in. On the right arm she hit a valve which wouldn't allow any flow. She gave up and had another nurse try my left hand. Finally, a working IV. As 7:00 was approaching, which was my scheduled c-section time, there was no doctor. Dr. Broberg, who delivered Rylee so beautifully, was nowhere to be found. They paged him twice and never received a response. This isn't looking good. The doctor who was to assist was there and grabbed another doctor to go ahead with the delivery. SPINAL BLOCK. To be honest this is the part of having a baby I fear the most. All went well...at first. While they start cutting I get what can only be described as an electrocution up my spine and into my head that completely freaks me out and is incredibly painful. Both doctors and the anesthetist acknowledge they've "never seen that before". That pain finally goes away. During the rest of the c-section my blood pressure dropped four times down into the 70's which was remidied by a quick shot of epinephrine. This made my pressure jump up and with that I felt like my heart and lungs would explode from my chest. Afterwords the anesthetist tells me that when it drops that low that's usually when people start to vomit and go out so luckily I escaped that outcome.
Here Jon is introducing me to my newborn son Austin!
Isn't he sweet! He was born at 7:56 am, weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long.
Me and my baby once I finally got to hold him!
Daddy and his boy!
Just bonding.
I love this precious little face!
Garrett and Rylee were thrilled to come meet their new brother...
and ride on mom's bed.
Garrett and Austin
Rylee and Austin
Enjoying a cartoon.
Jon was able to take the week off and it was so nice to have him at the hospital with me for most of the time. I was very blessed to have so much help from our families and the kids were taken care of so that I could just recuperate at the hospital and enjoy those first few days without worrying about anything.
Rylee and Austin
Enjoying a cartoon.
Jon was able to take the week off and it was so nice to have him at the hospital with me for most of the time. I was very blessed to have so much help from our families and the kids were taken care of so that I could just recuperate at the hospital and enjoy those first few days without worrying about anything.
Christmas Eve we're heading home! But first the nurse needs to remove my staples. I had staples with Rylee and "knew" what to expect. The nurse takes one look at the incision and says out loud "WOW, he sure used a lot of staples! And it looks like many of them are bent." So 28-30 staples later (I lost count with the ones that the skin had started to grow back on) I was ready to leave.
Garrett and Rylee were anxiously awaiting our arrival.
Garrett and Rylee were anxiously awaiting our arrival.
Christmas Eve night I went to my parents for dinner with Garrett and Rylee and made it for about 1 hour. Christmas day was fun watching the kids open presents and all their excitement. By afternoon however, the tears came and I went to bed that night with eyes nearly swollen shut from crying. Everyone says "oh how fun to have a baby for Christmas" and I suppose it could be but just that statement made it worse. I felt like crap and would have skipped over the whole day if it weren't for my kids. Guilt, physical pain, hormones out of control and disappointment over my already very low expectations of what I would be able to do was just a recipe for disaster.
So my recovery has been nothing like my previous two c-sections. I was in quite a bit of pain and the drugs weren't helping all that much. To add to the fun I got the awesome hacking cough that everyone seems to have. Coughing and c-sections are like water and oil. They're never meant to be together. That being said...is it worth it????
So my recovery has been nothing like my previous two c-sections. I was in quite a bit of pain and the drugs weren't helping all that much. To add to the fun I got the awesome hacking cough that everyone seems to have. Coughing and c-sections are like water and oil. They're never meant to be together. That being said...is it worth it????
You betcha!
(Here's the sugar coating Alli)
I have been given a beautiful, healthy and happy baby. What more could I ask for?
And I just have to say - I don't know what I would have done without all the kid watching, laundry doing, meals brought in, housecleaning, grocery pickups, and other acts of service given to us by our family and friends! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!
Closing notes: 10 days post surgery I finally started to feel like I was on the mend. Hallelujah!
Monday, November 29, 2010
The Ninth Month
A friend in my ward gave me this poem and I find it quite fitting and am definitely ready to be the neighbor!
The Ninth Month
by Carol Lyn Pearson
Being a duplex.
I have been happy, my dear,
To loan you half the house,
Rent-free and furnished
As best I could
You have been a good
Tenant, all in all,
Quiet, yet comfortably there,
Tapping friendly on the wall.
But I hear
You have outgrown the place
And are packing up to move
Well, I will miss
The sweet proximity.
But we will keep in touch.
There are bonds, my dear,
That reach beyond a block,
Or a mile, or a hemisphere,
Born of much love and labor.
I approve the move.
And gladly turn from landlady
To neighbor.
The Ninth Month
by Carol Lyn Pearson
Being a duplex.
I have been happy, my dear,
To loan you half the house,
Rent-free and furnished
As best I could
You have been a good
Tenant, all in all,
Quiet, yet comfortably there,
Tapping friendly on the wall.
But I hear
You have outgrown the place
And are packing up to move
Well, I will miss
The sweet proximity.
But we will keep in touch.
There are bonds, my dear,
That reach beyond a block,
Or a mile, or a hemisphere,
Born of much love and labor.
I approve the move.
And gladly turn from landlady
To neighbor.
November Fun
November started off with a roommate reunion after 13 years. Yes, the pose is cheesy but we did a similar one back in the good ol' days at Utah State and were just trying to relive the past. Of course back then we didn't have kids hanging on us or growing inside us either. It was fun to visit with Amanda, Amber, Chanel and Alli and catch up on our lives. Thirteen years ago we wouldn't have thought between us there would be such heartache, divorces, so many kids and stepkids but yet we're all happy and doing well so what more could we ask for.
The kids love when daddy comes home from work. It is unanimously the "favorite part" of everyone's day.
Although there is no photo documentation I was able to have a long girls day with two of my oldest and dearest friends. We met for lunch at P.F. Changs and visited forever, exchanged our "favorite things" Christmas presents then headed to a movie at Gateway and shopped...okay looked around. I took full advantage of my day off and stopped at Target on the way home to finish a little shopping and visit another friend that couldn't make it. It was great fun and such a nice, much needed break.
We held our 2nd Annual 5K Turkey Trot. I'm afraid the 10 degree weather scared away many of our anticipated participants this year but we still managed to raise around $500 that morning. Next year we'll pray for slightly warmer weather!
Notice the two boys out in front with their shorty shorts on. Hello!
We spent Thanksgiving with Jon's mommy and brothers.
Playdough pies! Yummy!!!
The spread.
Shellie is a great cook and the food was fabulous but I kept trying to remind her that there were only 5 adults and 2 children. It didn't stop her from this menu: turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, stuffing, corn, grapes, shrimp cocktails, celery/cheese plate, jello salad, homemade rolls, 2 pumpkin pies and an apple pie. I was able to persuade her to ditch the mini corn muffins, Stove Top instead of homemade stuffing, and no butternut squash soup. Wow!
Black Friday at our house was spent putting up baby Austin's crib and the Christmas decor.
I admit I completely scaled back on the decor this year. My back couldn't take it any longer and the idea of having to put it all away just after having a baby made me ill. Luckily all my kids seem to really care about is the tree. They were such good "helpers" decorating the tree and thoroughly enjoyed looking at each ornament and hearing any stories behind them. They make it all worth it.
It finally SNOWED! We woke up Sunday morning to this beautiful white scene. Garrett and Rylee were so excited and spent a good amount of energy playing, running, building, shoveling and rolling in the snow.
I love these little snow babies!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
October Recap
The kids love playing in the rain and the puddles.
To bad I couldn't get a single focused picture.
Oh well, they're still cute even when fuzzy!
A little sibling love!
Ready for costume day at ballet class.
We went on a surprise destination to the Living Planet Aquarium on the 28th. Garrett couldn't stop jumping up and down and squealing when we pulled in to parking lot. HE'S NEVER BEEN TO A REAL AQUARIUM BEFORE or so he kept saying.
"This is the BEST day of my LIFE!" I got from him all the way home. And then of course..."when do we get to come back?"
Garrett's first Halloween parade at Barratt. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was participating in the same parade at the same school. How fun!
Trick-or-Treating at Great Grandma and Grandpa Gray's. It was raining so hard I didn't get many pictures at all.
Hmmmm, what to eat first!
To bad I couldn't get a single focused picture.
Oh well, they're still cute even when fuzzy!
A little sibling love!
Ready for costume day at ballet class.
We went on a surprise destination to the Living Planet Aquarium on the 28th. Garrett couldn't stop jumping up and down and squealing when we pulled in to parking lot. HE'S NEVER BEEN TO A REAL AQUARIUM BEFORE or so he kept saying.
"This is the BEST day of my LIFE!" I got from him all the way home. And then of course..."when do we get to come back?"
Garrett's first Halloween parade at Barratt. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was participating in the same parade at the same school. How fun!
Trick-or-Treating at Great Grandma and Grandpa Gray's. It was raining so hard I didn't get many pictures at all.
Hmmmm, what to eat first!
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