Parker's BIRTH NIGHT

I had many "Braxton Hicks" contractions for about two weeks before Parker was born. I even felt like I was in labor a couple times prior to him coming. Our sweet Bubbs, came to us a little early. 10 days before he was due, they discovered that his heart rate had dropped two times in a 20 minute period. It was significant enough that they ordered an immediate induction. I was so surprised and also worried. They sent me right over to labor and delivery and I called Greg to tell him that they were going to induce me. We were super excited but a bit anxious because of his heart rate dropping. They induced me at 6pm, gave me pitocin (so they could speed up the process, so the little guy could get out quickly). They started the pitocin at 4 levels(she told me the highest legal amount was 20) and that they would increase it by 4 every 20 minutes. The contractions were pretty strong up to that point, but not too bad. I couldn't really talk through them, but I wasn't moaning in pain. My Dr. came in at 8:20pm to break my water. Pretty much, right after that the contractions got really strong. They were also upping the pitocin, so that contributed to the intense contractions. I wasn't sure about if I wanted to get an epidural. My hope was to try with out one, for as long as I thought I could (until I felt the pain was more than I wanted to try to handle). Once I found out that the medicine would not go into my blood stream (therefore, not causing the baby to be tired or out of it), I decided that I was ON BOARD. The contractions were getting very painful, so I decided I would get one. I told her I wanted to wait a little while longer to get it. The nurse said "If you're going to get it anyway, you should probably get it now, because your contractions are quickly going to get even stronger. " I saw what she was saying, and I knew I DID want an epidural, so I told her to go ahead and call the anesthesiologist. He came at 9:15pm (5 or so minutes after I asked for one). That's when Greg was able to make it to the hospital, because he was waiting for my mom to get to our house, so she could stay with Kate.

This time, the epidural HURT! Last time, with Kate, it didn't even hurt very much. So, I was ticked, because the contractions were hurtin' SO bad and he wanted to put that needle in my back too. My contractions were about 2 minutes apart at this point. I think I was dilated to a 4 or 6. I can't remember. I think at this time, I was at 16 on the pitocin scale (out of the legal 20) and it was doing its job a little too well. Contractions were very strong and very close together. The epidural worked for about 3 contractions, and then my labor started going SOOOO quickly, that the epidural "couldn't keep up" (as the nurse said). Within a very short time, and a few VERY painful contractions, I could feel that the baby was ready to come. She couldn't believe me. I demanded that she call the Dr. and tell him that the baby is about to come. She checked me and said "You're complete!"

Apparently, I had dilated from a 4 to a 10 in 45 minutes. The Dr. came within just a few minutes. The contractions were VERY strong and I was so mad that the epidural wasn't working...again (it wore off with Kate during the last 3 hours of labor). I also asked the nurse to get the other Dr. to come give me more numbing medicine. I didn't want to feel the last part again. That was PAINFUL with Kate. He and my Dr. came in just around the same time. I got the extra shot of medicine, and was ready to push that sweet baby boy out. My Dr. was amazing, because he was very assertive, calm, and a good coach. He also was very expert and steady handed. I got to watch the entire birth and it was sooooo amazing. I pushed about 4 or 5 times and that little sweetie was born! He came to us at 10:56pm (so 5 hours since they induced me). They found that his umbilical chord was over his shoulder and around his leg or waist. That was why his heart rate kept dropping. Words cannot express my gratitude that they could see this in a test earlier that evening. They placed him right on my tummy and cleaned him off while he was lying on me (which was great). We were obviously in love with him immediately, and have been ever since.

So, the labor at the hospital was short but painful and the delivery was fast and I didn't feel any pain. Hooray! He weighed 7lbs. 15oz. and he was 20 and 1/2 inches long.

We are TREMENDOUSLY grateful that the Dr.s were able to detect that Parker's heart rate was dropping so significantly, and that they ordered the induction. We love him so much and feel he is a gift to our little, (now bigger) family :)

Our new home and Hair Cuts

We just moved to our new house one month ago.  We are so thankful that we were lead to this area.  We love the people we have met, it's a beautiful area, and there's plenty of trails and bike lanes and parks.  We are soooo excited about that.  There's also a canyon nearby (not for skiing) but for enjoying during the non-snow season.  Utah is such a beautiful place and we are so grateful to be living here.  Our family is growing closer together.  Our home is almost organized.  I can't believe it's taken this long, but oh well!  You can't have everything go how you want it to, right?  I need a little handy man at my beck n' call! :)  (to put medicine cabinets together, help paint, etc...)  Greg could do it, if he had anytime.  He is working on organizing our garage...which has been a big undertaking. 

 Before his haircut. He was so sad and so confused :(

 After his haircut!  So cute :)

Bubbs (Parker) is 9 months old, and has been crawling for a little over a month.  He is also pulling himself up.  He's really excited about that :)   He LOVES Cheerieos.  He loves to splash in the bathtub.  He loves his sister...but from about a 12inch distance.  As soon as she puts her face in his, he doesn't love it.  Especially when she jabbs her finger in his eye (which she surprisingly loves to do).

Kate is turning 3 this month!  Holy cow! She's so cute and so fun.  She has come into a whole new level of understanding of concepts, reasoning and humor.  She's so great.  Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to restrain a wild boar, but besides that, she is awesome.  We love her to pieces and she brings an innocent perspective into our lives.  She gets so excited about things like: listening to the crickets at night, seeing the moon, seeing jet airplanes leave their streams (she calls them rocket ships), and she proudly shows us pictures she colors.  Her very favorite snack in the world is marshmallows.  She would do anything for marshmallows and fruit snacks.  But she is also really loving grapes now and can handle apples in small quantities.  :)   

Greg is enjoying work as a triathlon coach.  I hear wonderful things from his clients and I can see the love that his co-workers have for him. He's a great guy and I am very proud of him.

I am training for the Florida Ironman again.  I thought I wouldn't be nervous, but even typing this makes my heart race.  This past week was a good mile stole for me in mileage, but I am still a bit nervous.  Greg is training me and he truly is the "velvet hammer" as his clients call him.  He seems soft but his workouts a soooo hard.  They are almost killing me, but I know it's to help prepare me.  That race is November 3rd.  Greg has been extremely supportive...he comes home one morning for a few hours and he stays home all day on Saturday while I do the workouts.  He's amazing.  

Hope all of you are well. We'd love to hear what you are up to...on second thought; I'll go check out your blogs right now!

 

Parker's 8 months young!

So, the last time we posted, was when I was 8 months pregnant.  So, needless to say, it's been a while.  I just wanted to post some updated pics of the fam.

Bubbs (Parker) has been eating food for about 2 months and he is just loving oatmeal.  He doesn't like bananas.  He loves sucking on apples and watermelon.  And he's still trying to figure out how to drink water out of a sippy cut.  He is such a sweetie.  He is very content-as long as he's haning out in the baby bjorn.  Kate loves her baby brother so much and can make him laugh, instanatly.  I'm thankful for this two little lovies.  We are hoping to move into a new home in a week.  We have been living at my parent's place for almost 7 weeks.  They are SO nice to let us stay here.  It's been nice to be taken care of.  We will update, once we move.  Thanks!

8 Months

We are super-duper excited to meet this little boy. He's due some time around December 17th. Couldn't be more excited about having a baby due around Christmas! We will keep you posted. But I am feeling well and he is doing well, too. We are VERY grateful for that. =)

Kate's 2nd Birthday Party!

I took Kate with me to the store to pick out a little cake. I saw some huge cup cakes and asked her to choose which one she wanted. She picked this one :) SO CUTE!

Her Uncle Wes happened to be in town for work. She was SOOO happy that he could sleep over and come to her Birthday party. (Wish Nicole and the rest of the gang could have been here too. We missed them very much.)

We had Kate's Birthday party a couple weeks early, because Greg's parents were coming out. So awesome to have so many family members there. From Left to right: Greg, Me, Wes, My Dad, Kate, My Mom, Greg's Grandpa, Greg's Dad, Greg's Mom. (We sure missed Tara and her fam, as well as Lisa. And of course Nicole and the Kids but we were so grateful we still had so many loved ones there! :)

Getting excited to blow out her candle. So dang cute. She blew through her front teeth! (She needed a little help from Momma to blow the candle out, but she didn't know my air helped her)

Despite the electric blue color, it was a DELICIOUS cupcake! She loved it, but asked me to feed it to her, b/c she prefers not to have her hands sticky! Momma finished it off ;)

She was very excited about her new trike! She still is just a little short for the pedals, but soon enough. Soon enough.

KATE'S ACTUAL BIRTHDAY:

We didn't make it seem like a party, but we tried to do the things she loved...

We went to the park.

Went to the library.

Played at home.

Picked out a chocolate donut bar!

I made us dinner and then we had a special little Birthday song and donut. She L-O-V-E-D it! I think this was her 2nd or 3rd one ever. She gobbled down most of it.

Sheer donut joy! We all know how that feels, right?

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TO YOU, LOVE. We are so grateful for you, and are so ecstatic that you are in our life!

Hair Cuts

Is it just me or did everyone get a hair cut this past week? Every one's hair looks darling. It's making me want to cut mine, but I am going to hold out b/c I know how long it's taken me to get mine to my mid back.

Hawaii Trip with Fam.

Great job, Daddy-boy :) Gosh, I'm so proud of him! He stuck with it, even though he was super sick on the bike. I look up to him so much for starting the run, even though he felt so yucky. Then he got into the swing of it after a few miles. That makes him an Ironman to me! This was his 12th finish at the Hawaii Ironman. Dad, you are amazing. You inspire me. (in every aspect of your life)

"Fesh"

That's how cute Kate says fish. She LOVED to see them. She'd squeal!

I love this little chapel at the hotel. I wanted to "renew our vows" last time we were there. Greg said he would. Then I brought it up later in the week and he was like; no way. He thought I was just kidding. He was not for it at all! haha That just shows you the power of suggestion...they had a picture posted in the elevator that has a cute little couple renewing their vows to each other by that chapel. I just thought it would be cute to just go in there are say how much we loved each other. I didn't mean that it had to be official or anything. Oh well! :)

We were soooo excited to go to this restaurant. It's Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. The lettuce wraps were even better than PF Changs. The pork was delicious, and their ice cream and cookies were so delicious. Such a cool place...and kid friendly too! They had special coloring things for Kate and a great kid's pizza. It was huge though. Anyway, was a cool experience to eat there :)

We had a really great family vacation. My brother and his family, and my parents were there. Kate LOVED the kiddie pool and the stairs to the pool. I loved the pool too. We also got to play on the beach. Great time. Greg's side of the family was on the other side of the island, so one of the days, we went up there and played in the pool and had a delicious BBQ with them.

Happy Birthday to our 2-year-old!

I can't believe it's been 2 years since our little bundle-o-joy came into our family.

I still daydream about those early days. Each phase is sooo short. Each one they seem to get cuter and more fun...though I really miss those first few months.

He was such an ecstatic Papa. That day was the first time I heard Greg cry. Sweet :)

My goodness. So sweet.

I'm so thankful for Kate. She teaches me so many things about life and myself. I'm grateful to be her Momma. Happy 2nd Birthday, Sweetie. For her birthday, she got an adorable baby doll that can take a bath and sit on a potty. She also got a trike. So cute :)

Utah Half Ironman

Kate was excited for her Papa to be racing!

Greg's biggest fans.

He did so well. We were so proud of him, and Kate did SO well. She ate tons of Pirate's Booty, so she was very pleased. Great job hon! (And I love the design of your tri suit. You did a GREAT job on the design!)

Kate diserves that metal too, b/c she's so supportive of her Papa :)

Ya, he's mine ;)

Zumba

Oh My Goodnesssssss! Today, I tried a Zumba class for the first time EVER. I was a actually nervous before I got there...nervous that I'd not know what to do and that I'd look dumb. When the class got started, I had a little trouble keeping up but it was FUN and I was getting the hang of it. I even understood why they wore those pants with the tassels on them, b/c you shake that tooshy and move those hips like no other! I was actually smiling and laughing at myself b/c sometimes I could do it and sometimes I definitely could NOT. I was thinking "wow! I love Zumba. I'm going to come every week!"...UNTIL:

The music stopped and the instructor said; "Okay that was the warm up. I'm sure you're all warmed up now. Now it's going to get fast." I was like, SAY WHAT!? Then it was like chipmunk speed. What the heck. I felt like such a dummy. I saw myself in the mirror and I LOOKED like a dummy. I honestly looked like a woman in her mid 50s trying to dance. Yikes! I was sitting there wondering what happened to all those days of Jazz classes and those 2 years of cheer leading? I don't have it AT ALL anymore.

It was fun and super confusing. But let's just say that they weren't coming up for my autograph after class. Maybe I'll give it another try someday...

April 2011

Okay, so this dinner may look a little odd, but I was dang proud of it. It was my attempt at "brunch". I got a brunch cook book from DI for a buck, and decided to get some ideas! The book is soooo old, but food is delicious (even if the author has glasses half the size of her head).

Poor Greg was trying to take a nap. Kate loves it b/c she just sits on him and reads books. Here, she's giving him a little kiss. So sweet. She sure loves her Papa.

"G-G" came up to the cabin to watch General Conference with us. It was so wonderful to see her. She's such a wonderful, fun, funny, loving, and amazing woman!

B-K Broiler (Baby Kate Broiler) now loves to color! She's so good at it! :) She usually ends each coloring session with a crayon in the mouth though. :(

This has GOT to be the MOST PRICELESS picture ever, for us. This is what Kate does with her "Mammie (Lambie)" before she takes a nap or goes to bed. She brushes his feet across her face, as a way to soothe herself. It is so dang sweet. She was in hog heaven.

Nicole and Wes. Thank you SOOOO much for giving us so many adorable clothes. Kate always looks so cute when she wears Tessa and Callie's things. We're so thankful to you guys! Love ya!

This is Baby Kate's Easter dress. My Momma gave it to her. It even has a little bunny rabbit purse! Adorable.

Great job at coloring, Baby :)

St. George Trip

St. George, March 2011

Baby Kate riding an iron horse. (don't worry, Mommy is holding on tightly :)

Kate really liked sitting by the Brigham Young statue! :) He was an AMAZING person. I'm so thankful to have gone to a University named after him! :)

Kate LOVES to wear my shoes. She's really good at walking around in them, too! I'm impressed!

You can't go to St. George without going to Bear Paw. They have THE MOST DELICIOUS stuffed french toast ever!

She started counting that week! I counted to her in the bathtub, earlier in the week, and on two separate occasions, I said "Four" and she said "I've". I couldn't believe it. I thought it was just a coincidence, but at the restaurant, she honestly started counting! I'll try to upload the video. She says; "One, tooo, teee, ive." (1, 2, 3, 5)

She loves her Papa! Happy Birthday Papa. We're SO thankful you were born!

We headed down to St. George during Greg's birthday weekend. We had an awesome time. The weather was..."e' stinky", but we didn't let that stop us from going outside. We went running, Greg did some biking, played at the park, and went to church. We also ate delicious food (thank you to Mom and Dad for my birthday and Christmas gift cards!!!) and we even gained a couple lbs. What's a good trip without takin' home a few souvenirs?! It was one of our only family trips we've been on, so we got to spend a lot of time together and really bonded. It was a great time.