What goes on around here

While Ezra does this....



The rest of us have been busy... ok, not me. I'm bored off my pants TRYING to hold still so I can recover in a timely manner. But Roman and Marisa have been having fun.

Roman had a preschool field trip to pumpkin land this week. They enjoyed the corn maze, their little playground and a spook alley. To finish it off, they purchased a pumpkin to decorate at preschool.

Yesterday, to keep the kids entertained, Shane took them to the Bean museum. Marisa was freaked out by all the animals and Roman had been enough times to be slightly bored with it, but they did have fun playing in the non threatening toy room.


Tonight the kids will go to a fun ward Halloween party. I want to get out of the house so bad, but I'm not sure that a germ infested ward party is the best place to go. Hmmmm.

The scoop

Ok, so here's the scoop.

About two weeks ago, I suddenly had no more contractions and I seriously felt like I would be pregnant forever.

I went to my doctors appointment on the 20th and I was somehow dilated to 3 cm and 75% effaced. So the Dr. says "Wanna have a baby on Thursday?". As much as I wanted to sign up to be enduced, I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle the pitocin without an epidural so I said no.

Monday I walked 2 miles, Tuesday I walked 3 miles, Wednesday I walked 2 miles, Thursday I walked 2.5 miles up the biggest hill I could find, pushing the two kids in a stroller. I was desperate to have this baby. HA!

Well, the hill must have done the trick. Later Thursday night, as I was cleaning up dinner I noticed that my erratic contractions were becoming more regular. I gave the kids a bath and got them in bed. By this point, I was having to stop and concentrate through them but they were still 6-8 minutes apart and maybe 45 seconds long. I wasn't sure if I should wait for them to get closer together or if we should go to the hospital since I didn't want another super close call like I had with Marisa but just hate what they do to you at the hospital so I didn't want to be there too long either.

We decided to go, and left just as soon as Bruce and Carmen made it over to our house. I was still in a decent state and helped clean the house before we left.

The ride there was rather uneventful. Since the hospital is in the middle of nowhereville, I had to check in at the emergency admissions desk and there was a line. The lady, believe it or not, asked me to wait in line!!!! WHAT! well, after waiting for about 10 minutes and seriously considering barfing in the potted plants while there. We said "see ya latter lady!" and went up to labor and delivery without being admitted.

They did all the normal check the baby stuff, and I had to lie down (which is 1000 times worse than being upright) and it turned out I was 7 cm which was a pleasant surprise. They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said no, which is a serious test of self control, let me tell you. Turns out by the time it would have taken effect, it would have been over anyway. They acted like I could have the baby any second but I felt like it was going to be a long time and just wanted to get up.

The doctor came in and broke broke my water, and two horrible contractions later I was pushing. Three or so contractions of pushing and he was here. This time I made it to labor and delivery about 25 minutes before having a baby. How do I do this???? I don't know. I never considered myself to be a fast labor girl, but two out of three is kindve a trend. I guess Roman's 24 hours of "fun" was enough to make me think different. The fast labor definately makes going drug free easier.

So anyway, we left home around 8:30, and he was born at 9:44 pm.

The rest of the hospital stay was well, just that. I hate the hospital! The beds make my body hurt, I hate the gowns, the noises, the annoying people (although this time we had much better nurses but why they have to come in at 5am is beyond me), the pointless IV they gave me, the annoying straps they put over my already uncomfortable belly, and don't even make me tell you about those stirrups. My new worst enemy. If I wasn't such a chicken, I would probably really like a home birth. But I think it's too risky and well, there is a charm about making a big mess, and having someone cook for you and then walking away from it all and handing the bill to the insurance company.

The kids are both quite charmed by him. Roman loves him and keeps saying so. Marisa is getting really good at saying baby and has done quite well with dealing with his presence so far. That might change as he gets noisier, and I'm left here to battle 3 vs 1. She is suddenly paranoid with visitors though and thinks that every visitor is going lead to missing parents. She sure was happy to have me home again. It's ok, I was really happy to see her again. I complain about her a lot but she sure makes my day and I missed her a lot while I was at the hospital.

So, there you have it. Now for some more pictures :)

More kids than arms.... What am I going to do?

Our little family

Going home in his outfit, I think he looks like a boxer with his big nose, puffy eyes and scratched up face. Add in a sweat suit and he's ready to fight.

One happy kid with his new little bro.

Tired of waiting?

So was I, which is why I am so glad that

He's HERE!!!!!

Welcome to the world

Ezra

I will share the bulk of the story when I'm at home and not on our ancient laptop and dial-up internet

He was born October at 9:45 pm

8 lb 3 oz

20 inches long

Healthy and loves to sleep and eat. Of course.


He's looks like a perfect mixture of Roman and Marisa and has dark brown hair. More hair than Marisa had, but less than Roman.

I did it without an epidural again, and even said the words "no, I don't want an epidural". I'm quite proud of myself because as most of you ladies know it's really hard to say when you just want some relief.
Me during a contraction, I managed to muster a smile but white knuckle fists tell the whole story.

Anyway, we're so glad he's here and that everything went well.

I will share more when I'm home tomorrow.

Wait for it........

..................
..............
...........
Wait for it.

Another political stint

Believe it or not, I watched almost an entire debate the other night. I know.... crazy! For some reason I am more drawn to care about this election so much that I'm actually watching this stuff. Mind you, I roll my eyes THE WHOLE TIME!!! But I still watched.

I feel somewhat detached from the whole Prop 8 business going on in California, but when they passed around a sign up sheet in church to make phone calls regarding the proposition I realized that even the little things make a difference on the important things. Even little things like my blog that gets a few hits a day. So since I can't even make a phone call to the pizza place without being Roman absolutely HAVING to tell me something and Marisa screaming in protest over something, I will put my little plug in here.

I found this article through my friend's blog I thought was very good. She is in the thick of it all living in California, and is working very hard to promote prop 8, standing on corners holding signs morning and night. She even started a blog specifically for Prop 8 promotion. Good for her!

Anyway, I support any laws that maintain marriage as an institution between a man and a woman.

I think that by making same sex marriage legal that MY rights are stomped all over from what my kids are taught in schools religious freedoms. It is MUCH more than a civil rights issue, and it does a lot more than just allow same sex marriage. Whereas if it is not allowed, the rights and privileges allowed through civil unions are equal and fair.

Also, Springville City's Library Bond issue:

I think I will be one of the few my age that will vote against the bond. One thing I really don't like about the bond is that the rich (or at least those who live on land that is worth a lot) who, lets face it, don't use the library as much, are paying the bulk of the bond while the poor pay less and reap the benifits of the use of free internet and other resources they can't afford otherwise. I guess that's ok, I mean lets face it, Robin Hood was a good guy right? but since we are fortunate enough to live in a very nice neighborhood but our income does not come close to matching those of our neighbors, we pay a lot more than someone else in our current socio-economic status because of where we live.

Frankly I think the city was lazy, unprepared and unwilling to keep up with city growth and now wants us to foot the bill for something that is long overdue. I say, find another way, make YOUR dollar stretch futher instead of lavishly spending mine. Work harder to fix the problem that the city's government has ingored for so long.

Now I will get off the soap box and go back to my fairly un-political life. Come November I will vote for two things. The president (which my vote counts for little in this state since the vast majority votes the same way I do) and the library bond, pretty borring but I will still vote because I think it's important.

Hard to believe...

...that such a cute little girl could have been such a monster from 12:00 am to 2:30 am this morning.

Don't you just love the pig tails?

Last night was my last cooking class and we did deserts. We made a raspberry coffee cake that was AWESOME, a chocolate chocolate cake, lava cakes, creme brulee and the best chocolate pound cake ever!!! I ate so much chocolate last night I could have died and gone to heaven, and I don't even like chocolate all that much. All of us in the class were silly with giggles by the end of the two hour class, it was hilarious.

Anyway, it was a great end to a fun six weeks. I loved it and got lots of great recipes that I will enjoy. Shane on the other hand, maybe got two recipes that he will like, but hey, it's two more than we had before.

Here is the the recipe for the chocolate pound cake that was really very good:

2 C. Flour
3/4 C. Cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
3 cubes butter, softened
3 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
5 large eggs
1 Tbsp instant cofee dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water (optional, but really gave it some great flavor)
1 C buttermilk

Stir tgether flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixer cream butter, sugar & vanilla; beat in eggs one at a time, then coffee solution just until blended after each addition

Gently beat in flour mixture in several additions, alternately with buttermilk, only until smooth after each addition. Bake in a well greased and floured bunt pan or loaf pan for 1 hour & 10-15 minutes (or until a cake tester comes out clean) at 325 degrees.

Loosen around edges and turn out onto a rack; Turn right side up and cool completely. Wrap tightly and let stand at room temperature overnight before slicing fairly thin. Was tastey right out of the oven too but falls apart and doesn't slice as nicely.

Serve with ice cream or whipped cream and fresh berries or chocolate sauce.

This goes a long way, so invite friends over :)

18 months

Our little girl is 1 1/2 years old today. I can't believe it.

She went to nursery today and did very poorly. She was just too tired or something but was having none of it. So I spent most of church in there. Can I say, I'm SO glad that I don't work in the nursery regularly.

Oh my, today was one for the record books. There were a record number of kids in there this week and only two of the three teachers. One of which needed to run home to get something. So since I and one other parent of a distraught child were in there, the one teacher ran home, and the other was trying to find another parent of a child who was having a melt down.

It was at this point when a little boy pooped and his diaper did not do it's job, and this is no baby blow out, this is full on Toddler blow out. Lucky for me, I can't smell a thing because of my stuffy nose. But we didn't notice this little problem until he had it all over his hands, face and floor!!!! OH MY GOSH!!! I stayed away from there and the other mom tried to hold in her breakfast while she wiped of his hands. Neither of us knew who this boys parents were or what his name was to find his parents so I stuck my head out in the hall to see if someone could identify him. Finally, his mom came and got him and changed his entirety, someone cleaned up the floor and we opened the windows to let in some fresh air. Oh it was awful!!! This is one moment I was grateful for my stuffy nose because I surely would have lost my breakfast if I could smell.

Anyway, this was all in the first 10 minutes and it only got better. I left for about 10 minutes to go to Young Womens and I could hear Marisa crying the whole time, so I went back after taking attendance etc. She was so unhappy, even with me in there, so I finally gave up and brought her home to take a good nap. Which she is still doing, thank goodness.

Anyway, Marisa sure is growing up and learning lots of new stuff.

Good News!

I didn't have my baby during "fall break" so my doctor might actually be there for this kids birth.... if it ever happens. I'm starting to wonder. Recently he seems to have made himself very comfortable in there and I've gone from having contractions all the time to having maybe 1-2 a day. WHAT!?!?

Second string of good news. Marisa slept until 7:30 on Saturday and 7:00 on Sunday without waking in the wee hours of the morning for her pacifier. I almost don't want to say anything in fear of jinxing myself, but I hope this is a new trend.

Both times, the day before she only took one longer nap during the day. In the past that has led to even more poor sleep at night, but seems to be helping her this time. Hmmmm. I sure hope she can keep that up. Even though I still wake up at 5:30 expecting her to make a noise any minute, I will quickly loose the habit.

The water cooler

So, I don't watch a whole lot of T.V. lately although I love watching it, even when it's not that great. It's so relaxing to me.

Did any of you see the office?... I just love the quote:

"Terminal stage of pregnancy" as that is exactly how I feel. Like death would be a sweet release from my miserable state. (I'm kidding of course)

Oh the office. You know, I didn't even watch the first season and a half of this show because that Michael bugs me so bad I can barely stand it, not to mention Dwight. My biggest pet peeve about T.V. is when things are totally unrealistic and I can't believe that there are people that eccentric and weird out there. I know there are, but all in the same office? I wouldn't work there for two days. But I watch it regularly now because it's still pretty darn funny.

The other show I watched was 20/20... I know I'm a weirdo! I was sewing and it was either this or some pirate show Shane was watching so I watched 20/20 and you know what? it wasn't so bad. It was a politically incorrect view of politics by John Stossel. It was everything from the presidential race, to government intervention etc.. I am usually pretty discussted with media and their one sided view and total lack of information. But I really enjoyed watching this. Don't ask me to repeat what he said, I will get it totally wrong, but I liked it anyway.

I looked out the window, and what did I see?

LOOK at this tree!!!! It's even more beautiful in person. It's BRIGHT red and just gorgeous! Defiantly my favorite tree in our yard. It's growing fast and proportional, I just wish it were in a position to shade our house.


Anyway, I had to share, I think it's called an October glory maple. I think we planted it three years ago and it's doing great!

Just my luck

I'm sick. YUCK!

Roman came down with the sniffles on Monday and I awoke with a sore throat on Tuesday, Marisa and I both have a runny/stuffy nose today and I'm MISERABLE with sinus and ear pain!

The only thing that feels normal is my arms, so I'm using them to type out my complaints.

Needless to say, the last two mornings when Marisa awoke at 4:30 on Tuesday and 5:30 today, the pacifier came quickly to my rescue. There is only so much a girl can take. I have, however, stuck to my guns during the day time and only allowed her to have her pacifier in her bed. She has learned this new rule quickly and is quite excited when I tell her it's nap time. The hardest time she has with it is in the car.

Can I tell you that my bladder is taking the blunt force of all this? I know, way too much information, but I already go running to the bathroom every 1/2 hour because the baby is so low he could literally fall out. Add in some sneezes and blowing my nose, I might as well live in the bathroom. My overstretched stomach muscles are sore from all the nose blowing that it hurts to walk. And even better, Shane will probably catch this just in time for me to really need/want some help around here.

Uggghh someone shoot me now! I did everything I could think of to help myself get over this quickly, Humidifiers running on full blast, oatmeal breakfast, chicken soup lunch, lots of water and juice and my rice bag on my neck and I didn't do the dishes tonight :D

I'm going to bed now. I'm hoping that today was the worst of it :)

A light at tne end of the tunnel

Today went better.... pacifier wise.

well, She was up at 5 am. I decided to let her cry until 6:30, and she did, taking a few breaks here and there. I fell asleep during one of her breaks and then ended up dreaming I was at church and I could hear her crying but I couldn't find her. It was so frustrating. Then, suddenly I was at home in our living room and filling a swimming pool full of water while I let her cry in her crib and she finally fell asleep. I awoke to find she actually hadn't fallen asleep and was still crying, with a little more gusto, so I got her.

The rest of the day however went a little more smoothly than yesterday. She was distracted by my visiting teachers and a trip to the library. She was just a little more cheerful in general. When I asked her if she wanted to take a nap she said "no", and I said, "do you want your pacifier" and she got the BIGGEST grin, giggled and said "YES!" (or at least her version of yes) She took a LONG nap which was nice, but it made it so she didn't take an afternoon nap. Guess you can't win em all.

Then I got to ditch her at bedtime for my cooking class. She always does fairly well at bedtime, but goes down even better for Shane. Why is that? I hear that lots of kids go to bed so well for their dads when mom's not around. Is it just because it's different and they are thrown off guard? It's not fair. My kids are really good at bedtime anyway, but still.

I LOVE having a girl, She is SO cute and lovable and silly. But when people say that girls are more work, they aren't kidding!

Oh and BTW, in an attempt to escape the scary visiting teachers, she walked across the entire living room to get to me. The furthest she has walked by far in almost a week, so her foot must be feeling a little better. But, she still crawls and scoots most places. It's like she's learning to walk again and I get really excited about all the little steps she takes.

Bored, tired and troubled

I don't have much to write about. I'm bored and tired. :)

Actually, today was a nearly 100% pacifier free day for us ..... I mean Marisa. (the only exception was naps) How did it go? well, it wasn't a fun day. I hate it actually. Probably just as much or more than Marisa does. She woke up at 5:30 and didn't go back to sleep, waking Roman up in the process. She cried and whined all morning. She took a short nap. She tortured Shane and I through lunch and a trip to Lowes. She cried the whole way to and from picking up Roman from preschool while holding out her hand, begging me to give her a pacifier. She took another rather short nap. She didn't eat dinner. She went to bed early.

I know, I should have done this months ago!

And why am I doing this when she has a hurt foot, just got two shots and is about to get her life turned upside down????? I don't know, I can't remember. I guess if things are gonna be bad, I might as well throw another log on the fire right?

I don't know if I have the will power and determination to do this right now!!!

I need to just throw them away, but I seriously love those things as much as she does. There are so few things in her life that she really LOVES, I hate taking one away from her. I don't know if I can do it!

We'll see how well I can do when Shane isn't home from work. Probably not very good.
AHHHHHH!!!!

Whew

No broken bones, so probably just a really bad sprain. Sure wish she would start walking on it, but oh well. Good news!

Poor Baby

So anyway, I was attempting to clean our bedroom three days ago when Marisa wanted to "help". Her way of helping was by playing on our bed, and you know how beds are these days, They are SO high up you need a ladder to get in, well, not me, but some people ;). So as I was granting her wishes I thought "I shouldn't put her up here, she could fall off". But I put her up there anyway.
Well, she didn't fall off, but she did try to get down by herself and ended up landing wrong on her foot or something. Now she looks like this:


We had her 18 month appointment yesterday anyway so I mentioned it because a day later she still wouldn't walk or stand on it. It could be a sprain or a break, we find out today sometime if she broke any bones. She's been pretty good about it all, she doesn't like the splint, but I think it helps it feel better. She hated the x-rays because I had to go into a different room while they did them, she was NOT happy about that one bit. She doesn't like being left in a room to come up with her own devices for getting around (she seems to have forgotten about the months she spent on her hands and knees and scoots around on her bum a lot).


I wouldn't put it beside her to be over reacting a little bit, but you can never be sure. She has hurt her arm a couple times where she wouldn't use it that day, but she was always better the next day so I do think it's more than just nothing. I will keep you posted :)

Sold!

Well, we finally sold Shane's old car. It had been sitting at the shop for a couple weeks just waiting for someone to say, "I need a cheap but good car" and after a few bites that went nowhere, we got a buyer. YEAH!


Shane is sad to see it go. I didn't like driving it much but, it was a good car. Turns out, it's little "problem" that sent us jerking down the road, feeling like we might not make it to our destination was an easy $60 fix. Still, it wouldn't have fit three car seats well at all and we needed to have one good, more reliable car.

Anyway, thanks for being such a good car little black car! Good luck with the new owners (which i hear are THREE teenage girls!!!!! YIKES!!!)

Even better

Just realized that my due date is the 27th and my little counter thing thinks it's the 31st or something like that so it's only 21 days!!!

Even better. :)

Almost there

26 days says the calendar! Woo hoo!!!



I'm actually thinking it will be more like 10-16, but I guess we'll see. I hate to get my hopes up but the Braxton Hicks contractions are starting to feel like they are doing a little of the work already (hallelujah!) and I can't imagine him staying in there 26 more days. Well, if every day were like today where all I do is lounge around all day eating and sipping on cold water then he might, but as nice as that would be, it ain't happenin'.

Oh and bad news. I'm so totally bummed. My Dr. who was absent for Marisa's birth is also going to be out of town for 4 days from the 15-18th. I just KNOW that is when I'm going to go into labor and I'm going to have another total stranger deliver my baby. I don't know why it bothers me so much but it does.

When I was pregnant with Roman I went to the Timpanogos midwives in American fork for my care. And although they were all very nice, I didn't get to know all of them at all. I had never met the midwife who delivered Roman and she moved out of the state the very next week. I was her last birth and I never saw her again.

With Marisa, the nurse actually delivered her since I basically walked into the hospital, got into bed and had a baby, but my Doctor, who just lives across the street from the hospital, was out of town for spring break and his back up was in Provo at another birth so I got probably the only Dr. who would answer the phone. Don't ask me his name, I don't know. Never saw him again. Besides, he was unpleasant. Actually he may have been just fine, but after he came, things went down hill for me and I ended up having to go into surgery. At least I got some sleep I guess :)

Now, I thought I was safe having a baby in the middle to end of October. No holidays, at least not any that would warrant a vacation of any kind, shouldn't have any problem with weather issues and what is it? Fall break for Nebo school district.. Who has ever heard of Fall break????!!!! I'm just so pissed.

I know, who cares? but for some reason I do. I guess the real reason I care is because having a baby is a big deal to me.. it's something that is unique each time, exciting, fairly rare in a lifetime, and so... i dunno, personal I guess. I don't even like the nurses with their dumb remarks and their attitudes like I'm making their life difficult (I've had my share of nasty nurses). So having at least a Dr. that I've met before... is it too much to ask?

Am I crazy?

Anyway, I'm SO craving sleeping on my stomach again, and getting into bed and having it feel good to lay down again, being able to pick things up off the floor, being able to run, get in and out of the car swiftly, eat a hot dog or a can of soda without a ton of guilt, having normal conversations again that don't involve my due date and the baby's gender, and most of all being able to hold and see our little guy.

Speaking of conversations. I went to Dillards yesterday to get some makeup at the clinique counter (which they were out of... thanks alot!) and as I was waiting by the door for Shane and Roman, this woman who was waiting by the door as well asked me what I was having. I wanted to say we were expecting a golden Labrador because what does she care? (I know, I'm a mean pregnant lady) Well, she proceeded to tell me that if I want to have another girl next time, I've got to lay on my right side after well... .you know what. If I want a boy, lay on the left side. I tried not to look totally terrified by the unwelcome and strange advice, and I grinned and walked away slowly. :)

Yep, can't wait for conversations like that to go away!

random thoughts

The other day, when I was spending all my time at church in the nursery with Marisa (she's not quite old enough to go by herself yet, but I've started going with her to get her warmed up to it 17 more days!!!!) . While there, I was talking with our neighbor who was talking about her daughter who is in college and I found myself thinking (something I do very rarely lately).

I was thinking how there were about two years of my life that most of my life pivots on. They totally dwarf all the other years. One was 1997 my Junior year in high school and the following summer. The other was 1999 the summer following my Freshman year in College as well as my sophomore year.

I guarantee, that other than relatives and a few of my online boutique friends, I met or became friends with every single person that reads this during those two time periods. (sad, I know I haven't made any friends in a while other than this neighbor I was talking to)

Anyway, I had way too much fun in 1997, I was living the free life, no job, a car to use when I pleased, lots of friends who didn't have jobs and just day after day of having fun with no money :). No wonder my Freshman year of college was so tough.... back to reality. But it seems like I learned a lot that year.

May 1999, right after visiting my best friend in Idaho who as going to Ricks college was when I decided on a whim to just move out of my parents house and find an apartment. I made the decision and moved out within about 3 days. I didn't have to, but I really did. BEST DECISION EVER! This is the summer of Apartment #18 and #34 fun. I learned, the hard way how to make it out there on my own (for the most part anyway). My parents moved out of the house that I, and all my siblings had lived our entire lives (they lived there 30+ years) etc. etc. This is also the summer I met Shane (although we didn't start dating until a year and half later) It's crazy how one little decision totally revamped my life.

Anyway, I also had another thought (I know... two thoughts in one day, must be some kind of record or something). This was what? not even ten years ago yet and everything is so expensive now!!!! I know... random thought. It was actually spurred by a coupon I had for a 99 cent yogurt at Hogi Yogi.

I remember back in 1997, you could get a veggie sandwich at Hogi Yogi for $1, yes one dollar without a coupon even. You know how much it is now? over $3!!!! Which is a total rip off if you ask me for a piece of poorly made bread, some American cheese and a few veggies.

in 1999 a small yogurt was $1.99 now, $2.99 another total rip off for something I can inhale in a mater of a minute. If I had the option I would buy frozen yogurt in the grocery store, but they have something like 3 flavors to choose from, all of which are HORRIBLE!!! It was also back in 1999 that gas was under $1 for a gallon. Can you believe it?!?! I know it was even considered low then, but $1!!!! I don't think we will ever see it go below $2 again maybe not even below $3. :( It did finally dip below $4 a gallon recently. Holy Moly!

Anyway, these were just some random thoughts I had and wanted to write them down.

Do you have a year that was a big life changer? I would love to hear. :)

We've got talent

Here are some videos of my kids playing and showing off.

I apologize for the overall shakiness of the first video. I was trying to do the actions with her while taping, and that just didn't go over very well. Also, please ignore the mess in the background. Sorry to say that if it's on the floor these days, it usually stays there. oh, who am I kidding, that always been the case.

Marisa really enjoys her little dog that sings etc. She's LOVES to do head shoulders knees and toes with it. She is on a signing/dancing kick lately.



Roman sings this primary song about 100 times a day. I figured I better get it taped before he forgets it or gets bored with it. He LOVES to sing this song. Guess there are a lot worse songs he could be singing.