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Random Snow, Semester's End, and Stats

So it is now the end of the most stressful, emotionally, physically, mentally straining semester/months of my life. Perry and I felt so burnt out by mid semester.  We have also been the most poor. I know I'm not taking classes, but having a husband feeling stressed stresses me out. Plus having a baby doesn't help make things less stressful and a toddler can definitely increase the fatigue. But we are done with the semester and we made it through. Things can only go up from here. :) It had definitely stretched us and made us grow and know what we can handle as far as general life struggles go.

Snow. It's snowing thick white flakes as I type. Its sticking to the trees and every other surface around but I especially like how it dusts the trees white. I loved it as a kid. I loved to sled in it, ski in it, and snowboard in it. As an adult I learned to hate the snow what with our unreliable car, bad tires, and scary slippery encounters and accidents. I hate driving in the snow. I learned to hate cold weather when I lived in Rexburg, ID for a couple years. Now I live in snowy Utah. Its not as windy or cold here as in Rexburg. Now that I have kids I have had a desire to like snow again because I want to enjoy playing in the snow with my kids. Well as this season has begun I have grown more fond of seeing the snow out my window. It is truly beautiful. It is so bright and brilliant. So white. It reminds me of the Savior's countenance and what Heavenly Father and Jesus have been described as in scriptures to be so bright. Spiritual things aside, I am even eager to go sledding with Grant in it and teach Perry how to snowboard. So I have learned to possibly coexist in a snowy place and actually enjoy myself. I may just accept living somewhere with snow, whereas before when asked where we wanted to live someday I would respond, "Somewhere that doesn't snow." I just need to plan how I interact with the snow, bundle up of course, and never drive and run errands while it is snowing. A bit of planning can make me even love snow with out being frustrated by its existence.

Carly had her 4 month appointment. Now she turned 4 months about a week ago but her appointment was on Friday. She weighs 11 lbs 6 oz which is the 5-10 percentile range. She is 24 and 3/4 inches tall which is between the 50-75th percentile and her head circumference is 39.8 cm, which is between the 10-25th percentile. So she is still long and skinny.  Her eczema on the other hand is her main problem. Her cute little legs and cheeks are so kissable but when her skin is clear of eczema it is soooo soft! I can't believe it so I want to kiss them more! So it makes me sad she has to deal with eczema. We cream her down with Cetaphyl and cortisone cream morning and night. The flares come in waves so she's not always exposed to the steroid. I know that its not good in the long run. Since there seems to be nothing external causing the rash the Dr. and I decided to explore dietary options. So the first thing they want me to do is cut dairy out of my diet. This is ironic since I couldn't have dairy at the end of my pregnancy and I'm now lactose intolerant and mildly allergic to dairy. So I decided that I will start that after the Holidays. Then I can cut everything including whey which can be found in certain margarines and a filler for other products such as bread. I just don't feel like reading every label for now. But yes after Christmas and New Years I will start that. The dr. said to do that for 2 weeks. If there's no improvement within a month then to come back to see her. Then we will continue down the line of foods, like soy and eggs and so on.

*I tried to insert a photo here but its just not working... ugh. sorry.*

So enough of the health issues. Carly continues to be a joy in our lives. She  is so happy and smiley. She is just adorable. We love her so much. I used to hear stories of moms who just love their babies so much and love the alone time they get with them in the middle of the night. Well in my opinion I would rather sleep but when I happen to change her diaper in the middle of the night..maybe once a week and turn on the little night light she is so happy to see me! She just smiles and smiles and of course I try not to interact so that it doesn't cause a night-waking habit just to smile and play with me but she sure is cute! That is the only time I ever slightly enjoy waking in the middle of the night for her lol.

Some ear and eye candy of Carly laughing :)

And a video of Grant since we don't talk about him much due to Carly's being so cute.

My New Toy

   So Mom and I are obsessed with DI. I think the rest of family enjoys it too but we were a little crazy over Thanksgiving weekend. We spent and hour and a half at the American Fork DI on Saturday and got a bunch of fun stuff and stocking stuffers for our little cheap gift exchange at Christmas. Then on Monday we went to the Provo DI. We got started at 1pm. I thought we would maybe spend an hour there. Lo and behold Carly slept for 2.5 hours (this NEVER happens) and then she woke to be nursed. After I nursed her, after being at DI for about 3 hours a cart comes out and there was an old looking Kitchenaid. What?! So I said, "Mom go snatch that Kitchenaid" since I was holding Carly. She was a little too slow so I went over there and tried to get it. It was too heavy but some guy eventually helped me and then my mom took over and got it from him.
   We tried it out. It did not work. Then a seasoned DIer came over and started fiddling with the plug and then it did work! Oooh! It was $35. So I took it home so delighted by the find! Mom cleaned it all up and we researched it online. It is a K45 vintage model. Basically the first of its kind. I'm betting its about 50 years old. Then after she cleaned it up I plugged it in and it did not work! What the heck! I was really sad. My dad then got to work on it all day and going back and forth to the The Mending Shed in town and they have lots of parts and accessories for it. During the cleaning process I have unscrewed the two things on the side to clean around the screws. Apparently that was a key reason for why it wasn't working. My dad replaced the plug because it seemed that the plug was faulty. And the Mending Shed guy said that the part I took out needed to be put in just the right way or else it would not turn on the machine. Wow. Who would have thought. So it works and I made cookie dough and I'm so thankful that my dad did all that work on the machine! I have a Kitchenaid! I'm so happy. I have been oogling over kitchenaids and bosch mixers for a while now and thought I could never afford one until later in my life!
   So as I posted on Facebook before, this is my Christmas present from Perry. So yay! I now have two vintage appliances: The kitchenaid mixer and the juicer. But after researching kitchenaid they didn't miss a beat in the capabilities of the machine. They thought of everything from a grain grinder to an ice cream maker. I doubt I'll buy those attachments but if my juicer dies someday I will consider the attachments.

Voila!

Plus I thought I would add some pictures of Grant at Vangogh to Playdoh this month.

In the nativity parade shaking bells and sporting the reindeer antlers.

Painting a heart ornament

Decorating a pretend cookie.

Rolling Along!

So Carly is now 4 months today! Crazy. I can't say that time has flown by because it really has felt like 4 months from all the struggles of fatigue and her resisting naps and so on. She has lovely chunky cheeks and legs. So cute! Grant never had chunky anything.

I have also read a number of books. My favorite is "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. His methods are great because he caters to everyone and wants everyone to feel comfortable from cry it out method people to nurse to sleep people. Anyway, it has really helped Carly go to sleep much easier. It is no longer a battle and a stressful situation at every nap. Soon she should consolidate her naps but at this point she takes about 4-5 naps a day, each 45 min long.

The main reason for this post that Carly has reached one of her milestones. She has rolled over from her stomach to her back, about 3 times in a row and all caught on camera. She has yet to do it for Perry but at least I got it recorded. Also Grant was slightly jealous of her camera attention so I asked him to roll over for me too and I recorded it. Silly boy!

Losing My Voice

So I had been in choir since I can remember probably starting in Kindergarten or 1st grade. Then I was in the elite choir at Shasta High School called Madrigals and for the choir lover in a person it is a dream come true and a once in a lifetime experience! Then I tried out for the elite choir at Shasta College and got in but I wasn't crazy about being a lower alto part. I'm usually a higher alto. Anyway, it was kind of immature of me but quit and carried on my life with out choir. I continued to enjoy singing at home and hymns at church. When I was pregnant with Grant I was in my 7th month, teaching preschool during my undergrad degree. About 2 weeks before Christmas my voice just disappeared as far as singing went. I had no range. I could sing about 3 notes before my voice would crack and refuse to go higher. So this was quite devastating because I had a decent voice before and no voice now, and quite the humbling experience I might add. I could sing well effortlessly before and now struggled to sing on pitch at all knowing I couldn't make my voice do what it used to, It was so frustrating and now I could relate to those people who can't sing well and maybe understand how they feel.  After 2 and a half years since then my voice has slowly worked its way back to my original range and it has gotten easier to sing like I used to sing well with ease. I'm not completely there yet though. I have now made a big decision that I never thought would feel like a big decision but I joined our ward's choir. I went last week and it was so fun when I went! I have hopes that going to choir every week will help strengthen my vocal chords back to my original voice. It made me happy to sing and harmonize and I felt the joy of singing that I have missed for these years since I quit choir. I love to sing!

Freezing a Wart

So after working for a dermatologist when I was in college I learned that to get rid of a wart all you need is some "dust off", a funnel, and a bandaid. So you just turn the dust off upside down, center the funnel over the wart and spray the liquid nitrogin on it and let that effect it for 10 seconds. Then you cover with a bandaid until the blister heals. So we did this for Perry's wart he has been annoyed with since he had some scar tissue that turned into a wart on his face. So it didn't go as clean and easy as I planned lol. Perry numbed the area first, then held the funnel to his face while lying his head on the ottomon. Then I put the dust off (upside down) on the wart and I assumed it would all dissipate quickly like its supposed to. Well I guess there's not as much oxygen in the funnel and the liquid didn't dissipate. So the liquid was on his skin way longer than 10 seconds. Not knowing what to do I spilled some on my hand and Perry's from coming out of the  funnel, then I decided to go grab a towel and then I poured it out on the towel and it evaporated immediately. But then the funnel was stuck to his face lol. I put my fingers close to where the face met the funnel and eventually it warmed up enough to come off his face. He had the funnel sized lump on that spot and put a bandaid on it. Within a day it had become a blister and we will see in about a week if the wart is gone. If not round two and hopefully by then it will be gone. Anyway, lovely story huh? I found it quite entertaining. It makes me laugh when I think about it.

Halloween Party and Day Festivities

    So the toddler party was a hit I think. The children immediately started jumping from square to square for the cake walk so we did that one first. Then we did some pumpkin bowling into different monster faced bottles. Then the kids pinned the face on the pumpkin, ate food, decorated a cupcake, and then ran around like crazy high on sugar. They were bouncing off the walls. It was great. I think they really enjoyed themselves. They played with bubbles and glow sticks, which were prizes for the game. I got some dry ice at smiths and that was fun, had spooky hands (carrots) poking out of the dip, and hot dog mummies. My sister in law brought some pumpkin shaped cheese slices and my other friend brought the little juice boxes of punch. I love halloween and themed parties! Next year it will be even spookier.
    This year Perry and I rented Dark Shadow as our Halloween themed movie to watch. Then on Halloween day my sister in law came over and we made hand and footed painted bats and played out side a lot. I also made the kids some apple marshmallow mouths. Then in the evening we went to our ward Halloween party and chili/cornbread dinner and met up with Gator and her family to trick or treat a bit. It was fun! Then on Friday I hit up the clearance at Wal-mart and got a couple things for next year. It was definitely a fun month! Here are some pictures of trick'r'treating:

If you can't tell we are Little Mario, Big Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach.

The studly Marios. 

The whole trick or treating gang minus the cousin's parents.

Baby Girl is 3 Months

My little darling is 3 months old and her eyes are as blue as ever still. High hopes there! She is battling infant eczema and I have now discovered through on line research that maybe I should bathe her every day rather than every 3 days. We are lotioning her up twice a day and her cradle cap is still there. I learned that cradle cap is also a form of eczema however the methods I have heard and used for it are not things I would do to normal skin eczema. Anyway, she still consistently sleeps at least 6 hours a night and then some after nursing. She also only takes about 30 min naps like 5-6 times a day. I wish  she would sleep longer. My efforts to extend her naps have been futile and NEVER work. So I give up. She will figure it out eventually and then once she is 6 months I will do more intense sleep training and she will be more developmentally able to fall asleep after the 30 minute wake up cycle during naps.  She should be able to sleep 1.5 to 2 hours per nap.  I really hope she figures it out soon. She is a joy in our home, smiling, cooing, almost laughing, focusing intently on her delightful toys. It is great fun.

 I recently reinjured my back so things are a bit more challenging and I don't have as much stamina with helping Carly fall asleep in her bed but I just need to figure out a good exercise that will strengthen and not strain my back. I strained it while running and I'm pretty sure the first time around I strained it while running too. Lame. Maybe yoga would be better. I will have to see what other people think.

But anyway, I have made it through the newborn phase and she is officially just a normal little infant lol. Love her!

Pictures courtesy of Grant and I:
Oh and a little tidbit about Grant, he is getting really good at taking pictures. It is really funny. He can point and shoot well and he takes pictures of everything. He got really excited and showed me all his pictures like of the refrigerator and stuff lol. Also its probably the only time there are going to be pictures of me ever doing my day to day life during my years of having kids, you know because I'm the only one who is usually taking pictures.

Just got a haircut!

His airplanes and helicopters.

His Halloween foot/hand bat craft.

Grant taking pictures of Grandma.

And me.

And Carly.

And the blender. 

My 2nd carrot harvest.

The Elections I Remember

   This is my second voting season in which I am eligible to vote. It is kind of empowering, because back when I was in school friends and other students would debate and argue which presidential candidate was better and I thought it was really dumb because none of them could vote anyway. Plus both candidates are usually not all bad and they each have great points. That is why the nation is so divided in half when it comes to the race.
    I remember a couple distinct times when it was voting season.  I don't remember the first two youngest numbers. But I do remember when I was 8 there was a fun little craft on a cereal box that you used a plate, some crayons, and string to hang your own propaganda sign to "Vote for Clinton". I wonder what my parents thought. I don't know which one they voted for. I find it interesting though that children can be exploited through cereal boxes during a presidential campaign. I really enjoyed my craft.
   Then I remember when I was 12 and I was actually in the middle of performing Annie Jr. at Harmony Middle School. It was the end of voting day and I was doing a quick costume change and the  television was on to see where the polls stood. It was all very confusing at that time who I should want to win because everyone seemed so concerned about that.
 When I was 16 is when I remember the above memory when my friends were all debating over which candidate was better and me not caring because we couldn't vote anyway and the issues were somewhat confusing to me anyway.
    When I was 18 I registered to vote, then when I was 20 it was my first year to vote and I lived in Idaho and I was a newlywed. I remember shamefully not really knowing much about each candidate. This year I have made a point to watch all the debates and to be an informed voter. It has been a great feeling to be political yet never overbearing on anyone.  I am excited to go on a little walk with my children to Orem High School to vote and to show my son that it is fun and exciting to Vote when you are able. I hope my children will learn the significance of voting for who and what you believe in to help better our country! I will encourage my children to be more informed than me. I hope all of you prayerfully consider the candidates and to VOTE! Yay!

Education

   I have always known I wanted to further my formal education in one field or another and I was alway undecided in what exactly I wanted to do. I have a BA in Child Development and a minor in Marriage and Family Studies.  My Major was chosen because I like psychology and I have taken a lot of those classes in the past but that just talks about people in general. I wanted to know more about Child psychology so I did Child Development. Seeing that that was the closest I could get to what I was wanting to learn about. Upon finishing my degree there weren't very many stimulating careers that I was qualified to do, or that I really had a passion or want to do. Other areas such as Nursing seemed more exciting as a career. But then my husband started a degree at BYU in provo and I explored some of their MA options for my self. The obvious glove MA that would fit what my education has led me to would be the Human Development degree, but again it would profit me little of what I would want to do unless I got a PhD so that I could teach about it. I NEVER foresee a PhD in my future because the thought of it just doesn't appeal in any way.
   However I was doing some scripture study and it was probably in an general conference talk I learned that keeping a marriage alive and preventing divorce is one of the most important and noble endeavors one can do. That inspired me to want to keep marriages alive somehow. I learned a great deal about marriage and divorce during my minor. So I thought that being a marriage therapist would be a very rewarding career. BYU offers a MS in Marriage and Family Therapy.  Its a two year program and is year round so it would start in the fall and basically end the end of summer 2 years later. Also one continually sees clients at the Comprehensive Clinic on BYU Campus through out the degree. The program requires a thesis which piggy backs onto an advisor's research and it seems very rigorous at the start and then has less credits taken slowly by the end of the program.
  I got very excited about the prospect of starting my Master's degree next fall. I was a little late in my interest however, because I forgot that the GRE is a requirement also and I wouldn't make the application deadline with that alone to get the results to the school in time. Bummer. Well so Perry and I have been discussing the idea of me going to school. We definitely don't want him to be in school at the same time, we definitely can't start the degree until 2014 and Perry is 100% supportive of me going back to school and making sure we are here in Utah until I get it done. That will give him plenty of time to get some adjunct experience as well as the community service experience he needs to be seriously considered for a full time position somewhere.
   So the plan is that I study and take the GRE this coming year and give my old professors ample time to submit letters of recommendation. Also I have time to retake the GRE if my score isn't how high I want it to be. Also I can start the degree in approximately 2 years and Carly will be 2 and easy to watch for a sitter, Grant will be 4 and a half and in preschool. And I definitely don't want to give birth to a baby during the program. So there may just be a 4 year gap between Carly and the next little one. Things may change and the age difference between my kids is really the only thing I'm not a fan of for the program. I really want to take my mom's advice and maybe wait about 3 years next time instead of 2 and a half.  The reason BYUs program trumps all the others is that it was the first University  to have the program and is considered the best. And it is obviously the most affordable program as well. So cheap and the best. What more could you ask for. I think the most ideal situation would be that Perry gets his adjunct experience and also gets his full time career here in Utah and then we can have all 4 children born and age 1 and up which will be in about 7 years. And then I can start the program after that point.  That still seems too far away and too long to wait if he never gets a full time position here. But we would love to end up in the Utah Valley indefinitely because we love it!

Halloween/Fall Week

This week I felt very festive, and one of things that makes me feel alive in life is being festive in the seasons and holidays of each year. This last week I baked 3 pumpkin pies. It was slightly experimental because I used half crisco and half coconut oil for the crust. This happened because I didn't have enough crisco but next time it will all be coconut oil. It was delicious! Grant also discovered that he likes pumpkin pie too! Good. He better because it is Perry's and my favorite pie so it is only proper that he like it too, right? Just kidding, we don't force our opinions on Grant but it is nice to know he likes it too. Plus its really not that bad for you when I cut the sugar in half.
   We have also been admiring the fall colors as of late. I want to remember to look at the beautiful trees as often as possible before the leaves die and fall off the trees.  Our neighbors also gave us a ton of walnuts to crack open. It will be a lot of work but we don't eat walnuts often so I think the amount we will accumulate with last us a while in the freezer and then just add chopped walnuts here and there to recipes I enjoy. Its also getting to that point in the year where I can store my big winco bag of flour that I bought last year outside again. I will only buy the big 50 lb bag if it is freezing outside so that it doesn't go bad. We don't have enough freezer space for it inside yet and I use flour so often I don't want to run out every week.
  Also this weekend on Friday I carved a pumpkin with Grant's help. Its our monster face pumpkin. We baked the seeds and ate them, and Grant painted another pumpkin. We did all this while listening to a strings version of "The Night Before Christmas", "This is Halloween".
  Saturday we went over to Country Fest in Payson. We enjoyed the tractor hay ride, the petting farm, balloons, roping pretend cows, lawn mower races, and corn maze.  Unfortunately I'm not sure where I put my camera so there are no photos of these adventures. But the nice thing about that was that we just purely enjoyed the time as a family without worrying about getting enough "memories" on camera. Sometimes you don't truly get to experience things when a camera is always clicking or taking video. Happy October! We will report on our little Toddler Halloween party after next week: Yet another thing to be festive. I just love Halloween time and Autumn. We will probably throw a little party every year. This year its more for me, next year Grant may understand the concept of Ghosts and monsters.

Baby Girl and Life Update

So obviously I haven't blogged much since Carly was born. It has been quite the roller coaster ride. Granted she is an easier and more predictable baby, it is still hard. Although I do believe I didn't really pay attention to Grant's tired cues when he was this young so he was probably overtired a lot but also had some reflux. Anyway, I decided I wouldn't blog unless I was on the high part of the roller coaster. I swear every half a week I'm either on one side or the other of the spectrum. So being a mom of a newborn and a toddler is hard, especially if you are trying to keep up with potty training. Its hard to help Grant go potty while nursing at the same time and both things are time sensitive you know! Either a screaming baby that is hungry or an accident of pee or poo. So as of late we are having Grant wear pull ups all the time and he general is going poo in the potty every time he needs to and basically never pee in the potty. I'm so disappointed because I was doing so good with him. Oh well. I guess I will really focus and get him potty trained once he is 3. Boys are always late at it anyway. Which makes me really want Carly either fully potty trained before baby number 3 or not even close which means the two of them will be really far apart or really close together. I haven't decided which.

So I tried some methods of "sleep training" for Carly that were supposed to help her sleep long times at night. None of them involved crying mind you, just constant comfort until they fell asleep, just not nursing or rocking to sleep. Well it totally threw her off and her nights were horrible! 1-2 hours of sleep stretches. Ugh! Then I decided I didn't care if she like its when I hold her and rock her to sleep. I mean come on, she's a baby and needs to feel loved and nurtured this early on anyway. So I let her nap on me or she falls asleep rocked to sleep and then put in her swing, or her best naps are in her car seat when we go somewhere and she stays asleep when we get him home for a while. So ever since I have relaxed about her sleeping she has too I think because she goes to bed at 8 or 9pm and I either dream feed her at 10 or not. Depends on my mood and tired level as it approaches that time. Then She wakes to nurse between 2am-5am. You know she is still young and a little unpredictable but if you do the math that is more than 2 hours of sleep, so success. Then sometimes the rest of her night is crappy, waking every hour or going 4 hours. I never know. Anyway, the unpredictability still drives me a little crazy but we are getting sleep here in the house.

Also Grant can get out of his bed and he can knock over his child gates, so in the morning he just comes out whenever, but I basically refuse to get out of bed if its before 7am for him. He sometimes comes and cuddles for a minute or two before telling me he wants breakfast. Anyway, during these times Carly is usually sleeping in until 9 and I keep thinking if she were my only child I would get sleep in, or if Grant were my only child, I would have been able to sleep 9 hours straight. Oh well. When they get old my sleeping will get better. It will dang it! At 6 months I will sleep train somehow. I remember that being the magic number for Grant and my sleep when he was little.

So Carly is about 2 months or 9.5 weeks old. She weighs 9lbs. 13 oz and is 23 inches tall. Weight is 25th percentile, height is 75th percentile. So a tall, lean girl. She is very happy too. Always smiling and cooing. The rewards of having a baby this age. She even takes formula if I don't feel like pumping for a date or outing where she has to stay home. She has horrible eczema also. I am finally able to treat it. But no soap for my children. Their skin just can't handle it.

I struggle to get all my chores done in a week but she does like to play on her activity mat or bouncer which gives me like 15 minute stretches to spend time with Grant or do a chore. So that's nice. Grant never wanted me to put him down. He would fuss until I picked him back up again. She just makes a weird hiccup noise when she is wondering where everyone went. No fussing though, unless she is tired.

I have been able to get showers in during the day but I'm still working on getting a good workout in. I haven't figured that one out yet. I just don't like working out unless my house is clean because working out is like my de-stresser but a cluttered house stresses me out so I can't reap the benefits if the house is a mess, unless I leave the house to work out. So anyway, here is some eye candy and videos for you all. These were all taken in the last week.

Grant was innovative in bringing his blocks up the stairs.

The neighbor's cat followed us to the park.

General Conference naps.

Pumpkin painting.

Carly Rae Stotts

This photo album customized with Smilebox

Carly's 2 Week Stats

I forgot to post about Carly's doctor's appointment. Typically newborns are supposed to gain at least enough weight to be back to their birth weight by their 2 week appointment. Carly passed with flying colors. She weighed 6lbs 10oz when born and weighed 7lbs 5 oz. By now she might be almost 8lbs. She was 21 and an 1/8 inches long, and so her height was in the 75th percentile and her weight in the 50th percentile. She is definitely a good eater. She has also discovered that she prefers to fall asleep eating and gets annoyed when I burp her and expects to eat more after like the 3rd time already eating but eventually she has to go to sleep with out burps so hopefully it won't become a bad habit. I will start to "sleep train" her lightly in a week and try to implement a very flexible eating schedule making sure she eats more than less during the day.  I can't believe she will be a month old next week. That's so weird. I have been spoiled  with my mom here and with my baby almost a month old and I haven't even really experienced having two kids all by myself.

3 Weeks Postpartum

Carly is going to be 3 weeks old tomorrow. I cannot believe it. I also cannot believe mothers have babies with no help after. I would also not want my mom leaving me just after only 2 weeks of help. I still struggle walking around for longer than 5 minutes or less at a time. I am very grateful for the generous time my mom is spending to be here during my postpartum period. She will hopefully be leaving around when Carly is 3 and a half weeks old. Partly because we are doing her name and blessing at church labor day weekend. I just hope by then I will be almost 100% and have figured out how to live my life with Grant, mainly getting up when he needs to eat breakfast at 8am and not neglect him until 10am when I'm still sleeping in from getting lack of sleep at night, however she is doing great doing at least 1 five to six hour stretch at night and one during the day of sleep, and then the other stretches are 3-4 hours. Granted her long stretches are sometimes during her first stretch of sleep which starts at around 8:30pm, when we are not sleeping but still I'm proud of her for basically figuring out night and day so soon in her life.  I'm excited for her to grow but I'm also really trying to appreciate her as a newborn and cherish this time because I didn't do that with Grant either. I just wanted him to grow up. Now that he is talking and completely mobile I'm not in any hurry for either of them to grow up and be mature...I'm so happy about life right now and am gearing up to be ready when my mom leaves and I can tackle this new life by my self and be strong for Perry so that he doesn't get weary on top of how tiring his master's degree is and having a job too.  I feel blessed.

Silly Face.

A smile!

Carly Rae's Birth Story

So early labor or pre labor started on August 7th in the morning. I had period like cramps that were light that would come in 15 to 20 min intervals. Then at 2am on August 8th I was woken up, I thought I was woken to pee, so I peed. Then I laid down and tried to fall asleep. After an hour of that I thought maybe I was hungry. So I asked Perry if he would venture upstairs to get me a banana. Then I told him I was having contractions and I couldn't sleep. I ate the banana and tried to fall asleep again. Nope. So I went upstairs to lay on the couch and not to disturb Perry but rest and time the contractions for an hour. They were consistently about 10 minutes a part and lasting over a minute. So I called my mom at around 4:45am. We had never decided what exactly was good enough labor symptoms for her to start traveling up here before her flight date. Well she figured that since I couldn't sleep through the contractions that was good enough reason. By 5:45 they were on their way. I decided to journal this little beginning event. I made a mini to do list of what I wanted to do that day if I really was in labor, and then I tried to rest until 7am. That would give me one hour to relax before starting my day. Luckily my contractions slowed so I may have fallen asleep a little but at 7am I had a harder contraction that woke me. So I got up and showered,   read my scriptures, and started my day. Funny thing though, My contractions stopped or really really slowed in frequency and intensity for about 3 hours. I thought, "Great, my parents are on their way and I may have just had them come for a false labor." But then after 10 ish they were all over the place from 3 minutes apart to 20 minutes apart depending on what I was doing. I cooked a couple freezer meals, cleaned, put things away in storage, and really made sure I was ready for a baby and to go to the hospital. By 4:30pm the contractions were getting bad enough to have to really focus and breath through them. I asked Perry to come home from work so he could take care of Grant until my parents arrived. They got here by 6pm. We decided to go to the hospital once they got here just to check me and see if they would keep me. I thought we would be sent home which would have really meant we would have walked around the hospital for an hour and then went back again to be checked again. They hooked me up to the monitors to monitor my contractions and the baby's heart rate. I was dilated to a 3 and 90% effaced. I thought that wasn't much progress of all day but things progressed in just one hour. It seemed like as soon as I got to the hospital I had graduated to the real labor phase of labor because my contractions magically became between 1 min and 5 min a part and were really really really painful! They were so bad I was a little ticked when the nurse came to check me 5 minutes past the hour that she was supposed to check me (8pm). I was 4 and half cm dilated! Yay! So they could keep me sense I was progressing. And I was allowed to get the epidural.

Side note: I read a book and hadn't completely decided if I was going to have the baby naturally. But my real goal that I had no control over was to go into labor on my own, and not be given pitocin to speed it, and then get the epidural if I decided I couldn't handle the pain any longer. 

The nurse was real logical when she said, honestly, you have probably endured enough all day long that you deserve the epidural. My mother in law also helped me feel good about my decision in saying not to be a martyr.  So I wanted the epidural as soon as they could get it to me. My goal of going into labor and experiencing it well was accomplished. I would be missing out on some of the high mothers get with out one but oh well.

So we went to my Labor, delivery, and postpartum room. It was huge. They hooked up my IV and pumped me with saline since I was knowingly severely dehydrated. Then by 9pm the anesthesiologist arrived and hooked me up in a matter of minutes. After 20 minutes the contraction pains were completely gone.  It was interesting to slowly feel them get less and less painful. Before I got the epidural they checked me again and I was at a 5  and a half. At this rate the baby would be here by 11 for sure without interventions! Its wonderful to know my body is capable of having a baby without being induced. 

Shortly after getting the epidural I realized that it wasn't going to be fully effective. I had what is called a hot spot. I knew this and the nurse knew it because I felt everything and even pain when they put in my catheter. Every time I had a contraction I would feel moderate pain down in that area.  I was a little scared. Then they broke my water.

But since I was comfortable for most of the time I decided I needed some Jello. I had been eating a very light diet all day in case I was in labor. I didn't want to puke. Oh by the way, before I got the epidural my contractions made me feel extremely nauseated. I was feeling miserable.  Anyway, after the jello I skyped my parents. After hanging up with them at around 10:25pm I felt like Carly's head dropped like 2 inches and then I felt horrible excruciating pain where my hot spot was. I called the nurse and told her I was in constant pain and even more when I had a contraction. She came to check me and Carly was indeed descending and I was "complete" (10cm dilated). So she asked if I wanted to push and said yes as long as that was the way to make the pain go away. They also brought in the anesthesiologist for a last ditch effort to make the pain go away. It didn't work. I was pushing a practice push and Carly was already crowning. Then the midwife said Carly would be here in less than 2 pushes. They asked if I wanted to wait for my parents and I definitely did not want that. I just wanted the pain to go away. So I pushed, and then breathed between the contraction and her head was slowly coming out with out pushing and what gave me excitement and joy before she was born is that they told me she had lots of dark hair. 

So was then motivated one last time to push. Her head was out which gave me great relief, and then the midwife finagled her shoulders out, then placed her on my abdomen and rubbed her down.  So she was born at 10:51pm, weighing 6lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. She was trying to look at me and stopped whimpering when she heard my voice. The sound of her cry and her being born made me tear up with joy and relief. I felt the normal pain one feels on my left side of what its like to not be numb down there. In that I'm grateful because I didn't feel contractions but still felt that other pain which made me still get the high new mothers get when they deliver naturally. I actually wouldn't have changed a thing about her coming out with that pain because it was a wonderful feeling as soon as she arrived. I did not feel that way at all when Grant came. I felt stoic and foreign when Grant came. 

So after a while Perry cut the cord and whisked her away for her tests and shot and what not. Perry left too to take pictures. My body began to shake uncontrollably (this is normal and can begin during transition before a woman pushes), and it lasted for more than an hour. They put a blanket on me to try to lessen it. It was quite a weird experience. It never happened with Grant's birth.

Then my parents came about 5 min after the birth to watch all that go on. Later the nurse came back and told me Carly was Small for Gestational Age which meant that she didn't have much Brown fat, which is the fat that the babies use to survive while they only get minimal amounts of colostrum to feed on for the next few days. So her blood sugar was low also. So for the next 12 hours we supplemented formula during each feeding with a little tube, while she nursed. From the start in the hospital she always has eaten on a 4-6 hour schedule. The only exception was when she was cluster feeding at 10 days old. 

After the pediatrician saw her he said it wasn't necessary to pump and supplement more breast milk or formula unless we wanted to and we didn't have to wake her to feed her if she didn't wake on her own to eat. So that was good news. The next day my mother in law and sister in law and her children came to visit. Grant and my parents came to visit later on. I napped and ate on and off and actually got decent rest for the two days in the hospital. I felt nauseated on and off too. Grant was very tender when meeting her.

It was all such a blessing and I'm grateful for the experience and that everything went well with the delivery, and that Carly is such a healthy baby.

Big Brother, so tender!

Proud Grand papa.

Proof that my hubby changes diapers.

Proof that my dad helps.

Look at those beady eyes. I think she might inherit my blue eyes.

Newborn photo shoot at home.

Before.

Jello

A little puffy but not cone head because she came out so fast. 

Curly hair. 

Other proud Grandma

My midwife! She rocks!

So little in a big carseat.

The view from my hospital room.

First home bath.

Grant likes her stuff.

Sibling love.