Christmas 2013

Since I was less than a month from my due date and having daily contractions, we stayed home and had a very mellow Christmas.

Robby and I stayed up late and watch Home Alone and ate homemade pizza, then set up the Christmas presents.

 John was thrilled about all his new toys and still talks about Santa and Christmas lights

 For Christmas dinner, I roasted a turkey and made candied carrots. Robby made funeral potatoes and homemade rolls. It was all delicious, and the next day I made an amazing Maple Pecan Pie. I love holiday food.

It was nice to have a quiet Christmas, but we can't wait for the day when we can live nearer to family and celebrate the holidays with them.

Merry Christmas

Christmas at Home

I miss being with family this Christmas, but it's a very good thing we stayed home. And I'm glad I got to be at home for Christmas and not in the hospital.

On Monday, the weather was so nice, I took John outside for some fresh air. While we were playing outside, I started noticing I was having contractions. I figured they were just Braxton Hicks because they were pretty mild. But then they started coming at regular intervals, so I started timing them. They were coming every 5 to 7 minutes so I got nervous and took John home. I tried everything the nurses had told me to do to stop contractions if they started: pee, drink water, put your feet up, eat something, relax. It wasn't working and they were getting stronger so I called my OB to see what they wanted me to do. 

They worked me into their schedule with the on call Physician's Assistant. She said I was dilated to a 1 and 25% effaced. Next, they hooked me up for an NST to make sure Baby Brandon was doing ok and to see how often I was contracting. After about 20 minutes or so I was still having contractions every 3 to 7 minutes but Brandon wasn't under any stress so they admitted me to Labor and Delivery for observation. 

Since I'm only a little over 35 weeks pregnant, the nurse had to get special permission to check my cervix again. If I was progressing, they would decide if I needed medical intervention to stop the contractions or if Brandon would have to be born early, so I just hung out for another hour or so. The contractions had started around 11 and by now it was 4 in the afternoon. The nurse came back around 4:30 to check me and since I was still at a 1, they sent me home with instructions to come back if things got worse.

So I went home and laid down and luckily, around 6:30, the contractions finally stopped. Whew. I've had some more contractions since, but they've been irregular so I'm trying to just take it easy and keep the contractions at bay. I'm so glad they sent me home so I didn't have to spend Christmas in the hospital, or worse, in the NICU.

On a side note, it's interesting how different these contractions feel than when I was in labor with John. With John, my water broke but I wasn't having contractions so they started me on Pitocin. Those contractions felt like an electric shock to my belly. The contractions on Monday were totally different. I could feel my belly get hard as a rock and physically move down. Then there would be a ton on pressure on my hips and pubic bone and cervix. And (probably TMI) at the end of the contraction, it felt like I really had to go #2. I never had any of those sensations with John, which may be why I never progressed and dilated. So this night and day difference gives me hope that maybe my body will do what it's supposed to do this time and I might be able to do a VBAC. 

Extremes

John has been sick for almost two weeks now with a runny nose and hacking cough. The Dr. says it's an upper respiratory infection (viral) so all we can do is wait it out. The cough makes it hard for John to sleep and very cranky. So we've had a very hard couple weeks, but at the same time, I love this little boy so dearly and he makes me smile so much. So even though I feel very much at my wits end sometimes, I wanted to record the sweetest moment I had today so I wouldn't forget.

Before every nap, I read John a little book called Good Night Pookie. I have it memorized now from reading it so much. The last page of the book reads: "There are gentle winds blowing, and stars all above you. Good night little Pookie. I love you and love you."

Today, at nap time, as I read this book again to my sweet baby boy, I heard him whisper so quietly "I ya you." It totally melted my heart. Hearing "I love you" from your baby's lips is probably the sweetest thing a parent can hear. It makes the sleepless nights
and various struggles all worth it.

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Boy oh Boy!

I can't believe that I'm over halfway through this pregnancy. This pregnancy has been such a breeze compared to last time.

 My parents came to visit last weekend so we could share the gender reveal with them.

I made a chocolate cake with white-chocolate butter cream frosting

And blue M&M's inside, because we're having another boy! 

Can't wait to meet our little man in 19 more weeks.

Summer 2013

 We have had such a fun summer.

For the 4th of July weekend, we went to Blackfoot and hung out with Robby's family

All the excitement wore John out

After a good nap, John told Daddy all about clouds and the sky and trees and cool stuff like that

and he played with cool toys

and played in the water.

We went to Idaho Falls for the fireworks. It was quite the event. And even though the fireworks scared the snot out of John, he loved hanging out outside while we waited for the fireworks to start.

 This summer, we also found out that John will be a big brother! New Baby will be here in January.

 Since Robby is starting school in a couple weeks and we're expecting a new baby, I have quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom and I love it. It's so fun hanging out with my little buddy. He's so much fun. Here are some of the things we do on a normal day

Nerf darts make great bug antenna

John learned to drink through a straw

A kitten came to visit us for a day. The kitty and John became best friends. We haven't seen that sweet kitten since, but John still looks for it when we go outside. 

John loves his toy lawn mower and often pretends its a car. He sits on it and pushes himself around going "Vroom! Vroom!"

We went to a waterfall and played in the water

Here's John actually pushing his lawn mower.

After all that playing, we get cleaned up and ready for bed.

At the end of July, we went to Salt Lake to visit my parents. The first night was the neighborhood block party.

John's favorite game was the fishing pond. Here he is splashing in the water.

 

And before I could stop him, he was in the pool. 

Gotta love a good swim on a hot day.

John loved taking my parents' dogs for walks

He now insisted putting a leash on his own toy dog and taking it for walks.

He also got to enjoy fresh raspberries from Nana's garden

He played in the kiddie pool

We took him to Toys R Us for fun and he loved the cars.

and bikes.

On another day, we went to Wheeler Farm to see the animals. John wasn't so sure what to think, but he was very brave

and even touched a sheep

Mostly, he just enjoyed playing in the dirt.

John learned the joys of drinking straight from the hose

and enjoyed Nana's special play room

With everything John's learned this summer, it won't be long until he's all grown up and driving. He thinks he's ready for it now.

 On another visit to Blackfoot, John got to ride on the ATV

And play with his cousin Thomas.

We also went to the zoo in Idaho Falls.

We saw monkies

and penguins

John and Thomas rode a chicken

and deer

There was a petting zoo for the little ones too.

And John loved the lion.

We have had so much fun this summer. Thank you grandparents for the wonderful times. We can't wait to see you again. And we can't wait to see what the Fall brings.