Christmas 2014, Part 1

I haven't figured out a rhythm yet...of how to get all of my pics onto the computer so I can blog...or how to blog (quickly) from my phone...etc etc.  So I am backed up but trying harder.  Here we go on Christmas...what I can remember!

Here are the kids in their Christmas outfits the Sunday before Christmas (which was on a Thursday).  Trying to get a good picture of them together at this stage was not fun, even though they are happy kids.  June wasn't sitting up yet and would only push up with her arms whenever she wanted....and Leo...was just an almost-4 year old boy.  When I asked him to stand nicely for the camera he did this pose on on the top...he claimed he wanted everyone to see his belt. When I said not to smile like that he did the pose on the bottom...

We had plenty of Christmas festivities during the month of December, including a ward party, a date to the Cosby girls' Nutcracker ballet performance, and me leaving Junie for the first time at night to attend a Christmas dinner with Nick's co-workers.  Leo went with Grammie to their ward Christmas party while June stayed at home with a babysitter (!) named Emy for about an hour and then Grammie and Grandpa brought Leo home and took over with June.  We all survived but that first time away from your baby at bedtime is so hard!  (Even though we were a little late to dinner so I could nurse June and do everything but actually rock her to sleep.)

 It was so fun to have Christmas with two little ones this year.  I had fun Christmas shopping and wrapping gifts and doing crafts with Leo...especially when it is still decent weather outside :)  We were all excited for Nick to take some much-needed vacation time so we could head to Colorado to spend the holidays at Nick's parents' home.  Packing for two little ones, including all of our Christmas gifts, was not as fun however...

Reading

Leo has become a great little reader lately. I am constantly  surprised at all of things he can read. He definitely has an interest in all things scholastic and is counting down til he can go to real school himself. (He told me this week he told his babysitter Ericka that he was in 2nd grade but she didn't believe him. Ha) Leo has quiet time every day where he can rest or read and all of the additional practice is definitely showing!  

One of my favorite things is when he reads to June...she just eats it up!  Tonight he read her a scripture story before bed :) Love these two!

Valentine Sugar Cookies

I am failing at my goal of blogging once a week, but at least there is improvement I guess.  Valentine's seemed extra busy this year and we had treats coming out of our ears.  Still, baking heart shaped sugar cookies is a tradition that I remember doing every Valentine's in my memory and so we pulled out the cookie cutters on Friday.  I had mixed the dough up Thursday night and Leo got to roll to his heart's delight when June went down for her afternoon nap on Friday.  He was so thrilled to use not only my heart cookie cutters but his too (that belong in his play kitchen in the playroom).  

The smell of the dough reminds me of my grandma and I had fun telling Leo stories about how I would pass these same cookies out to everyone when I was little...his favorite was that I gave my bus driver one!  I told him about how I baked one for every person in my ward at college one year (I can't remember how many but like 160 or something) and even wrote all of their names on them in icing.  It is fun to have someone to share my traditions with!  Even though Valentines was pretty hectic yet uneventful this year, it is still one of my favorite holidays and I am glad to have a little one that gets as excited as I do about the little things!  He built me a picture holder at Lowes and made me a necklace out of noodles and string and I gave him a bat for his upcoming season of t-ball :) Leo is the perfect valentine...he is SUCH a lover!

My 4 year old!

Leo deserves a whole long post, but for now just one picture and one thing I love about him.  He turned four years old this week and he couldn't be more thrilled :)  One thing I absolutely love about him is his...independence I guess I'd call it?  Confidence?  Case in point: he loves letters and reading and writing and today I gave him a list I had written of who gave him what for his birthday so that he could write some thank you notes.  He wrote all of them completely on his own while I was putting June down for her nap...and even though I had written it all out so basically all he had to do was copy it, he had sounded every single word out and wrote it by himself.  Of course that makes it a little harder to decode, but I love it.  I love that he likes to do things himself and in his own way.  

JUNE!

June at 5 months...

15 lbs 5 oz

26 inches

Such a smiler!  This sweet girl is always so happy and smiles to anyone who will look her way.  She definitely has a gift for being happy.

 Holy roller!  Do not put this baby down and walk away...she is a rolling machine!  I can't remember exactly when she started rolling, but she has mastered it in the last couple of weeks and often barrell-rolls across the whole room.  The other day she had rolled across her entire bedroom floor and was stuck under her crib while I was putting her laundry away.  She most often rolls on to her side or belly to sleep these days too.

 Sleep...oh boy.  We were having a hard go with sleeping for awhile...I guess I just forgot about the transition from the newborn-easy-to-sleep phase to the we-have-to-teach-her-how phase.  She was a great sleeper at first for a couple of months but then it turned ugly and we ended up taking turns holding her most of the night...mostly because we were lazy and had a really comfy recliner this time.  Then we held off "sleep training" because we were going to be traveling for Christmas.  The new year brought some hard nights for all of us but I am happy to say that she is doing much better now and we are all getting more rest now...even if it isn't always in our bed :)  We aren't home free yet, but there has been lots of improvement here.

Above is June's first ever ponytail!  I can't remember when that happened...some time before Christmas.  Her hair is definitely growing and is pretty much too long now to just be combed up into a little mohawk curl.  I have to pull it into a ponytail or she kind of looks like Einstein.  Today we tried her very first curlers though...but that deserves a whole separate post someday!

Santa brought June some mum-mums (rice snack cracker type things) and one day out of curiosity I gave one to her...and she ate just about the whole thing!  Guess she was really for food!  So we hurried to Kroger and bought a plethora of baby food and started her on some cereal that night.  She doesn't love it yet, but she is getting better about eating it...and no matter what the pediatrician says I swear it helps her sleep!  Leo can't wait for her to try bananas and thinks it is so fun for her to eat with him.  I gave her sweet potatoes just recently too and she liked them a lot more than the cereal.

  Junie is getting better at being child #2.  We endured the cry-every-minute-in-the-car phase and now she happily rides back there with Leo and will even fall asleep in her car seat...something I thought I may never see again.  She is (slightly) getting used to being on Leo's schedule...and he is getting used to having a few things different now that June is here.  I don't think he minds much; there has only been a time or two he has put up a fuss about things because he just loves her so much.  They are so cute together; he loves to play patty-cake with her and when he starts laughing at something she starts to giggle too.  I love it!

What else?  She is getting really good at playing with toys and reaches for anything to put in her mouth.  So far she seems to really like stuffed animals.  She has a habit of pulling her hair while she nurses.  She has the tiniest feet.  I mean tiny!  I can hardly keep anything on them because they are so thin and narrow.  She is starting to love peek-a-boo.  She loves bathing with Leo and likes to kick and splash a bit now.  We still swaddle her but she breaks out like one minute after we lay  her down to roll to her side and grab her nuk.  She is definitely a momma's girl...but I'm alright with that for now because I miss her when I haven't held her for a few hours!  However she really loves Daddy too and always grins so big when she catches his eye...which she is always trying to do if he is in view!

No one loves June more than Leo does and I can tell she loves him too already.  I can't wait to see them grow up together.  It will be fun to see their personalities and relationship grow.  It is hard to believe she has been here 5 months already.  We are so lucky to have her in our family!

Resurrecting the blog...

Part of my New Year's resolutions was to blog weekly...yes, weekly.  I know that seems like a far cry from the once-every-few-months rate I have been going, but I have been looking back on this blog a lot lately and am feeling sad I don't keep it up.  I look back and remember what Leo was doing when he was June's age...and feel sad that I really won't have much of a record of her.  I figure even if I don't make it every week it will at least be a lot more than I have been doing!  So here it goes...

As I was running this morning I was thinking about how I hope this lingering tiny cold thing I have will go away in time for my first post-June race next month.  It is just a 5k so I am not worried about it as I have already run that far, but I wanted to try to work on my speed.  This annoying little tickle in the back of my throat that makes me feel like I need to clear my throat all the time really bothers me when I run and I haven't been able to push it as much as I would like yet.  Blah blah blah...on to the point...which is then my mind started to wander about all of the things over the years that I have worried about while running....

Will I be able to make it?  Do I look dumb running?  Am I wasting my time?  Am I damaging my knees?  I hope I don't slip and fall on the ice... I wonder if this baby will fall out?  Can I make it the whole way?  What lap am I on?  What will I do when I have to run alone?  Will I be able to keep up with them?  I don't think I can push the stroller the whole way...  I hope a car doesn't run me over...  Is this doing any good?

The list continued for a mile or more and then I wondered if through all of those worries if there was ever a time I had wished I hadn't gone running.  Sure there were plenty of times it was hard to get out the door, but once I got going - and finished especially - was there ever a time I regretting going?  I could remember specific times I had spent worrying, but if I have ever felt sorry that I went I couldn't remember it.  I am always happy that I have gone.  I always feel better after I go.  So let this be where it is carved in stone and a reminder to myself...just go!  Nike was on to something because when I just do it then I feel better afterwards.  I feel healthier and stronger, even if my body isn't looking like what I wish running a few miles would do to it!

Sweet baby June - Part 2

We checked into Willowbrook Methodist about 5:30am on Monday, August 18th ready to be induced.  It actually took a little while before they called us back in and I was wondering why we got up so early if they weren't even ready for us?!?  Once they called me back I got changed and all that and had a really nice nurse named Estelle (I'm pretty sure).  She basically just got me all hooked up to  the pitocin and everything and drew blood and such and then it was time for a shift change (7am).  To be honest I was a bit disappointed because she was such a good nurse and seemed to be so genuine and caring...but I lucked out and got another awesome nurse named Kathy.  Kathy had a young guy shadowing her for the day which I thought would bug me more...but I guess when you are in labor things like that don't really phase you anymore!

The dreaded "before" picture

I was still measuring about 3cm but the pitocin was helping the contractions come quick.  I was surprised at how much Kathy wanted me to move around...they didn't really give me options like that with Leo.  I was sitting on the yoga ball when my mom came and joined me and Nick. We watched some of Good Morning America which I was glad to see because usually it gets interrupted a million times and then switched to the Disney channel.  My doctor asked the on-call doctor to break my water to get things going...and so Dr. Geddy came and broke my water around 8 I think.  When he first came in he said we were going to have a big baby...and then afterwards he said that maybe it was just fluid because there was lots.  Turns out I am lucky enough to carry a lot of fluid AND a big baby!  That part was not super comfortable but felt SO much better when it was done.  I am convinced that my water just won't break on its own...it didn't with Leo either.  I was carrying a lot of water both in the amniotic sac and in my legs and it felt so good to be rid of at least some of it.

After that things moved quickly.  The contractions started to get immediately more intense and frequent and I wasn't sure when to ask for the epidural.  With Leo it took all day so I wasn't super prepared for a quick labor, even though I was anticipating it being not quite as long.  About 9am I decided it was time...and they finally got there about 9:20.  It was about 9:40 before it was in and done, and about 10 before I was really numb.  I definitely wasn't as numb as I was with Leo, but it made it a lot better.  They were going to wait a little longer to put the catheter in so that I was more numb...but little Junie arrived before they could even do it!  At this point I was about 7cm dilated.

I had been laying on my right side and Kathy wanted me on my left.  I rolled over and was pretty uncomfortable the whole time I was on that side.  It wasn't as bad as pre-epidural, but there was so much pressure that I really kept feeling like I wanted to roll back to the right side.  When Kathy came in to check on me she could tell I was uncomfortable and I told her I thought I maybe should roll back over.  We started to and then she decided to check me and see where we were at...and we were all the way dilated to a 10 already.  She had called my doctor a little earlier and we were waiting for her to come.  I was happy that Kathy wasn't acting like I needed to wait for the doctor if I felt like I needed to push...but I still just didn't realize it was that close!

My doctor rushed in and I thought we were kinda just going to push once to see where we were at. I pushed once and took a breath and then pushed again...and she was out! Like I said, I labored all day with Leo and then pushed about an hour and a half with him so I wasn't mentally prepared for such a quick labor. On that second push I felt like crying and as soon as she came out the tears just started flowing.  I was so excited and relieved that she was here!

They put her up on my chest while they wiped her off a bit and then left her there for a long time while they cut the cord and cleaned me up and stuff.  They had done that with Leo too but not for as long.  We tried to feed and everything before they finally took her out of my arms to put a diaper on her and weigh her. (This resulted on me and my gown being covered with meconium, but you definitely don't mind a silly thing like that at a moment like that!)  We gave our guesses on weight...I had initially thought 9 lbs 4 oz but once I held her she seemed so small so I changed my guess to 8 something.  Even Kathy guessed 8 something...but then we put her on the scale and....

Baby Girl Vernon

9 lbs 4 oz

21.5 inches long

10:58 am

Well, my hope of Leo being a fluke was dashed.  I just make big babies I guess!  At least I can deliver them as well and haven't needed a c-section...yet.  I was shaking a little after Nick left with our little girl to the nursery...I think I was just a little shocked that it all happened so quick.  Kathy got me cleaned up and into the wheelchair to head to recovery.  Once I was there my dad joined us and then he and my mom ran to get lunch...which was a good thing because my hospital meal got lost or something.  My recovery nurse finally ordered it again and got it to me but it was almost dinner time by then!  An Arby's sandwich and banana milkshake from Sonic was good enough for me!  I had some good recovery nurses that I want to remember, but that is another post!