happy birthday to my main man

My main man had a birthday yesterday! Man are we glad he was born :) The celebration started with some decorations, presents, a homemade card with 34 reasons we love him and a bacon (that's all he requested) breakfast. To help with the card, I asked Beck why he loved Daddy. He said "because he builds a tunnel with me" and "he wrestles". So cute.


Trav spent the rest of the day trying to make sure I had the best day possible. That's just how he is and one of the reasons I love him most. He took Beck for a couple hours to "Bellas" (Cabellas) and then came home and took the baby and insisted that I take a nap. He's a keeper for sure.

My parents offered to watch both kids (!) so that we could go out on a date. We went with the Adams and Browns to City Creek to have dinner and do a little shopping. We had a fabulous time (always do with that company) and it was lovely to be able to walk hand in hand and have completely uninterupted time together.

Trav and Justin had some serious shoe lust going on at the Allen Edmonds store. Good thing they were closed and the boys could only drool from the window :)

Happy Birthday love!

easter recap

We had a wonderful easter weekend. As is tradition, the weekend started off with International Kite Day on Saturday. The weather was decent and we had a great time flying kites and playing in the park. After kites, it was egg hunting, bbq and finding easter baskets. Travis' parents always make the holidays so fun for us and our kids- thanks guys!

We loved being able to explain some of the reasons behind our easter celebration to Beck as he can comprehend a lot more this year. You never know if any of what you are trying to teach is sticking, but I was so proud when we were driving in the car on Monday and he randomly started telling me parts of the Easter story. He told me "the guys felt Jesus' hands", "Jesus was in a cave (tomb)", and "Jesus resurrected". I may have teared up a little as his sweet little voice was recapping some of the most important events to have ever happened. It also was motivation to always look for opportunities to teach and explain because even if the concept seems way over their head, their little brains are like sponges and something will be soaked up.

Dal and Joss brought their new pet to celebrate with us.

This year we had a few runaway kites...aka kids letting go...so a little chasing was involved. I think Ashlee actually saved this one.

I was shocked when Beck remembered that Mimi and Papa give everyone flashlights to find the easter baskets. He was so excited!

Our first picture as a family of four. I'm a lucky girl :)

on having two

I still have a hard time believing I have 2 kids. As in plural people. We are for real now. Because before, with just one, it was almost like we were just playing house. But now with 2, it seems as though we're a real family.

So far (we're 3 weeks in), adjusting to 2 has been a breeze. Dare I say even easier (albeit busier) than adjusting to 1?? I feel like I'm much more relaxed and not stressing about every little thing this time around. Not that I'm a pro or anything, but I've at least done it before and somewhat know what I'm doing.

Beck has been awesome with his baby sister. We're crossing our fingers that he remains this way. He always wants to "make her happy" and loves having her sleep in his room (another thing I'm extremely grateful has gone so smoothly).

Not to say there hasn't been crying...little miss is kind of a diva, but being #2, she can't always take priority. Sometimes I can't get to her right away and that's ok...she lives :)

And we'll end with a picture that keeps it real- Beck deciding he was done and rolling her off his lap.

the birth of Lola

It's interesting to me how the birthing process is the same for all of the miracle babes that come into the world, but yet every one is different. This time around was easier (in most respects) than the first, and just as amazing.

Here she goes:

I continued to have contractions for the two weeks following our false alarm. The contractions progressively got stronger each day and there were several (honestly probably 8 or 9) times that I thought "this is it". The contractions would start, immediately coming 5 or so minutes apart, last for a few hours (or all night in a couple instances) and then just stop. After the first few times of this happening, I tried to stop getting my hopes up and stopped timing them, but there was still a tiny spot in the back of my mind that was left wondering if it was going to turn into anything. Talk about teasing. It really was so frustrating, not to mention adding a whole new dimension to my already uncomfortable state.

I had originally wanted to hold out and see if I could go into labor on my own because I didn't love being induced with Beck. With Beck, I was induced 2 weeks early because of my high blood pressure and was started from absolutely nothing....my body had not progressed on it's own one bit. This caused a very long and boring labor process almost completely confined to my hospital bed. Back to this time-- At my 38 week appointment, I found I had progressed even further (so the contractions weren't entirely for nothing) and I asked the Dr what we could do to give her a little encouragement if she didn't come on her own. He said since I had progressed so much on my own, he'd induce me in a week (Thursday) if I wanted. I had had enough and this was just too tempting. To be honest, I really though I'd have her before then anyway...all signs were pointing in that direction. The days went by and contractions continued, but nothing ever came of it. I went back and forth between being SO ready to have her out and wondering if I should just wait, but being incredibly uncomfortable always won out and by the time Wednesday night came around I only had feelings of excitement- like Christmas morning, but better!

Thursday morning, I got up, showered, got ready, had a little breakfast, and then we headed to the hospital. It was kind of weird not being rushed and just casually walking into the hospital, but I didn't mind because I had already experienced two weeks of contractions and multiple episodes of the "this is it" anticipation, so I didnt' feel I was missing out on anything. It took awhile to get checked in and everything set up. The pitocin drip started around 8 am (following me almost passing out when the nurse inserted my IV...I never am bothered by that type of stuff so I'm not sure what the deal was). The Dr broke my water around 10 and that's when things really started to pick up. Contractions were coming every 3 minutes, back labor had definitely kicked in, and I was having to stop and breath through each one. The anesthesiologist couldn't have walked in at a better time. He set everything up and inserted it into my back but then had to leave to do some re-certification or something, so another one came to finish things up, or at least was supposed to. A little bit after he left, I started to feel the pain again in my back, but it was worse on my right side, so the nurse helped me adjust my position thinking the epidural was just not distributing evenly. Things just went from bad to worse over the next hour and I was feeling every contraction (coming every 2 minutes). I called the nurse in and she thought maybe I was close to complete, but when she checked me I was only a 7. As we were moving the bed back up, I noticed there was a big wet spot up next to my shoulder. Oh don't worry, my epidural was just hanging out dripping the medicine on my bed. The second anesthesiologist forgot to hook up the medicine to my back. No wonder I was feeling everything! The nurse was SO embarrassed and immediately called for someone to come fix it. He must have been too scared to show his face because a 3rd one finally came after 2 hours and gave me a dose of I don't even know what (something stronger than the epidural and heavenly) to help catch me up and give me some relief. The relief was pretty much immediate and I could have kissed him. The only downside- it was a little too strong...I couldnt' feel a thing from mid-stomach down.

Once the epidural issue was fixed and I no longer had to clutch the bedrails every two minutes, we were able to relax and pass the time with a little Draw Something. We didn't have to wait too much longer though...

With Beck, my epidural was perfect. I could still feel the tightening of each contraction (just not the pain) and then when it was time to push. This time, I had no idea when it was time to push and had to rely on the nurse and Dr telling me if I was pushing correctly. Apparently I was, because I only had to push a couple times and she was here.

I couldn't believe how much hair she had. I just kept saying that over and over as they laid her on my stomach. I was also just in awe looking at this perfect little person that had resided in me for the past nine months. It is nothing short of a miracle. We decided to do things a little different this time and only had us in the delivery room. We wanted to have some time with just the 3 of us and I wanted to be able to have some skin to skin time so we told our families that they couldn't come up until we gave the ok. I loved it this way. It was so nice to be able to have that quiet time to just focus on our sweet little girl. I loved being able to have her immediately placed on my chest and was able to nurse her right away which was great.

She was the same length as her big brother, but almost a whole pound bigger. I knew she was going to be bigger too....I'm not sure why, and even though I was smaller, I just felt she was bigger.

Once we gave the ok, our families were all too eager to come right up. Beck was with Travis' mom and so she brought him with her. When he got there, Travis was sitting in the chair holding Lola and Beck ran straight over to him and jumped in his lap. It was like he just knew that that was his sister. It was darling.

He immediately wanted to hold her and give her kisses. He has settled into his "big brother" role almost seamlessly. Things could definitely change, but he has adjusted so well and is so sweet with her. He always wants to know where she is and will respond to her cries with "Don't worry baby sista, I give you kisses."

By day 2, we were ready to go home. I was anxious to get back to Beck (and my bed) and didn't really see the point in spending another night in the hospital. Luckily, little miss had no issues with jaundice and I was doing well, so we got to leave Friday evening.

We love having little miss here. There is nothing quite like the sweet spirit of a newborn in your home.

Lola Mae

Born Thursday, March 15th @ 3:10 pm

7 lbs 10 oz, 21 in long

We all are completely smitten with this beautiful little girl! More pictures and birth story to come.

false alarm

We thought baby sister was going to make her appearance a few weeks early. However, after a long night of consistent contractions and monitoring at the hospital, I left with a UTI (TMI?) and a baby still on the inside.

Wednesday night, we went to our weekly spin class. It was hard, and I hurt most of the class so I decided that was probably my last time. The contractions (different from the "cramp" style ones I've been having the past couple weeks) started immediately afterwords and were coming 5-7 minutes apart all evening. We went to bed, but for me there wasn't much sleeping as the contractions continued all night. Around 3 am they picked up and started coming 3-4 minutes apart. I started thinking this could be for real (remember I was induced with Beck and never had a contraction prior, so this was all new) and got up to get in the shower around 4:30. Trav heard the shower and immediately came to see what was going on. I informed him of the events of the night and when he heard how quickly the contractions had been consistently coming he started freaking out a little and thought we were heading to the hospital right then. I wasn't, simply becuase I knew that although the contractions were frequent, they should be causing more pain. Don't get me wrong, they were intense and uncomfortable for sure, but I expected to be stopped in my tracks by the pain before I headed to the hospital.

Fast forward a couple hours.....Contractions still 3 minutes apart, Trav's mom comes to stay with Beck, bags are packed, moms and Trav (and the nurse) convince me to head into the hospital.

Monitoring at the hospital showed contractions, but they had definitely slowed and I wasn't making enough progress to be in "real" labor. Come to find out, I had a UTI and the infection can cause the contractions. Talk about depressing.

Despite not having my sweet little girl, I have had time to think of some positive notes:
-While I can't wait to meet her, she is definitely easier on the inside :)
-I got to keep my hair appt for the next night and it definitely needed it
-The contractions may not have been full-blown labor, but they at least did something- I have progressed (dilated and thinned) since last week
-Total weight gain at 37 weeks is 23 lbs and I can still wear my wedding ring!

So I could still have a couple days or a couple weeks....we all know that these babes come when they're ready!

spoiling for the little miss

Last weekend, the little miss and I got spoiled. We're talking about the totally unexpected, but oh so fun spoiled! My dear friend Mary Ann threw Kristin and I a double shower to help fill our lives with more pink :) Mary Ann sure knows how to throw a party and had her house decorated so cute. She also served us the most delicious food. It was so fun to chat with everyone and all were so generous with their darling gifts. And can I just insert what talented friends and family I have?? I was amazed at some of the handmade gifts!

Thank you so much to everyone that came, and especially to Mary Ann for throwing it for us! My only regret is not taking more pictures (like one with the host herself! Who does that?!)...I was so caught up in the fun that I didn't even start to document everything until right before I realized I had to get home to relieve the babysitter :( But anyway, here are a few snapshots from the fun:

Little sis is pregnant with a little mr. Can't wait to meet him!

Kim and I have a similar picture from my shower with Beck. The only difference this time being a little girl in my belly and a little boy in hers! (oh and the fact that this time I'm not looking quite so beached whale-ish)