Saturday, June 30, 2012

Big Brother is Watching

I have to admit, before Annie was born, I was really worried about how McKay would react to her.  He is still a MAJOR "Mommy's Boy," basically my shadow and helper for everything!  I was concerned that he would feel usurped by the new baby; by all the time and attention that it would be necessary for me to give her.  
I shouldn't have worried so much.  This boy is the greatest big brother ever!  He absolutely adores and dotes on his little sister.  I have heard all of these things come out of his mouth within the last two weeks:

"Oh, my Pretty Pretty Princess!"
"Annie, my baby, I love you!"
"You are my baby, you are my heart."
"I love Annie best."
"She's all of our baby, but she is my baby, too."

You get the picture.  He is always asking to hold her, to help change her diaper, or to sing her a song.  I have to admit, his reaction has surprised me, but I am thrilled with how well he is taking this new addition to our family!



Sunday, June 24, 2012

Lucky Seven

Adam and I have been married seven years today.  In some ways, it seems much longer than that; in other ways, it seems much shorter.  
I hardly recognize these bright-eyed kids from seven years ago:

So very much has changed since then.  We have both received degrees, we've had numerous jobs between the two of us, we have lived in various apartments, bought a house, traveled near and far, and mostly braved the ups and downs of everyday life together.  And man, oh, man, it's been a great ride!

But of everything that we've done together, clearly our greatest work has been these three:

June 24, 2012:  Annie's First Sunday at Church
My goodness, how I love them!  And how I love their Daddy!  

If there was some way that I could have had a glimpse 10 or 15 years ago into my life today, I think my heart would have absolutely thrilled at what I would have seen.  Is my life perfect?  Of course not!  But really, I have everything that I have ever wanted MOST:  incredible husband, beautiful children, gospel-centered home.   And I just feel so, so blessed.

So thank-you to the man who has helped all my best dreams come true.  I love you more today than I ever could have imagined possible when we started out seven years ago.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Sweet Baby

Three Days Old

Four Days Old

So Tiny!

We are just trying to adjust to life with THREE kids, and it has been challenging!  Miss Annie is proving herself to be our most high-maintenance baby yet.  I am not sure how I am going to do this once Adam has to go back to work next week!  But one day at a time, right?  Even as difficult as it is, though, we all just love this little girl to pieces.  She's lucky she's so cute!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

After much waiting, we are happy to announce that our little Annie Jane finally joined our family early Saturday morning!  She is perfect and we are totally in love!
The Thursday before Annie was due, I went into the doctor for my last checkup, and the doc stripped my membranes.  I bled quite a bit that day (sorry if that's too graphic), but when I called the doctor to see if it was cause for concern, I was informed that it probably meant that labor would begin within 24 to 48 hours.  So we were expecting to have a baby last weekend!
On Monday morning, my Mom flew into town, and there was still no sign of little Annie.  I started getting a bit antsy.  I knew my mom would only be here a week, and I really wanted to be able to maximize the help from her.  I started walking every morning and every evening for about an hour to see if I could get things moving.  No luck.
We made it all the way to Friday with no sign of labor starting.  Friday morning I had an induction scheduled for 8:30 AM.  At about 6:30 AM, though, I received a call from the charge nurse at the hospital saying that they were full.  They told me they would be ready for me around noon, so to plan to be ready then.  At about 10 AM, my actual doctor called and said they were still not ready, but probably by early afternoon they would be.  By 12:30 PM when I hadn't heard anything, I called the hospital back.  They told me to call back at 3 PM.  When I did, they said that things were beginning to slow down, but it may still be several hours before I could come in.  You can only imagine the level of frustration I was experiencing.  My mom was going to be leaving in just three days, and I couldn't even get in at the hospital!  I didn't lose my temper, exactly, but I definitely vented my frustration to the nurse on the phone.  I'm not sure if it helped or not, but by 4:30 I got a call back that said to come on in and have a baby!  I was so relieved to finally be going!
Once there, it took a while to get things going (I know, you're shocked, right?!).   At 7:30 Friday night, the nurse started a slow drip of petocin.  Adam went and got himself some dinner, and I kicked back and watched HGTV.  By about 9:30 PM, I was still only dilated to a 4.  The doc came in and wanted to up the dose of pitocin and break my water.  I decided before we got too deep into the labor process, I wanted to go ahead and get an epidural.  ;-)  So we did that, and then the doc broke my water.  After that, things progressed very quickly.  I went from a 4 to an 8 in less than an hour, and I started feeling the urge to push.  I was also feeling every contraction very acutely.  Just before midnight, I asked if I could get a higher dose of the epidural medicine, so a different anesthesiologist came in to give me a boost.  After that, though, I went totally numb and couldn't feel anything at all.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to feel when to push, so the nurse told me if I wanted to wait, it would probably wear off in about an hour or so.  So Adam and I both fell asleep for a little over an hour.  At 1:10 AM, I woke up feeling ready to go.  The nurse checked me, and I was ready!  But then she left, and I was like, "What the heck?  Get ready, Adam, because this baby is coming!"  He called the nurse back very quickly.  :-)  A few minutes later the doctor came in, and it was go time!  I pushed for less than 10 minutes--literally just two pushes--and Annie was born at 1:43 AM.  I remember asking, "Is is definitely a girl?" as they laid her on my chest.  Once that fact was confirmed, I got my first good look at her.  I thought she was just perfect.  Even before she was cleaned, I thought she was the most beautiful little baby I had ever seen.  The doctor and nurses let me keep her on my chest for quite a long time while they did all the post-birth stuff to me.  It was heaven.  As I held her and looked at her, I knew my life would never, ever be the same again.  Then I thought of my angel boys at home, and I realized that ALL of our lives were changed for good.  I was as happy as I have ever been.

First Snuggles

After that, the nurse took Annie to weigh her and clean her.  I was shocked that she weighed in at only 7lb. 1oz.  So little!  McKay weighed almost a full pound more, and he was 4 days early!  Being that she was 4 days late, I was totally expecting mid-8 pound range.  And she looked chubby with a round face and double chin.  But she totally had me fooled!
Getting Cleaned Up

Wrapped around her little finger already!


Sweet Baby



It was about 3:30 AM when everything was taken care of and we finally got some sleep.  A few hours later, the boys came to meet their new sister for the first time.  I say meet, but I really think it was more of a reunion than a meeting.  :-)

They Love Her!

Three Generations 

I think she looks a little like my niece, Emma, as a baby in this one

We got another fun surprise around lunchtime.  My old roommate, Sarajane, coincidentally happened to be in Denver for the weekend for a wedding.  She was able to visit for a few minutes and meet Baby Annie.  In fact, Annie's middle name, Jane, is after this girl!  Sarajane actually set Adam and I up while we were all in college!

Annie Jane

The nurses loved all the little bows we had for her.  I told them after two boys, we were going to be doing lots of ribbons and bows!

We decided to leave the hospital on Sunday, just 36 hours after Annie arrived.  I was just ready to be home with my family and rest in my own bed.
Take Me Home!

So now we are home and life is good!  We are adjusting to life with three kids, and so far, it's gone well.  The boys have been sweet and helpful.  My mom flew home this afternoon, so now the real test will begin!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Man Alive! The boy is five!

And I am still shaking my head in wonder that I am old enough to have a five-year-old.  Kindergarten is just a couple months away!  It's almost beyond me.
We celebrated Ty's special day yesterday with a fun morning playing baseball at the park.  Dad took him in the afternoon to play tennis, and then he opened presents.  As per tradition in our family, the person whose birthday it is gets to choose a place to go out to dinner, and Ty chose McDonald's.  I really hate that place.  But for my boy, I guess I can handle it once in a long while.  :-)
The present-opening made me a little sad.  Last year (and for the several birthdays/Christmases before that) the vast majority of the gifts Ty received were centered on cars and Lightning McQueen.  This birthday, he didn't receive a single car.  It was all super heroes, legos, and sports equipment.  Big boy stuff, basically.  Why, oh why, does he have to grow up on me?!






We finished off the night with a most delicious Costco chocolate cake, super-hero themed, of course.  I thought of it as my consolation prize that I wasn't in the hospital having a baby.  :-)



Here are a few facts about Ty at age 5 (as dictated to me by him):

Favorite Color:  Blue
Favorite Food:  Mac and Cheese
Favorite Thing to Do:  Legos
Favorite Sport:  Basketball
Favorite Friend:  Josh
Favorite Place to Go:  The Park
Favorite Treat:  Chocolate
Favorite Scripture Story:  Nehor and Gideon
Favorite Vacation Destination:  Utah (Remember how this kid has been to Hawaii!?!  I think this speaks volumes about how he feels about his grandparents and cousins!)

Happy Birthday to my first baby!  I feel so, so blessed to have you for my own!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Nursery Before and After

If there is one thing Adam and I have learned in our three years as homeowners, it is that when you do a home improvement project, it will always take longer and cost more than you originally planned.  Such was the case with our latest project, our nursery re-do.  But I am oh, so happy with the way it turned out!
As I mentioned before, Matt has been occupying this bedroom for the last five or so months.  I didn't get any pictures of it while he was still living in there, but these are our "before" shots when we had just completed the prep work prior to painting.

Before:


During:
After we painted everything pink, Adam put up beadboard along one wall.

After:
Ta-da!

I found this perfect throw pillow on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  Score!

Closet stocked full of mini clothes!



The Full Finished Project!
We put brand new blinds in the nursery, since the old ones were probably 17 years old and more brown than white.  After we hung the drapes, I wasn't sold on the way they looked, so I found a spool of ribbon with the nursery colors in it and used it as a tie-back on the curtains.  I love how it turned out!
The only other thing that I would really like to do is re-finish the crib in white.  I still might do that eventually, but for now I think I am going to leave it alone.  The due date is tomorrow and I am tired!  But in all, I am so, so happy with the way things look.  We have never brought a baby home to a house before; both boys were born while we lived in an apartment.  So this was the first time we really got to create a nursery, and it was so fun!  We are ready for you, Baby Annie!  Hurry up and get here now, would you?!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Backyard Campout

Last night was our ward's fathers and sons campout.  Unfortunately, the camp was located about an hour away, in a place with no cell phone reception.  Being just three days away from our due date, and especially after having my membranes stripped on Thursday, neither Adam or I felt comfortable with the idea of me not being able to reach him in the middle of the night should the need arise.  So after a dinner of Costco hot dogs, the guys pitched the tent in the backyard and camped out there.  I felt bad that they were not able to go to the real campout, but they seemed pleased as punch to be sleeping in the backyard.  Adam said they all slept well, and I didn't hear anyone til about 7:30 this morning, so I would say it was successful for everyone involved!




In baby news, there is still not any.  :-)  I am so, so ready to be done with this pregnancy and meet our little Annie.  But we are only 6 days away, max!  Still hoping it's sooner, though.