tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30022314070661284762024-03-14T02:29:34.419-06:00The Shipp Family 2022Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.comBlogger320125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-54299634484156517332018-07-22T13:53:00.000-06:002018-07-22T14:21:45.941-06:00Thomas' Birth Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Thomas Van Shipp</div>
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Born May 30, 2018</div>
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at 11:50am</div>
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8lbs 0oz</div>
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19.5 inches</div>
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I'll begin the story of Thomas' birth on May 29th (his official due date) when I went to the doctor for my 40 week checkup, where I had Dr. Watabe strip my membranes and I was already dilated to 3cm. I remember he told me that if I had strong contractions, but they were around 7 minutes apart, I should come to the hospital because things probably would progress quickly. That night, I enjoyed a normal night out at book club. ;)<br />
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The next morning was the day of my scheduled induction. I really wanted to have Thomas in May (not June; I felt like Delilah should be able to have June to herself since their birthdays would be so close together), so against my normal philosophy I scheduled an induction for the 30th. I woke up at 7am (in my bed--a rare occurance the last few weeks of this pregnancy since it became very painful in my pelvic area to sleep on my side, so I took to sleeping on the sofa most nights) and got a text from my Mom asking if there was any progress. Being prangry (pregnant-angry) by this point, I was bugged by the reminder that NO, I was not in fact in labor and I would have to be induced.<br />
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I finally got out of bed around 7:25am and decided to take a shower and do my hair for the big day. Trevor went downstairs to work while we waited for the call from the hospital for our scheduled induction time. As I prepared to get in the shower, I started noticing that my braxton hicks contractions (something I had very frequently this pregnancy, especially toward the end, and sometimes pretty strong, but not too painful) were stronger than they had ever felt before. As I was in the shower, I realized the contractions were actually pretty painful, too. However, they still seemed like braxton hicks contractions since my belly would harden. In my past two pregnancies, my labor contractions were pretty obviously different from the braxton hicks, so I was hesitant to be optimistic that I could actually be in labor.<br />
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By the time I got out of the shower, I called Trevor upstairs and tentatively told him, "You might want to call your Mom to have her start coming, because I think I'm feeling some real contractions. They're pretty painful." I didn't want to be an alarmist, though, and was a little afraid of being wrong, but it seemed like the right call to have her start coming over to our house to watch Charlie and Delilah.<br />
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For the next hour, I got ready for the day. I curled my hair and put on a little make up (I guess if I know I'm going to have a baby, I might as well look good! Ha!) while contracting at irregular intervals. Some would come every 5 minutes while sometimes I'd have a break for 15 minutes or so. It really had me second-guessing whether or not I was really in labor.<br />
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Around 9am, the hospital called to ask if I could arrive for my scheduled induction at 10am. I told them I would try (it's a 25 minute drive to the hospital), but we were still waiting for Jill to arrive to watch the older kids. I asked if it was okay if we were a little late and she said it would be okay if it was around 10:15or so. By this point, my contractions had become obviously painful and I knew for sure I was in labor on my own, although the contractions weren't consistent in their timing.<br />
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By 9:30am, Trevor's mom still hadn't arrived, although we knew she was on her way and getting really close. (I later learned that when he asked her to come he didn't tell her it was urgent so that's why she took a little while to get ready and arrive. Ha!) I was starting to panic a little because I knew I was in labor and I knew we had a scheduled time at the hospital. We got the bag in Trevor's car and then I sat inside, waiting, ready to go the moment she showed up. Her car drove down the street at 9:48am. A quick hug and a few instructions later, we were on our way. I swear I had at least 10 contractions on the drive to the hospital and kept saying "oh no, not another one!" I would close my eyes, hold on tight, breathe and count my breaths while each contraction passed.<br />
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We arrived at the hospital at 10:15am. I had a contraction in the parking lot, one in the elevator, and one at the check-in desk on the labor and delivery floor. I feel fortunate that they already had a room prepared and nurse waiting for me because of my scheduled induction. I got into my room right away and changed into the hospital gown. The nurse checked my dilation and I believe I was around 5 or 6cm. My memory is a little foggy as it's been nearly two months. ;) I remember requesting an epidural right away because I was quite done laboring on my own thank-you-very-much. I was shortly informed that the anesthesiologist was finishing up with another patient and had one other to do before getting to me. In the meantime I did my best to calmly make it through contractions, counting and breathing. It was very obvious at this point there would be no induction needed.<br />
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I believe the anesthesiologist arrived around 11am to give me my epidural. I made Trevor come hold my hand through the contractions around this time. He later told me I was squeezing so hard it hurt him. I had no idea I could even squeeze that hard. The epidural was placed about 10 minutes later, but they had to go find a syringe of the medicine because he didn't have one on hand. By 11:20 or so, I was panicking that the epidural wasn't helping as much as I expected (so much pain!) and requested that the anesthesiologist come back to check things. He gave me a booster of some sort of quicker-acting medication and left. I think it took the edge off the pain, but I was still feeling a lot of what was going on.<br />
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Around 11:30am I had a monster contraction that I remember moaning and almost yelling through, despite the epidural. At the end I felt a weird pop, and a few seconds later the sensation of warm fluid. I turned and told the nurse, "I think my water just broke!" This had never happened to me before and was definitely an interesting, new sensation. She checked my dilation at this point and I was basically fully dilated to 9.5cm! I couldn't believe I had transitioned with very little pain management! And so quickly, too! I heard the panic in the nurse's voice as she said she would need to page Dr. Watabe right away. She hoped he would get there in time and I remember her "complaining" about the fact that I was in the labor and delivery room where she always had to deliver babies because they came so fast. Haha!<br />
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From here on out, things were a whirlwind for me. My memories of birth are a rush of moments and I'll do my best to describe what happened. It felt like Dr. Watabe arrived just moments after being paged (bless him!) and was ready to help me push. It was strictly business at this point. I remember the sensation of needing to push (I was in so much pain, and pushing made the pain go away. Nature is amazing!). We did 3-4 10-second pushes with each set and I could tell I was making good progress. I rested a little between each set, but my contractions were coming quickly. I also remember feeling myself poop and being so embarrassed and apologizing to everyone. The fact that I had the mental capacity to care about that at this point is kind of hilarious in hind sight.<br />
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After four sets of pushes and for the first time feeling the sensation of the "ring of fire" (although probably somewhat dulled by my semi-effective epidural), baby's head came out and with the next push, and a little aid from Dr. Watabe, the rest of him came too at 11:50am. I remember resting my head back with my hands on my face, crying with the relief of giving birth. Dr. Watabe asked me if I wanted to look and see what gender the baby was, since we kept it a surprise the entire pregnancy. I leaned forward to look, immediately saw his boy parts, and exclaimed "Oh! It's a boy!". Cue the waterworks again. I vaguely remember Dr. Watabe asking Trevor if he wanted to cut the umbilical cord, and despite saying "no thanks" to the nurse earlier when he was asked, he took the scissors and cut the cord. It made me so happy that he got to be involved in that way.<br />
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After the umbilical cord was cut, they put Thomas directly onto me. He was my first baby where I got to hold him straight out of the womb before he was cleaned up. I distinctly remember his blue-gray color, the sticky wetness of his skin and hair, and the specific yet un-describable smell of the fluids he had just emerged from. It was amazing. It took him a good minute to start crying and he sounded gurgly at first due to swallowing some of the amniotic fluid on the way out. Once he did start crying, he was pretty agitated and hard to calm down for the next hour or so. I remember lots of screaming and feeling sad for him and hoping he was okay. I guess my whirlwind labor was quite the whirlwind for him, too.<br />
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After holding him for the first 5-10 minutes, they took him to clean him up and suction him and brought him back to me. He wasn't too interested in latching and eating yet, which concerned me a little. Trevor ended up holding him for a while, too.<br />
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About an hour after giving birth, I was transferred to the recovery room on the second floor. My legs were so numb from the now effective epidural (eye roll), that I had to be helped into a wheelchair and rolled to my new room.<br />
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I spent the next few hours getting to know my little man and encouraging him to eat. He had this adorable little furrowed brow and wasn't too interested in opening his eyes.<br />
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Trevor went home that evening around 7:30pm to be with our older kids. I spent the night restlessly, worrying and thinking about my new babe, feeding him every few hours. The next morning, we finally settled on a name: Thomas Van Shipp. It wasn't easy to name him and we went back and forth and had to try out Thomas for a while before we settled it for sure. Honestly, it took me a good 3-4 days after coming home to really get used to his name. But now it totally suits him and he's our little baby Tom. <3<br />
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In the afternoon on the 31st, Trevor brought Charlie and Delilah to meet little Thomas and to bring us home. Delilah was excited to see him, but then got really scared and nervous to get up on the bed with me. It was totally unexpected. I thought she'd be in heaven. Charlie was happy to see Thomas, but was definitely more interested in exploring the fun lights, switches, and machines in my hospital room.<br />
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After making sure all the paperwork was done, things were packed, and our ducks were in a row, we put Thomas in the car seat and were discharged. I walked out of the hospital slowly and gingerly, but I was proud I could do it! It was a hot, sort of smoggy day, and I remember hating that we were bringing this perfect little angel baby into such a dirty, corrupt world. It's that feeling of hoping I can protect him for as long as possible and be the best parent.<br />
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After a rough first few weeks with breastfeeding (so much pain--I had to get Newman's ointment as a prescription from a lactation specialist on day 5), we have adjusted to our new life with Thomas and everyone is in love. He is such a sweet baby and a great sleeper. He's so good, he ALMOST makes us think we could have another one day. Haha! <3<br />
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He loves sleeping with his hands free and gets mad almost every time I wrap his arms up tight. Silly boy.<br />
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We're over the moon for you, baby Thomas.Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-18505601258379748002015-10-29T21:05:00.000-06:002015-10-29T21:28:30.745-06:00Charlie's Disney Cars 4th Birthday PartyTo celebrate his birthday this year, Charlie had a little friends party at our house. It was just me and Trevor against nine 3- and 4-year-olds. At first I wondered if I was crazy for attempting such a feat, but it turned out really fun! Everyone played and listened well and things never got out of hand.<br />
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Additionally, I purchased all of the decor and also bought a store made cake this year, and it was WONDERFUL. Like, zero stress. Except for the moment an hour before the party when Trevor went to pick up the cake and they had--ahem--supposedly lost the order slip and never made his cake. Say WHAT? ... Luckily we ended up getting a free cake, but unluckily it didn't look exactly like the one I ordered (read: pick up a pre-made cake and put Cars toys on top and write on it). Oh well, the only thing that really matters is that Charlie didn't know the difference and he LOVED the cake. He was so excited to dig into it, and he didn't leave its side until the party started. Ha!
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Here's a couple pictures of the decor. When I asked Charlie what kind of birthday party he wanted, the first thing he always said was "balloons and cake!" so I made sure those things were present and accounted for. :)<br />
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When all the tiny sized party guests had arrived, I let them play with the toys and watch Cars 2 for a few minutes. Then, we played Pin the Teeth on Mater. I let Charlie (being the birthday boy and all) go first. I put the paper blindfold/mask on him and told him to stick his teeth on the poster somewhere. He kept turning his head back and forth and up and down and before I realized what he was doing, he had put his sticker almost perfectly where it was supposed to go. That's when I realized he was looking through the cracks around the mask! Cheater!! Haha... I let it slide since anything goes on your birthday, but I told the rest of the kids that they couldn't peek and I tried to prevent them from seeing. It was such a fun game and some of the kids thought it was super silly. {$6 at Partyland. Can't beat that!}<br />
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Next, we trekked downstairs to hit the birthday cake shaped piñata (I didn't have enough time to order a Cars one... oops!) filled with candy and trinkets. Each of the kids took a turn. They got two hits per turn. We soon realized that their weak little arms weren't going to do much damage. Haha! Some kids did hit harder than others, and his little friend Austin (who also happens to be a 3rd child) hit so hard that he knocked it off the string and we couldn't tie it back up. At this point, we let him try to beat it on the ground (see picture below... so funny!) and when that didn't work, Trevor resorted to ripping it open and throwing all the candy up in the air. It worked, and all the excited kids ran and started filling their loot bags. :)<br />
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Run run run and get all the treats!<br />
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Here's that amazing picture of Austin taking names with the piñata. And then a picture of my sweet Charlie and his birthday cake. He (finally) was a pro at blowing out his candles! Getting sung to and blowing out candles on a birthday cake is probably his favorite thing in the entire world. He was in birthday heaven.<br />
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Here's everybody enjoying their cake and ice cream (except Kellen, the little neighbor two houses down who just really wanted to play with toys the whole time... like, I couldn't even get him to eat cake... what!?!) Starting with Charlie and going clockwise we have Chloe, Austin, Alyson, Aunika, Cohen, Oliver, phantom Kellen, and Elena!<br />
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After cake (and a good round of "let's clean everybody's face off") we opened presents! Charlie was slightly more interested in his bag of candy and party favors than his gifts, so we had to help him focus a little bit.<br />
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Kids live for presents, do they not!?<br />
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And sometimes even Dads are impressed by the toys! ;)<br />
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Overall, it was an hour and a half of high-energy fun! Charlie had a blast, and I just can't believe that my oldest baby is 4! Sometimes it seems like it's flown by... other times it seems like it's taken forever to get here. Either way though, I just love this silly, crazy, sweet boy and all of his quirks (like collecting everything currently important to him in one container and lugging it around the house... see photo for details hahaha). And finally, here's the invite Charlie personally delivered to all of his friends. I let him run up and knock on each of their doors and hand it to them. <3<br />
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Love you, Birthday Boy!Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-36538097436858180262015-06-25T22:03:00.000-06:002015-06-25T22:03:56.005-06:00Gold and Pink Princess Birthday PartyWe celebrated Delilah's birthday a couple days early, on June 6th. After seeing my friend's cute little one wearing a crown in her 1-year-old pictures, it only took me about 0.6 seconds to decide to copy her idea. A couple Pinterest minutes later, and I knew it had to be a pink and gold princess party for my little girl. The funniest part is when I was pregnant and found out I was having a girl, I couldn't wrap my head around all the girly things and I said things like "I will never call her a princess and do super pink-y girly things. That just sounds cheesy and gross." ... Well, here we are a year later and I'm totally eating my words, embracing all things pink and sparkly and princess-y! With no further ado, enjoy these pictures from her party:<br />
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First, just some customary pictures of the table spread in all its glory. I decorated it with pink and gold circles cut out of paper (thank goodness for my neighbor and her Silhouette!), a simple white tablecloth, and lots and lots of white (and a pink) picture frames full of the gorgeous photos we got taken at FotoFly studios earlier in the week. The amazing little crown cupcake toppers were a steal from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/TopperAndTwine" target="_blank">Topper and Twine</a> on Etsy and made such a big impression for the cost! I made the cupcakes myself out of a white box mix (after failing miserably at making cupcakes from scratch, yikes!) topped with a delicious <a href="http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Buttercream-Icing" target="_blank">buttercream frosting</a> kissed with pink food coloring. I also made the little "wand" treats by using prepackaged vanilla wafer cookies with strawberry frosting dipped in melted white chocolate, also with a hint of pink food coloring. Then I finished it off with a paint stroke of dry <a href="http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=1B0D9FFC-423B-522D-FB7FEC9B586A633B&killnav=1" target="_blank">gold pearl dust</a> for a finish fit for a princess.</div>
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I borrowed this cute frame with a magnet board inside from my friend, but what a great idea! Just take any frame and fill it with a magnetic background for a very quick, easy, adorable magnetic surface! Her little girls love to hang up their pictures on display in their room. And finally, Delilah's wonderful, <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/150026231314241978/" target="_blank">Pinterest-inspired</a> smash cake! To alleviate stress, I asked my friend who is an awesome cake-maker-and-decorator to do the cake for me. She baked the two little 6 inch rounds about a week in advance and froze it. Then, the day before the party, she came down with the flu... so rather than make her decorate while she was sick, I decided to try it myself. For my first time trying this technique, I'd say that it turned out pretty darn good... definitely NOT a Pinterest fail!! :)<br />
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Here's my living room, mid-party. It's full of happy friends and babies. And it makes me happy to see all that happy. :)</div>
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Post-<strike>apocalyptic</strike> party living room. Ha. (There's Kimma talking to Grandma)<br />
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After we ate some of the delicious treats (may I mention we also served lightly buttered and salted white popcorn, those pink and white Mother's animal cookies {a HUGE hit with my 3 year old son}, and a veggie tray just to counteract all the sugar), Delilah got to smash her cake. She was in a pretty grumpy mood since the party happened during the time she would have liked to take a nap. However, after smashing the cake she perked right up and was happy for a few hours. Thank you, cake induced sugar rush! And, as usual, I couldn't pick just one or two cake smash pictures, so here's 5. ;)</div>
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I think she looks sooo stinking cute in her crown from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/lovecrushbowtique" target="_blank">Love Crush Bowtique</a> on Etsy and her tutu/onesie from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/OnesiesForElliott" target="_blank">Onesies for Elliott</a>. I mean, really, what did people do before Etsy and Pinterest!? <3</div>
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I think her toes even got a little taste. :) She was very matter-of-fact about her cake eating. It was all business and no play. No hesitation either. It may have helped that she got to dig into a cupcake during her photoshoot earlier in the week.<br />
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After a bit of cake cleanup, it was present time! </div>
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Here is sweet Chloe, Delilah, and big brother Charlie. Friends Chloe and Millie brought her this little Fisher Price Cinderella princess carriage where the horse moves front to back when you push it along the floor. So cute! We love girly toys since we don't have very many of those (yet).<br />
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She also received a fun stuffed dog that plays music and teaches about body parts (ears, tummy, hands, feet) and colors, as well as her first little baby doll complete with disappearing milk bottle and sippy cup. Grandma and Grandpa Shipp brought some fun little trinkets and an adorable white lacy romper from Old Navy. Kimma and Bebop bought her the cute little pink <a href="http://www.potterybarnkids.com/shop/kids/furniture/anywhere-chairs/" target="_blank">Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair</a> with her name on it. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Cummings gave her a little pink ball and a chunky farm puzzle a couple weeks later since they weren't able to make the trip for the party.<br />
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Look at those adorable little friends... Millie (who's just 2 months older) and Delilah. Millie LOVED Delilah's chair, but D was good to share with her. Overall she had a fun little birthday party and it's so much fun that she's already ONE!Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-34846529324370336092015-06-24T21:42:00.000-06:002015-07-03T10:23:35.643-06:00Delilah at 12 Months That's the face of a cute little diva/trouble-maker if you ask me! She's already spoiled to pieces and she knows how to work it. She's got her Daddy wrapped around her finger and we just love her fiercely!<br />
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Some stats about D at a year:<br />
<ul>
<li>Weight: 18.5 lbs (28th percentile)</li>
<li>Length (height): 28 inches (11.5th percentile - shorty!)</li>
<li>Head Circumference: 17.5 inches (36th percentile)</li>
<li>Size 9, 12, and 12-18 month clothes</li>
<li>Size 3 diapers</li>
<li>Same eating habits, 4 bottles of formula a day, and about to switch to whole milk soon!</li>
<li>Eats three meals a day when we eat and snacks in between. She's usually never full, but on the occasion that she is, she will wave her hands in the air (signing "all done") and say "ahhhh duuuu". </li>
<li>Loves to drink her bottles in her bed when she's tired, and she'll turn over, get cozy, and pass out immediately after finishing the bottle and tossing it to the side. I guess she uses that as her comfort item since she doesn't use a paci. </li>
<li>Is starting to wean her second nap. Some days she still takes two, some just one. I actually prefer one nice, long one during the middle of the day because it can happen at the same time as Charlie has quiet time, but some days she just can't make it past 10:30 or 11am and will take 2 naps that day. </li>
<li>New words: "Cah" for car and "ged it" for did it or get it {also still says dada, (ba)nana, nigh-nigh, bye, hi, cracker, ba-ba, di(aper) and yay}</li>
<li>She is walking about 50% of the time and getting better every day! Working changing direction and getting faster by the minute.</li>
<li>Still no upper teeth, but I'm thinking they'll be here any day with as cranky as she has been lately.</li>
<li>Mischief making now includes throwing toys, toilet paper, trash, and whatever else into the toilets or dunking the toilet cleaning brush in there and sloshing water all over the floor. Gag. Gotta make sure those doors are CLOSED! Yeesh!</li>
<li>Has started taking bows off of her head any time she remembers it's there.</li>
<li>Loves to play toys with her brother. She tries to copy everything he does, so if he puts a car down the big car ramp, then she will and shout "yaaaaaay" after. It's adorable. She's catching onto things way too fast! Smarty.</li>
<li>For her birthday, she got a little baby doll with a bottle and she LOVES to cuddle the baby and say "aww" as well as feed her a bottle all the time. What a good little role-playing mommy. It's the cutest!</li>
<li>Object permanence is in high gear. If she has something and I try to hide it from her, she will open my hands or look under me or try to find where it put it (or if I try to hide myself for a moment of peace she'll come find me) and if she can't get it or find it, she'll start throwing a fit and scream and cry until I either give it to her or tell her "sorry, sis". </li>
<li>Unlike Charlie, she hasn't shown much interest in books or television yet, which could pose a huge problem when we fly on a plane in a couple months, heaven help me. She's always just so busy and wants to be moving and doing and seeing and touching. She does like to turn the pages of books, but isn't into sitting still while I read her a book, unless it's "My Goodnight Book", this cute little vintage book that I found in a box of my old things that my parents shipped to me. It was one of my favorites growing up and I love that it's already one of hers too!</li>
<li>She absolutely loves bath time and swimming or chilling in the float at our neighborhood pool.</li>
<li>Scrunches her nose when she smiles or laughs really big, and kicks her feet like crazy when she gets excited, mostly when she's in her high chair and I'm getting her some food. </li>
<li>Loves riding in the car and will often take naps in there if she's tired at all. I don't blame her... I loved riding in the car too as a kid.</li>
<li>Whenever Charlie gets sick, she usually gets it too, but it seems like she doesn't get as sick as he does. For example, when he gets a cold that causes a croupy cough, she doesn't get the cough or croupy cough. I've been quite thankful for that so far! On her birthday (while I was at girl's camp and my mom was watching her) she woke up with a fever of 102 degrees. She had it all day with no other symptoms but a mildly stuffy nose and it broke that evening and she was fine from then on. Teething fever? Virus that her body fought off quickly? Who knows... but I'm glad she doesn't stay sick for long, so far! :)</li>
<li>With every month, she becomes more determined, opinionated, and independent. She wants to drink her own bottles and sippy cups, use her own spoons, go everywhere, escape outside, not be in her crib, etc etc and she makes her desires known with her loud outbursts and screeches. Silly girl ;)</li>
</ul>
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Here's a comparison photo so you can see her growth over the past year (I STILL can't believe it's been an entire year! How did that even happen so fast!?):</div>
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I can't wait to see what toddlerhood brings for her... only 6 months until nursery at church! Ha!Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-50697788159414182902015-06-24T12:50:00.000-06:002015-06-26T12:53:00.237-06:00Little D's First Year Studio PhotosI took Delilah for a girl's day out to get her one year photos done at FotoFly in Draper, UT. I really wanted the studio look to go with the pink and gold and white theme. I was over the moon with how great the pictures turned out... I loved almost every one of them! If you've ever spent time with a 1-year-old, you'll know how difficult it can be to get them to cooperate and be happy. I am thoroughly impressed with the photographer I had and the studio in general. I'll definitely be going back in the future.<br />
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I love how well these photos capture her inquisitive, determined, curious, mischievous, sweet and silly personality. Our family wouldn't be complete without her, and I'm looking forward to seeing how each of her personality traits shines as she gets older.<br />
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I just love this one where she's doing her full-mouth, crinkly-nose, cheese-face smile at me!<br />
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<br />Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-82258801696998334202015-05-11T22:27:00.000-06:002015-05-12T10:40:26.048-06:00Mother's Day and Delilah is 11 Months!How fun that Delilah turned 11 months old on Mother's Day! It reminded me how largely pregnant I was last year, and that this was my first Mother's Day with two kids. :) I really just LOVE being their mom, through both the fun, happy days and the rough, tantrum-y days. Here's the picture that I <strike>forced</strike> asked Trevor to take of the three of us, and I think it turned out perfect and authentic, accurately depicting our different personalities (cough, Charlie):<br />
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Now, let's talk about how much Delilah has changed over the last month! She is really blooming into a cute little toddler, and I couldn't be more thrilled with how much fun she is right now. Here's her 11 month photo. She has had a cold this week, so her nose is a little red and she's not smiling from ear to ear, but she still looks adorable:</div>
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Here are Delilah's latest statistics:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Size 9 month and 12 month clothes</li>
<li>Size 3 diapers</li>
<li>Completely weaned! Yay! She drinks 4 bottles a day, with 5-6 ounces in each, for a total of 20-25 ounces of milk each day. It's nice to be done breastfeeding!</li>
<li>Between bottles, she will have snacks or meals with us when we eat or when she's just being cranky. Some of her favorite snacks are banana pieces, frozen peas, cheerios, veggie straws, graham crackers, and ritz crackers.</li>
<li>Basically sleeps through the night! Hooray! Probably 1 day a week she will wake up in the night crying too hard to go back to sleep without a bottle. She usually wakes up in the morning between 6:30am and 7am, ready to have a bottle. Sometimes she'll go back to sleep, sometimes she won't.</li>
<li>Still naps twice a day, most days. Usually around 10am and then again around 3:30pm.</li>
<li>New words: "Cra" for cracker and "Die" for diaper. </li>
<li>She's getting ready to walk! She walks proficiently around the furniture, and does a pretty good job walking while holding our hands for a short distance. She has taken up to 7 steps on her own before dropping, but usually she takes 3-4 steps and then nose dives toward the person she's walking to, so you've got to be quick and catch her or else she falls on her face. Whoops! :) I'll try to upload a video I took where she decided to start walking at me and I didn't do a great job of catching her. Haha.</li>
<li>Her tricks include: Folding her arms on verbal cue ("D, fold your arms" or "Let's say a prayer"), clapping her hands on verbal cue, waving hello and goodbye, blowing kisses, clapping and saying "YAY" when she's excited about something like walking, pointing, and making mouth noises with her hand.</li>
<li>The bottom middle two teeth finally popped through this past month!</li>
<li>She loves to make mischief like pulling the silverware out of the dishwasher, pulling clothes out of the drawers or laundry basket, pulling the DVDs and CDs out of the TV stand, dunking her hands or other objects in the toilet, flushing the toilet, ripping magazines, pushing around ALL of the dining chairs, and just generally torturing Charlie by wanting to touch all his toys. I absolutely love how mischievous she is... I can never be mad at her for anything!</li>
<li>Likes to sway back and forth to "dance" whenever she hears music.</li>
<li>Anytime I go out front of the house without her, she'll crawl over to the window next to the door and peek out and happily yell and bang on the door. Silly girl :)</li>
<li>I just love how determined and tenacious she is about life. When she sets her mind to something, she will not forget about it unless you can completely distract her with something more interesting. I hope that personality trait will serve her well in life.</li>
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We are amazed at how smart, sweet, and obedient she has become. I hope she always stays this obedient, but let's be honest, she has to be 3 years old at some point. :) Maybe she'll stay more obedient and set a good example for her big brother, who needs all the help he can get in that department! </div>
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Here's that video of her taking a couple steps and then falling, as promised. She promptly started screaming after I turned off the camera, haha: </div>
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Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-71853862415381166052015-04-14T17:39:00.001-06:002015-04-16T08:23:13.390-06:00Delilah at 10 MonthsWell, we've reached the double digits, the golden age, heaven on earth! :) This little girl is already transitioning from dependent baby to independent toddler. I can't believe it! She's such a happy little thing and loves to follow us around.<br />
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Here's some stats about Delilah at 10 months:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Size 6 (barely), 9, and 12 month clothes</li>
<li>Size 3 diapers</li>
<li>Pretty much weaned. I feed her every other day in the morning and she doesn't drink very much. It's more just to make sure my body doesn't freak out from cold turkey weaning.</li>
<li>Drinks 4-5 bottles of formula per day, 5-6 ounces each time. </li>
<li>Starting to sleep through the night, but it's about a 70% chance that she'll wake up once some time between 2-4am to drink a bottle and fall back asleep right away. </li>
<li>Holds her own bottles, which makes feedings very easy for me! :) Hooray!</li>
<li>Eats 2 packs of baby food each day, and likes to snack on graham crackers, ritz crackers, teddy grahams, baby puffs, or veggie straws whenever she gets the chance.</li>
<li>Real whole foods that she eats are mac n cheese, bananas, apples, frozen peas, bread, yogurt, potatoes (not her fav), avocados (also not a fav), sweet potatoes, green beans, and basically anything soft and sweet that I'll put in her mouth.</li>
<li>Just tried an "apple & chicken" baby food yesterday and she enjoyed it, so maybe we can do more meat soon!</li>
<li>She can basically sprint in crawling form. She stands up on everything, and has started holding on with just one hand and walking along furniture. She has stood up on her own (she was holding onto the laundry basket and let go), with a record time of 3-4 seconds so far. ;)</li>
<li>Claps her hands, waves hello and goodbye, has started to point, and loves to hit her fist on her mouth to make silly noises. She has also been caught successfully flushing the toilet once or twice. Haha!</li>
<li>Loves to walk (and "run"!) while we hold onto her hands. Getting a little more stable if we hold just one hand, but that still needs more work.</li>
<li>Loves to stand and walk with push toys or the dining room chairs. She's even strong enough to push one with Charlie on it! It's incredible! And he hates it when she moves him around. ;)</li>
<li>Verbal skills: "Nana" for banana (her very favorite food), "Dada" for Dad and Mom, "Mama" occasionally for Mom, "Baba" for bottle, "Nigh-nigh" for goodnight, and lots and lots of other babbling and shouting noises. She's a verbal one and I LOVE it!! I really am not sure what her official first word was, but it was probably Dada.</li>
<li>I'm teaching her the signs for milk and more. She quickly learned how to open and close her fist for "milk", now we just need to get her to do it purposefully. ;)</li>
<li>Favorite toys include her stuffed dolls, any books but especially ones that have cool textures, the plastic dishes in the bottom drawer of the kitchen, and all of her brother's toys (cars, trains, tools, blocks, etc)</li>
<li>She loves to follow Charlie around and torture him by touching all of his toys. She does it with a completely expressionless face, as he gets more and more upset, which makes it that much more hilarious. What a little rascal!</li>
<li>Takes two naps per day, one around 10am and one around 3:30 or 4pm. Together they total about 2.5 to 3 hours. She always hates going down for a nap and will stand and scream/cry for 10-15 minutes until she consigns herself to just lay down and sleep. </li>
<li>She's great at going to bed at night, however, and will usually lay down and sleep without much fuss. She's also the happiest and most giggly right before bed. I think of it as the "golden" hour: the time between when Charlie has gone to bed and she goes to bed and I get to spend time with a super happy, somewhat giddy little girl. :)</li>
<li>Sleeps at night from about 8 or 8:30pm until 7 or 7:30am. With that one time waking up to eat.</li>
<li>Her hair is starting to fill out a bit, especially in the back. I finally did a cradle cap treatment on her this month and now it's all gone, yay!</li>
<li>No teeth to speak of! She's been a slow teether, but her bottom middle two will be popping through any day now!</li>
<li>Loves to act cute and shy when someone says hi to her or when we ask her to do one of her tricks on command. She'll bury her head into my shoulder or tilt her head so it touches my shoulder, trying to act extra cute. We love it!!</li>
</ul>
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We really love this little girl's zest for life. I love that she doesn't like to miss out on anything and is our little shadow. When I read Charlie a book at night in bed (his bed is a mattress on the floor), she's always standing right there with her little head peeking over me to see what I'm reading. Such a curious cutie!</div>
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Also, here are a couple more photos that more accurately portray her personality right now:</div>
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Wearing her Easter dress:</div>
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And a video of her new clapping trick:<br />
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Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-4207713090731251532015-03-17T23:56:00.001-06:002015-03-17T23:56:51.436-06:009 Months In, 9 Months OutI can't believe my sweet Delilah has reached her 9 month milestone! She's been outside of my belly as long as she was in it! That blows my mind. Pregnancy definitely seemed to go slower than these last 9 months having her here. She's an itty bitty thing, but she makes up for it with a huge personality and really strong muscles.<br />
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Here are some notes and stats about Delilah at 9 months old:<br />
<ul>
<li>Size 6 month (barely), 9 month, and 12 month clothes... depends on the brand!</li>
<li>Size 3 diapers</li>
<li>Weight: 16.2 lbs (16th percentile)</li>
<li>Height: 27 inches (22nd percentile)</li>
<li>Head Circumference: 17 inches (29th percentile)</li>
<li>Starting to wean her off breast milk. I probably breastfeed her about 4 times a day, and on top of that she's getting 2-3 bottles a day, 4 oz each time and will eat solids a couple times a day and snacks all the dang time. Haha!</li>
<li>She likes most all solid foods now, except for stuff with meat in it. She totally barfed up a "chicken noodle" baby food mix. Soo... we'll wait on that! :) </li>
<li>Will drink water out of a sippy cup.</li>
<li>I've been trying to piece up bits of grown-up food that she can try. She's tried and enjoyed pancakes, cornbread, eggs, sweet potatoes, and bananas. I might need to start introducing some more veggies, huh? ;)</li>
<li>Still not sleeping through the night, and the doctor says it sounds like it's because she really does need to wake up and eat, so we're going to try to increase the size of her bottles during the day to help her sleep better at night. Cross your fingers!</li>
<li>Now an expert crawler, which has caused her to become a bit of a daredevil when it comes to pulling up on things and trying to walk along furniture.</li>
<li>She pulls up on everything. All the time. Including her crib. This means every time she wakes up, she instantly sits up and then pulls up on her crib and starts to cry. She'll eventually let go and lay down if she's tired enough, but it does make getting her to sleep more of a challenge (especially because she still hates pacis!).</li>
<li>Loves to take baths in the big tub with her brother! They like to chew on squirt toys together, kick and splash, and giggle.</li>
<li>Loves to wave hello and goodbye, and she'll sometimes say "haaa" for hi and "daaaa daaa" for bye-bye. Actually, she says "da da" for a lot of things. And still won't say "ma ma". Oh well! :)</li>
<li>She is still very chatty and social. Like her mama.</li>
<li>Will put anything and everything she finds on the floor in her mouth. This habit continues outside. I have to pull grass pieces, rocks, wood chips, leaves, etc out of her mouth consistently when we go outside. Fortunately, she somehow knows the difference between food and non-food, because she doesn't try to swallow these other objects. </li>
<li>Smiles at people all the time! She is occasionally wary of strangers, and will give a huge smile when I hold her again.</li>
<li>When she actually gets the opportunity to do "big girl" stuff like ride in the grocery cart, she gets SO excited and will kick her feet and squeal the whole time. Poor thing gets stuck in her carseat too much. Second child syndrome? ;)</li>
<li>Follows us around the house wherever we go. Her favorite room in the house is the bathroom, much to my dismay, and she loves to pull up on the toilet or the tub and bang on it. Yuuuuuck! I need to start closing the bathroom doors. </li>
<li>Her favorite toys are anything that her brother is playing with. She likes to chew on his hotwheels cars or wooden toolset. She does also like some of her baby toys, including touch-y feel-y books. She likes all toys that make noise, rattle, or sing and play songs. </li>
<li>She has started dancing! I LOVE it! Sometimes she'll dance when music is on, but she really likes to dance when someone in the house (usually her Daddy) starts to sing! She will rock her head and upper body back and forth from side to side. I love it! And sometimes if we start dancing first, she'll join in. <3</li>
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We are loving this age! So many fun things happen from about 9 months to a year. I look forward to enjoying every second of this stage!</div>
Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-9811503168873255002015-02-11T16:46:00.003-07:002015-03-10T09:56:50.137-06:008 (Months) is GreatTwo thirds of a year has flown by already! This sweet lady reached some awesome new milestones this month!<br />
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Some stats about Delilah at 8 months old:<br />
<ul>
<li>Size 6 month, 6-9 month, and 6-12 month clothes</li>
<li>Size 3 diapers</li>
<li>Eats lots of solid foods. In addition to the foods she was eating last month, the new list includes things like cheerios, ritz crackers, graham crackers, bits of banana bread, tastes of other "grown up foods" like roasted sweet potatoes or banana pieces, and she also eats new baby food mixes (like veggie and fruit blends - these are some of her favorites!)</li>
<li>Her milk eating schedule has changed just slightly. She still breastfeeds 6-7 times per day, but at night she gets a bottle of formula to help encourage her to sleep through the night. </li>
<li>The bottle at night seems to have helped, as she will sleep through the night on occasion, and other times just wake up once to eat! Yay! She doesn't protest or gag at all anymore, and takes straight formula happily! :)</li>
<li>Still naps twice a day. Once in late morning, once in mid-afternoon. She's usually awake by 4:30 or 5 and stays awake until bedtime at 8:30.</li>
<li>Wakes up between 7am and 8am, sometimes later if she had a mid-night feeding.</li>
<li>Absolutely refuses to take a pacifier, but that's okay because she doesn't really need it to help her calm down and sleep. Usually cuddling up to a blanket and getting cozy will suffice. :)</li>
<li>She's officially a crawler! And, just a couple days later she started experimenting with pulling up on things, and she's getting stronger and stronger every day!</li>
<li>Sits excellently, and knows how to crawl from sitting, and sit from crawling. Big girl!</li>
<li>Is starting to wave hello and tries to say hello on occasion with a "Haaaaa" sound. </li>
<li>Can drink through a straw.</li>
<li>Loves to turn pages while reading books.</li>
<li>She's a very talkative girl, and will string together lots of sounds and babble all the time. She calls both me and Trevor "da da da". I just love how social she is. Her face lights up when she sees people, or if she gets picked up, and it doesn't really matter who the person is. She's not too stranger shy (yet)!</li>
<li>Hand-eye coordination is excellent. She's got the pincer grasp down to an art. </li>
<li>With her new mobility, she has really enjoyed starting to explore her surroundings and play with her toys more. She will go for longer periods of time being able to entertain herself because there's more to see and do.</li>
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Here's a cute picture of her without a bow on, just for posterity's sake:</div>
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I'm seriously loving this age. Things get pretty fun for the next few months, and I have to say we're entering my favorite stage of babyhood. (Although I'm now trying to cope with the fact that I need to babyproof EVERYTHING in my house and always need to make sure there's nothing on the floor or within her reach that she shouldn't have!)Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-38373950990769627852015-01-19T15:08:00.000-07:002015-01-19T15:08:15.664-07:007 Month Old DelilahAnother month has flown by for little Miss D. She's continuing to grow, change, and develop at lightning speeds!
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Here are some of her stats and fun facts at 7 months old:<br />
<ul>
<li>Size 6 month, 6-9 month, and 6-12 month clothes</li>
<li>Size 3 diapers </li>
<li>Breastfeeds about 7 times each day for about 10 minutes on one side. Eats solid foods twice a day and likes to snack on puffs or crackers too.</li>
<li>She's really opening up to new flavors of foods. She'll eat green beans and other yellow/orange veggies now without an issue. She will eat a few bites of peas, but those are definitely not her favorite. She'll basically inhale anything sweet, including peaches, pears, apples, bananas, prunes, and oatmeal mixed in apple juice. She has also tried her first bit of ice cream and LOOOOVED it. That's <i>my</i> girl with a crazy sweet tooth!</li>
<li>She has tried formula, and initially she absolutely hated it and would gag and press her lips together in protest. But now she's opened up to it, especially if it's mixed with breastmilk. But, if she's hungry enough she'll take it straight up. It just has to be warm enough and coming through a slow flow nipple.</li>
<li>Naps 2 times a day. One nap usually lasts 1 hour or less, and the other for about 2 hours. One mid-morning, and another mid-afternoon. </li>
<li>Bedtime is at 8pm. She still usually wakes up consistently once a night (around 1 or 2am) to eat and goes right back go sleep. Wakes up between 7 and 8 in the morning.</li>
<li>She's great at falling asleep on her own and won't cry very much if we put her down when she's still awake. Although, her favorite way to fall asleep is while breastfeeding, of course!</li>
<li>Excellent at rolling over, getting on hands and knees and rocking, and she has even started figuring out how to lift one arm at a time and place it back down.</li>
<li>She has figured out how to sit up on her own for long periods of time! Yay Delilah! She loves to sit and play with toys or watch her crazy brother.</li>
<li>She's getting <i>extremely </i>good with her hands. She can pick up most anything in front of her, making it nearly impossible to eat or type with her nearby (for example, right now as I am typing she's sitting on my lap grabbing at the keyboard and mouse!)</li>
<li>Her pincer grasp is getting good... She's been practicing by picking up her little puff snacks from her tray on the Bumbo.</li>
<li>She's such a little babbler and I love it! Some sounds that she has been saying is "ya ya ya", "wa wa wa", "da da", "ba", "ga" and all sorts of fun little baby talk. She'll even try to copy a sound when you make it first, and has successfully copied "Dada" a few times, which melts all of our hearts, and especially Trevor's. :)</li>
<li>She loves to get in the car and talk to herself in the little baby mirror strapped to the headrest. Sometimes she'll just be babbling away at herself, and one minute later she's sound asleep! </li>
<li>Getting a bit more hair! I think the bald spot on the back of her head is starting to fill in!</li>
<li>She still loves bath time and jumping in her jumperoo and being around her family.</li>
<li>She's a huge mama's girl (mostly because I provide the milk) and will start whining anytime she sees me and I don't give her enough attention. It's cute. ;)</li>
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Sometimes I think it's really appropriate that we named her Delilah because she really is such a "delight" to have in our household! :D</div>
Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-71507180466747067652015-01-03T22:05:00.000-07:002015-02-04T22:06:32.816-07:00Family Pictures 2014We managed to get our first professional photos taken as a family of four in November. And they were taken by none other than Meghan Sonnenberg herself, of course! And, as usual, I love how they turned out! Enjoy this selection of some of my favorites:<br />
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And may I just mention that Charlie was the one who made getting a good photo really difficult. He had a hard time listening to the directions to "look at the camera and smile" as he was far more interested in exploring the plants and leaves in the woods. Oh well! Meg's amazing anyway and got some really great shots of him as well as the whole family! :D
Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-2509392830881525872014-12-29T22:20:00.000-07:002015-01-01T22:58:24.221-07:00Christmas Festivities 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Our Christmas festivities started this year with our tradition of going to see the lights on Temple Square with Trev's family the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The weather was wonderful (not too cold at all!) and the crowds were huge, as usual. Our little family split off from the rest so we didn't have to slowly muddle through the crowds just to keep up with everyone else. It was a lot of fun! :) </div>
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On Black Friday, I got a good deal on a new 9 foot Christmas tree that was delivered to us in the first week of December. Once it arrived, I started a decorating frenzy! :) Here's a picture I snapped the first night the tree was up, decorated, and lit. Charlie was smitten by it, and has been obsessed with touching, playing with, and moving around the lower ornaments every day since. I had to let go the control of "perfectly placed" ornaments pretty quickly. Haha.</div>
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Trevor and I worked together the weekend after Thanksgiving and got our Christmas lights put up on our house! We were so glad we did, too, because it got pretty cold a couple days later and stayed that way. Being up on the roof is definitely adventurous and slightly terrifying. Actually, going up and down an old rickety ladder is the really terrifying part. We won't talk about the one time the ladder slipped a bit while I was on it and I saw my life flash before my eyes . . . But regardless, I have to say the end result was worth risking my life! (Pardon the grainy iPhone photo)<br />
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Here's a "finished" picture of most of the Christmas decor in my living room, complete with handmade wood crafts and the brand new canvas print of our family that I got for our mantel! <3<br />
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Friday, December 19th was our ward's Christmas party! We had cookies and hot chocolate and Santa even showed up to tell jokes, sing songs, and take pictures with the kids. I was MORE than pleased with how our picture turned out. I loved that neither kid was afraid of him: Charlie was enamored by his candy cane and Delilah by Santa's beard. Haha!</div>
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We also did some pre-Christmas goodie making. Charlie, Trevor, and I all dipped pretzels one afternoon while Delilah was napping. I even made a batch of homemade fool's toffee to pass out to neighbors with our annual Christmas card (photo courtesy of the ever-talented Meghan Sonnenberg!):</div>
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My ceramic nativity was finally completed this year with the addition of the camels! 1000 thanks to my amazing, talented, and loving parents for all the hard work and care they put into finding and painting these pieces so I can own a beautiful piece of family tradition forever! <3</div>
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Delilah has been rolling and scooting around a bit. Once, I caught her under the tree, mesmerized by the sparkling lights. Christmas is truly magical at any age!<br />
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I dressed up little D in a cute little cream dress and an oversized red bow for church the week of Christmas. She looked SO cute that I had to snap a picture. :)<br />
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Then, later in the week on Christmas Eve, we went to Trevor's parents' house as is customary. We had a grand time eating taco salad and way too many treats, spending time with loved ones, and opening up gifts! At the end of the night, we snapped a photo of all the cousins (minus the Andersons who stay in Las Vegas for Christmas) in their new Christmas jammies! :) It's really hard to get 6 young, tired kids to all look and smile in the same direction. Haha!<br />
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Charlie fell asleep on the way home and we tucked him snug into his bed before Santa Claus came down the chimney and left heaps of toys and treats for us:<br />
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Here's my Charlie's excited Christmas morning face. This moment makes me so SO happy.<br />
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We spent the morning exploring Santa's gifts, opening the gifts under the tree, and making an absolute wreck of our living room with all our new goodies! :)</div>
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Santa left a yo-yo in Charlie's stocking and Trevor showed him some tricks! He thought it was great! And Trevor had a pretty good time brushing up some of his old rusty yo-yo tricks as well. ;)</div>
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Delilah was there, too, happily bouncing away in her jumperoo. Santa brought her this cute new red leather hair bow:</div>
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More pics of my Christmas morning kiddos! If you look closely enough, you can see the hint of leftover chocolate around Charlie's mouth.</div>
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I love that they love each other, and that Charlie will go over and make sure Delilah is having fun!</div>
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One of my favorite Christmas gifts I got this year was this new Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag from my Mom. Love love love! I feel so stylish carrying it! </div>
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Our first real snow of the season came on Christmas morning. We had a gloriously white Christmas, and it wasn't too cold to go out and play in it... so we did! Charlie was in heaven, of course. We had a snowball fight and I even showed him how to make his first ever snow angels. </div>
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That evening, Trevor's parents and brother Trent stopped in to say hello. We had planned to make a turkey dinner for our little family, and invited them to stay and dine with us! Trevor was in charge of prepping the turkey before sticking it in the oven. He put a delicious herb butter under the skin and on top of the turkey, and stuck part of an onion inside. The turkey turned out moist and totally delicious. I'm not usually a big turkey fan, but I really liked this one! Yum! We also made mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. It was so much fun to have an impromptu family dinner! We MAY have to make a turkey every Christmas... a new tradition?!? We shall see! :)</div>
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Overall, Christmas was absolutely wonderful this year! It was nice to be able to relax at home and just enjoy a peaceful day together. I am grateful for the true reason we celebrate this time of year: the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He has given us everything we have. I hope your Christmas was as lovely as ours!</div>
Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-86682829709603614872014-12-11T23:48:00.000-07:002014-12-16T11:12:42.728-07:00Delilah: 6 Months OldHalf a year old! I can't believe how fast it has gone! You'll have to excuse her slightly red eyes in this picture... we took it at night instead of during the day, and she was starting to get a little sleepy-eyed and ready for bed. :)<br />
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At age 6 Months, these are some facts about Delilah:<br />
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<li>Weight: 14lbs 8 oz (18.3%) Length: 25.75 inches (40%) Head Circ: 16.25 inches (22%)</li>
<li>Size 6 month and 6-9 month clothes (still fits in a couple 3-6 months, barely)</li>
<li>Size 2 diapers</li>
<li>Breastfeeds 8 times a day for 5-15 minutes on one side at a time. </li>
<li>Takes 2-3 naps per day. Always a short one in the morning, longer one mid-day, and sometimes a cat nap a couple hours before bedtime.</li>
<li>Started eating some solid foods! She has tried rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, pears, sweet potatoes, peaches, apples, bananas, and green beans. Her favorites are oatmeal cereal and peaches. Green beans and apples made her gag... but we'll keep trying!</li>
<li>When we feed her solid foods, she gets so anxious and excited that she'll start kicking her legs and open her mouth wide and try to grab for the spoon. And it seems that as soon as I get the spoon out of her mouth, she's already swallowed and has opened up again for more more MORE! </li>
<li>Bedtime is around 8 or 8:15pm. She still wakes up once a night, sometimes twice. Sigh.</li>
<li>Is excellent at rolling over, both from back to front and front to back</li>
<li>Has started pulling her knees in and putting her little bum in the air so only her head/hands and feet are on the ground. She can figure out how to scoot forward about an inch at a time. This combined with her rolling skills means I often find her in a completely different place than where I left her, in just a matter of minutes!</li>
<li>Doesn't want to sit unsupported yet. If I balance her in the right position, she'll sit by herself for a few seconds, but she loves to push off with her legs and it makes her head fly backwards and she falls back really hard and, obviously, she doesn't like when that happens very much. I laugh that she may crawl before she sits! Silly girl!</li>
<li>Has started being interested in trying to reach her toys that she can't reach by moving around to get to them. </li>
<li>Some things she hates: Being hungry, being tired, initially being strapped into her carseat, being left alone for too long, and sudden loud noises in her face. </li>
<li>Her favorite things to play with include her rattle, books, her jumperoo, and empty plastic water bottles (oh so crinkly!) </li>
<li>She talks the most when she's REALLY happy, like when she is jumping in her bouncer or when I stand her in front of the mirror and she gets to play with her reflection. It makes her laugh and jump and giggle to see herself. Sounds like a girl to me! ;)</li>
<li>Loves to be in water, whether it's splashing in her bathtub or floating with me in a pool (we took her in for the first time just the other day and she LOVED it!) </li>
<li>Enjoys watching shows and movies on TV with her brother. </li>
<li>For the most part, she enjoys riding in her carseat, especially when we pull back the canopy and she can see out the window and also see Charlie. He will start giggling at her and she'll start giggling right back. It's literally the cutest and most heart-warming thing I've ever heard. It's little things like that that makes all the tough moments completely worth it!</li>
<li>Overall, she is a really laid-back baby. She goes with the flow and is generally very happy! She definitely has an intense temper, which can flare up loud and suddenly when she decides she's just not happy anymore. As I have said and thought very often with her: "Well, that escalated quickly!" At least when she gets unhappy, she can be made happy just as quickly as she became unhappy! </li>
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We just love this cute little girl! Although I do wish she'd start growing some more hair one of these days... ;)</div>
Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-19545193534832014392014-12-01T23:29:00.000-07:002014-12-15T23:30:08.154-07:00The Big 3-0Well, it's official! We have a 30-year-old living in our house!! For the big 3-0, I really wanted to do something big and surprising for Trevor, but I know he likes his birthdays low-key and with everything we have going on around here, I just decided to nix the idea of planning a surprise party. So, we did a little celebrating at home! The morning of his birthday, he woke up early to go to work and I had taped some colorful paper "30"s all over the house so he wouldn't forget how old he was turning! ;)<br />
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He worked a very long day on his actual birthday, so he got to open his presents from us the next day (Thanksgiving day). I was pretty proud of the fact that most of his gifts were surprises! :D I snapped this photo of Charlie wearing these awesome glasses shaped like a 30. Trevor told me I could take a picture of him, but I forgot and when I remembered a couple days later, he had "conveniently" thrown them away. Haha.<br />
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His gifts included a Seinfeld "No Soup for You" shirt, a Jazz basketball, some peanut M&Ms (as usual), a nose hair trimmer (yep, he's definitely 30!), and some Obama toilet paper... because who DOESN'T want to wipe their behind with his face? Slightly uncivil? Maybe. Totally hilarious? Yes. :)<br />
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We spent the rest of Thanksgiving day hanging out with his family eating delicious food. According to Trevor, that was exactly how he wanted his birthday to go. No fancy parties or attention. Just a couple gifts and some love from his family! :)<br />
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Happy Birthday, Hubby!Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-30520550662849505812014-11-26T14:41:00.001-07:002014-11-26T14:42:13.919-07:00Delilah at 5 MonthsAhhh look at this little cutie! She's growing bigger, stronger, and chunkier every day! :)
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At age 5 Months (which was November 10th), these were some facts and stats about Delilah:<br />
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<li>Size 3-6, 4-6, and 6 month clothes (seems pretty true to size!)</li>
<li>Size 2 diapers</li>
<li>Breastfeeds 8-9 times a day for 10-20 minutes on one side each feeding.</li>
<li>Has started waking up more at night to eat again. Usually just once, but sometimes twice.</li>
<li>Bedtime is around 8:30pm and she wakes up usually around 7am or so.</li>
<li>Rolls over consistently from her back to her front! Yay! She's rolled from front to back a few times (on accident I think), but usually her arm is out to the side and she gets stuck and can't turn back over. Then cue the crying. I turn her back onto her back dozens of times every day, and I'm trying to show her how to move her arm so she can roll from tummy to back. :)</li>
<li>Her signature sound is a loud "Ah ah ah ah ah" when she's talking or happy. Sometimes she'll squeal or scream just for fun, too. Or cough. </li>
<li>She's become very "hands-y". She is excellent at grabbing things: her toy, paci, my face, my nose, my hair etc. She squeezes so hard that it usually HURTS! Haha. Especially when those tiny fingernails are getting long. She's just very precise and good with her hands! With those long fingers, I'm wondering if we have a pianist in the making!? :)</li>
<li>Her favorite things are still watching and giggling with Charlie, getting cozy in her fuzzy pink and polka dot blanket, reading books, rolling over, and just being with people in general (especially sitting in the bumbo while we do things). She doesn't like to be left alone in a room with just her toys for too long.</li>
<li>Naps 2-3 times a day with the mid-day nap being the longest. She loves to sleep in her carseat or swing, and we're working on transitioning naps to the crib.</li>
<li>Ever since she was a couple months old, her little body goes through phases where, instead of pooping every day at least once, she just won't poop for a few days. During these times, she passes gas a LOT and it gets more and more stinky as the days go on. I mean, it can clear the room it's so bad!! It doesn't seem to bother her too much, but I definitely worry about it. When she finally does go, her poop is much thicker (more like pudding or paste). And then I'm really relieved! I hope things don't get too stopped up when we start solids! I don't want to have a poor constipated baby like I did with Charlie when he changed over to cow's milk at a year.</li>
<li>Some nicknames that we call her are "sis", "sissy", "D", "miss D", "sister", and "sweetie".</li>
<li>Doesn't laugh too often, but usually when she does it's when Charlie makes her giggle or we give her kisses on her cheeks near her neck. I think she's ticklish! :)</li>
<li>Loves to grab my face or Trevor's face with both hands and pull hard toward her, and then she opens her mouth and sticks her tongue out and tries to "eat us"... or, as I like to see it, give us the most wonderful, slobbery kisses we've ever gotten! :D</li>
<li>She's just so sweet and wonderful to have in our lives. I can't even imagine that I ever lived without her. She's so calm and fun to be around. The only times she gets cranky (and it can happen fast!) is if she's hungry, lonely, or really tired. But, hey, that's ALL people, right!? Haha</li>
</ul>
Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-50758169648016215692014-11-19T22:09:00.001-07:002014-11-20T21:39:03.585-07:00A Fruity Little HalloweenWe had a fun-filled Halloween this year! More than anyone else, I know Charlie <i>totally</i> loved it. He hasn't stopped talking about "trick-or-treating" or going to "Meghan's house" for over two weeks now. I first found Delilah's costume, the little strawberry, at Costco for pretty cheap and knew I had to buy it. Then, trying to figure out a common theme, I convinced Charlie it would be pretty fun to be a banana and ordered his costume off Amazon.com. The first time he put it on I almost fell over laughing at how dorky/awesome/adorable he looked. And that's how this year's "fruity" Halloween theme came about. Trev and I are mainly just fuddy duddies and didn't dress up. Or maybe we're dressed up as good-looking parents in their late 20s. I'll let you decide ;)<br />
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As far as pumpkin carving goes, we didn't do it this year. Instead, I found these awesome sticky face-making kits at Target and Charlie and I just decorated our pumpkins a day or so before Halloween. It's totally a win-win-win situation. Win because I didn't have to spend 1-2 hours scooping and carving pumpkins (I've decided I'm really not a fan), win because the pumpkins turned out super cute, and win because our pumpkins are still in great shape halfway through November!<br />
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This is also the first holiday since having our new fireplace where I've taken time to decorate my mantel. I'm very happy with the results, especially the dried tree branch that's hanging out in my glass vase. I had taken the kids to the park one day earlier in October, and a couple of older kids from the neighborhood accidentally broke the branch off of an aspen tree nearby. Instead of just leaving it there to wilt away, I decided it would be a fabulous idea to take it home, let it dry out, and use it for decor! After spending 20 minutes cutting off all the little dried leaves, I was in love with the finished product!<br />
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And here's the decor on my porch. We decided to keep it simple, but the light-up witch and spider on the pillar are this year's new decor additions. Also, we left out a bucket of candy since we went to Springville for trick-or-treating. I left a sign that said "Please take ONE! (We are watching you!)" and I think it actually worked because we still had about 1/4 of the candy left in the bucket when we got home! Haha!<br />
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The week before Halloween, our ward at church had a Halloween get-together where we got to enjoy a chili and cornbread dinner followed by a trunk-or-treat. I signed up to hand out candy, but didn't have time to decorate the trunk beforehand. The whole night was a blur. By the time we got our food after talking and waiting in line, I barely had time to eat before rushing out to the car. The trunk-or-treaters had already started before I even had my trunk open. It was a mad rush to try to get some decor put up and open my bags of candy. Basically it was craziness and next year I'm not volunteering to hand out candy if it's optional. Haha ;) I didn't get any pictures of that night, but Charlie and Delilah had their same costumes as on Halloween night.<br />
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And now here are all the quick iPhone photos I snapped when we went trick-or-treating in Springville on Halloween. The weather was so nice! It got just a bit chilly near the end as the sun started going down and the wind picked up. I wish it were that pleasant every year! Also...I'm just loving my cute little strawberry girl! Charlie really hated having to stick his face through the hole of his banana outfit, so we just pulled the face hole all the way over his head and called him a "partially-peeled" banana for the rest of the night. :)<br />
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He was so excited to get his candy at every house! And also to show Grandma his spoils. Even though he walked the whole time, he could barely keep up with his speedy older cousins. By the time we walked around a block or two, he was asking when we could go back to Aunt Meghan's house. I think his poor little legs were done!<br />
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We finally arrived back at Aunt Meghan's house where we got to enjoy our candy and some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. (We also had some delicious soup before going out to trick-or-treat.)<br />
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Delilah got to spend some quality time with Grandpa and Grandma. Look at that adorable strawberry bum! Haha!<br />
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And we changed Charlie into his skeleton PJs (from last year!) and let him sort his candy and eat a little, too! No wonder he hasn't stopped talking about it... Halloween is a little kid's dream come true!<br />
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Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-78391947973156446242014-11-18T14:09:00.000-07:002014-11-20T14:22:54.756-07:00Cornbelly's FunWe purchased a Thanksgiving Point pass a few months ago, and we've really been enjoying some of the venues there. Another perk of having the pass is that we get 25% off at Cornbelly's when it comes in October! We had a very busy month, but fortunately we were able to squeeze in a trip on the last Tuesday in October.<br />
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Here are my two kiddos all dressed up and ready to play!<br />
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We got there when the sun was still out and it was chilly, but not too cold. The first thing we did was ride the tractor-pulled train. Say cheese!<br />
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Next, we wandered around and let Charlie play. He enjoyed the spiderweb ropes, the ball toss games, mini hay mazes, and the corn kernel pit!<br />
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Trevor and Charlie then rode the cow train, which seemed a little too crazy for a 4 month old to ride. ;) It looks like they had so much fun! Afterward, we had duck races in water troughs and Charlie played in the life-size tractor they had parked there for quite a while, and then some wooden play sets with slides. In the meantime, I waited in line WAY too long for some roasted corn. I usually LOVE the corn at Cornbelly's, which makes the wait worth it, but this time it wasn't cooked long enough and it really wasn't good at all. There's nothing worse than biting into a half-cooked corn on the cob. At least my hot chocolate was tasty, as by that point the sun had gone down and it was really getting cold outside! I snapped this last photo from our car as we were about to leave. I love seeing a late October dusk over the mountains and corn fields. :)<br />
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Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-13365209610372793212014-11-17T12:01:00.000-07:002014-11-22T13:29:11.850-07:00Creepy Crawly Bug Themed Birthday PartyCharlie's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so he got to have his 3rd birthday party on his actual birthday! Hooray! Once we decided on the bug party theme, I got to work taking Charlie's 3-year-old photos, making the invites, and delivering them to friends and family. I also got to work making plans for the food and the cake! This year's cake was a 3-layer chocolate boxed cake with chocolate frosting between the layers, but then I covered it with a homemade semisweet chocolate ganache and oreo crumbs to look like dirt. We topped it with some awesome plastic bugs I found at my local dollar store. That cake was SO delicious. I need to use ganache more often!<br />
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Most of the people we invited were able to make it this year, and so for a few days before the party I started to panic that we wouldn't have enough room or food for everybody! Fortunately, with the help of my friend Chelsey (who is an AMAZING party-thrower!) we pulled together all of the cute bug food ideas I found on Pinterest.<br />
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Like these classic worms in dirt (crushed oreos, worms, and chocolate pudding mixed with cool whip and more oreos):
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Babybel Cheese Beetles (partially unwrapped Babybel cheeses with a blackberry stuck on using a toothpick) and Ants on a Log (celery sticks filled with peanut butter--or, in my case, sunflower seed butter--and topped with raisins):<br />
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Caterpillar Grape Kabobs (grapes on a skewer with mini chocolate chip eyes stuck on with chocolate frosting and frosting antennae):<br />
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Chips and Bug Guts (aka chips and queso - velveeta cheese plus rotel):<br />
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Since I focused so much of my efforts on the food, I didn't put up much decor. We bought some bright-colored balloons, left up the bats hanging from my ceiling that were there for Halloween, and put all sorts of little bug crafts, toys, and decor on my dining room table. I'm pretty sure the kids had a blast and made all sorts of crafts (and a mess!) on my table! :)<br />
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After everyone enjoyed their food, it was cake time! Charlie's face totally lit up when we started singing to him and Trevor brought the cake over with candles all lit up!<br />
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I was so proud that he successfully blew out one of his three candles this year! And also proud that I caught the moment it happened on camera! :)<br />
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He worked at it a little longer, and then Trevor came over to help him finish blowing them out. He's still working on his blowing skills. He tends to blow with an "F" sound shaped mouth (upper teeth on lower lip) instead of an O-shaped mouth. Haha :) You can kind of see what I'm talking about in the picture above.<br />
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Soon after we all devoured the delicious chocolate on chocolate on chocolate cake (mmmm!), it was time to open presents. Charlie got so many awesome gifts from his thoughtful family members and friends! This big dump truck was from my friend Chelsey and her daughter Jade (far left in this pic). He also got some awesome books, tractors (even a remote control one!), a bucket of gadgets from Grandma, and lots of great things to play with!<br />
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Probably his favorite gifts from his entire birthday were this cool kid microscope that he got from his cousins and the plastic blocks that encase real dead bugs from his friend Aunika. They have these blocks at the local Curiosity Museum and Charlie loved them when we went with Aunika and her mom Brittnee, so that's how Brittnee got the awesome idea to get him some for his birthday. Such a cool gift! And totally up my little scientist's alley! :)<br />
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The party started to thin out and die down a bit and Trevor and his friends went to the basement to play a few games of ping pong. :) It was such a fun day, despite the fact that Charlie truly embodied the concept of "It's My Party and I'll Cry/Pout/Scream if I Want To!". He was such a little meanie to any kid who tried to take the bugs he was playing with at the kitchen table. He would scream at them and cry until he got it back. I was quite embarrassed, but later realized it probably would have been a good idea to mentally prep him for his birthday party before it happened. Now I know it's good to tell him that friends are coming over and they are going to have fun and he needs to share his toys BEFORE it's happening to him!<br />
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You can tell in this photo how he was pretty worn out (both physically and mentally haha) by the time the party was over. See his little pout/sassy face?<br />
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We sure loved having everyone there! It's always a lot of work to throw a party, but we have so much fun that I always think it's worth it by the time it's all over with. And mostly, I still LOVE having a house to throw parties in! Thank goodness for that!<br />
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Here's me with my sweet 3-year-old! Oh, if only I weren't on the verge of a blink, this picture would be perfect! Happy Birthday, my boy!</div>
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I can't believe how much my "little" Charlie has grown over the past few months leading up to his third birthday. I was warned by dozens of people that my toddler would look HUGE once I had my baby, and I remember thinking that he did seem big, but not as huge as everyone made it out to sound. Then, about a month after her birth, I swear he went through a growth spurt! Even <i>I</i> could tell he was growing, which is saying something because normally you don't really notice the growth because it's so gradual. Almost overnight he filled out and nearly outgrew his size 2T clothes and jumped right into size 3T!<br />
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Along with the physical growth has come some new mental growth as well! He started speaking in sentences, remembering people, places, and events, and realizing he has a mind of his own. That last bit has pretty much made our life miserable for the past few months. I'm not sure if he just hit the "terrible twos" late, or if life's dirty little secret is that three is, in fact, MUCH worse than two! Regardless, he has become demanding, whiny, and basically an all-around "NO monster". Literally days after his 3rd birthday, he learned how to open doors and take his clothes off. A lot of the boundaries I've been enjoying as a mom have been smashed with that door-opening trick. Time to buy some knob locks or covers so I can keep him out of where I don't want him going! At least he hasn't figured out how to open the outside doors... yet! Part of me is glad he knows how to open doors, so when he's <i>finally</i> ready to potty train (yes... he STILL refuses! I'm positive he knows how to do it, but I'm pretty sure he just doesn't care), he can get out of his room and into the bathroom by himself without having to call for me. The other part of me cries inside every morning when he comes bursting into my bedroom earlier than I'm ready to wake up shouting, "Good mor-geeen!"<br />
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Some other things to note about Charlie at three years is that he loves to talk about and control the lights ("lights on? lights off?") and all the fans ("fan on? fan off?"). If he doesn't get his way, or he's not in control, he gets pretty upset. I think he might actually have a fear of fans, but knowing he can control them helps make him feel better. His favorite food is a "peanu'butter sannwich". If I ask him what he wants to eat for lunch, he will request one without fail. Every time. And since I'm allergic to peanuts, he actually gets sunflower seed butter instead, but he doesn't know the difference! ;) He also loves to eat cereal and requests some form of it by brand name every morning. Kix? Chex? Crispix? Lucky Charms? Pops? etc. Which reminds me how cute it is when he tries to say something but it comes out in "toddler" form. Like, one piece of Kix cereal is a "kick" and one piece of Chex is a "check". Also, one time he pointed to a piece of ice that fell on the floor and said "Oh no, i!" That smart little cookie is trying to de-pluralize words! So cute! Also, today after his bath he stood up and said, before his towel was around him, "Ooohhhhhh it's too colding!". It's fun to watch a little one try to learn and apply the rules of English, especially when it's incorrect! :D<br />
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(Look at that sweet, cheesing face... and that amazingly saucy face!)<br />
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He also recently discovered his love for trick-or-treating this last go-around. He enjoyed it so much that he has talked about and prayed about thanking God for trick-or-treating and Aunt Meghan's house (where we went trick-or-treating) every single day since. It's really quite endearing, and I'm glad he doesn't fully understand what I mean when I say we have to wait a whole year before we do it again. He's already getting excited for Christmas and I bet that he will be obsessed with it after all is said and done this year! :D<br />
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Some of his favorite things to do are to play in the bushes and plants outside our house (or anywhere, really), collect toys in a container and then take them out and throw them all around or tinker with them, go to gymnastics, read books, make his sister laugh by screaming at her, say "no", watch movies (especially Cars, Cars 2, Toy Story, and A Bug's Life) and learn about and play with bugs. Which brings me to the subject of his third birthday party! For a while, I kept asking him if he wanted a Cars theme party, but he kept saying no. Then, it hit me that he would LOVE a bug party. I asked him about it and he said "YES!". I'm a genius, I tell you. :)<br />
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I'll post all about his big bug party in the next post. For now, though, I just want to finish by saying how grateful I <i>still</i> am to be Charlie's mom. Even though sometimes he makes me want to scream or pull my hair out or bang my head against the wall, at the end of the day I am always glad that he's mine. That crazy kid made me a mom and is helping me grow and become a better, more patient person every day! Sometimes I seriously worry that I might totally mess him up, and often I blame his bratty behavior on my parenting skills (or lack thereof). I know I can always do better as a parent, but I'm trying to remember that a lot of his behavior goes with the age that he's at, and he's just par for the course as far as human development goes. My biggest hope for him is that I can help teach him how to be a kind, loving, sharing little boy. Someone who is thoughtful and who can compromise. I haven't been focusing as much lately on teaching him his ABCs and 123s as I used to so often. With the time I have to allot to him, I've been trying to teach him how to be nice and share and use his words and help others. Some days are great. Others are total disasters. Hopefully when we emerge from this crazy tunnel called toddlerhood, he will have picked up some good traits that will help him succeed in his life! :)<br />
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Lastly, here are just a few pictures of him opening his gifts from the family a couple days after his party. Look how excited he is for presents!<br />
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I love my little family! And Trevor looks pretty excited about this gift, too! :)<br />
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A tunnel! Like they have at gymnastics!<br />
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And some books to <i>try</i> to help get him excited about potty training! Haha.<br />
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And this cute little puzzle/playset from my Aunt Kristen.<br />
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Happy Third Birthday, Charlie!Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-13710732194184804752014-10-15T15:38:00.000-06:002014-10-15T15:38:00.792-06:00Pumpkin Pickin'We went to get some pumpkins at the local Eagle Mountain pumpkin patch last Saturday! Delilah fell asleep on the way over, so we left her nearby in the car (with the door open to keep an eye on her, don't worry!). So, there's no pictures of that cute girl, but I snapped a few of my boys and had Trevor get one of me and Charlie! I LOVE this time of year!<br />
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I can't believe this kid is almost 3!<br />
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Charlie's favorite thing in the whole place was this little metal sunflower decor. He stood and played with it nearly the whole time, and it was the only reason why he was mad that we had to go home. Silly boy. As he always says: "Flowehs Hahtifoo" which translates to "Flowers Beautiful" which translates to "What beautiful flowers!" haha. My silliest little boy!<br />
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Age 0:<br />
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Pro eater! She is great at breastfeeding, and has been from her first hour of life. Thank you, little girl! And she only cries when she's really hungry or tired.<br />
Wearing size newborn clothes<br />
Wearing size newborn diapers, upgrade to size 1 at 2 weeks old<br />
Loves to go into milk comas after eating<br />
Wakes up to eat 1-2 times a night, sometimes 3, but goes right back to sleep<br />
Toward the end of the first month, we started getting smiles and coos! Social girl!<br />
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Age 1 Month:<br />
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Wearing size newborn and 0-3 month clothes<br />
Wakes up to eat usually 1 time a night, sometimes 2<br />
Loves to be wrapped up tight to sleep at night<br />
Was blessed just before 7 weeks<br />
Such a sweet, talkative girl<br />
Loves to play with the toys on her play mat<br />
Starting to love her baths!<br />
Wearing size 1 diapers<br />
At 7 weeks, she got a fever and the doctors weren't sure what was wrong, so she got blood tests that showed she had an infection and inflammation. Afraid it might be bacterial, we were sent to the hospital in Provo for testing. She had a spinal tap, and all three tests for bacterial infection (UTI test, blood infection test, and meningitis (spine) test) came back negative after the three day waiting period. As far as we can tell, it was just some sort of virus.<br />
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Age 2 Months:<br />
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Wearing size 0-3 month clothes and some 3 month clothes.<br />
Wearing size 1 diapers<br />
Near the end of the month, she went through a phase where she started hating the carseat<br />
Still a calm, sweet, happy temperament<br />
Started sleeping through the night, waking up on the occasional night to eat once<br />
Loves to sit on our laps and look out on the world and watch what's going on<br />
Discovered her hands and started grabbing at toys<br />
Had a stuffy nose nearly all month after getting her 2 month shots!<br />
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Age 3 Months:<br />
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Wearing size 3 month and some 3-6 month clothes<br />
Wearing size 1 diapers, upgraded to size 2 about halfway through the month<br />
Loves to nap in her swing<br />
Finally started keeping her paci in much better, and is good at self-soothing<br />
Sleeps through the night every night! (Wrapped up like a burrito)<br />
Right around the time she turned 3 months, she gave her first little giggles. Charlie, of course, was the first one to make her giggle, as well as Trevor! Even Darren, my best friend's husband, made her giggle. She must like boys!<br />
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Age 4 Months:<br />
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Look at those chunky legs! :)<br />
She has been working on turning over for a few weeks and she's almost there! She's turned from back to front once as a fluke, and from front to back once as a fluke. Any day now, she'll have it down. She's a pro at turning on her side.<br />
Wearing size 2 diapers<br />
Wearing size 3 months and 3-6 month clothing<br />
Loves watching her big brother be silly<br />
Makes a grunting noise a lot (as if she were trying to poop, or if she were growling at you)... does this more than actually talking these days<br />
Loves the sound of kids playing or just any noise in general. She's definitely a second child, and very different from Charlie in this way. I'll take her to Zumba and the sound of the loud music lulls her to sleep!<br />
Can sometimes put her paci back in her mouth on her own<br />
Learning to like the jumperoo and loves to sit in the bumbo and watch us do things like cook or clean<br />
Hand-eye coordination is getting better and better, and she's even started pulling on her little frog toy in her carseat that vibrates when you pull it and let it go.<br />
Everything goes in her mouth - her hands, toys, blankets, my hands or neck or arm or anything she can attach to. Haha :)<br />
Eats about every 2-2.5 hours during the day from one side at a time. This has been her pattern for at least 2 months.<br />
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Here are a couple photos from her blessing day on July 27th:<br />
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Lots of people came out to our late 3pm ward to support us! Grandpa Kayle was there, too, but somehow escaped the picture :)<br />
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I love our little family of four!<br />
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Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-20340595539816091372014-08-20T21:47:00.000-06:002014-11-20T21:57:02.582-07:00The Fourth of July 2014For Independence Day this year, we kept with the tradition of doing the same things we've done in the past few years, except this time we had the addition of our almost 1-month-old! :)<br />
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I dressed my kids (I still can't believe I have two!) up in red-white-and-blue and attempted to get a picture. Newborns aren't the biggest fan of being set down, especially in an uncomfortable "seated" position on the sofa. Charlie wasn't much help, either, as he had no interest in holding her or being by her. At least he patiently held still long enough for me to snap a couple of photos. He was definitely thinking "Hey, Mom, can you move this wiggly crying thing away from me so I can continue watching TV in peace?"<br />
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That afternoon we met up with Trevor's family in Heber City and had some delicious food and good conversation. It was nice to get out of the house and do something adventurous. It was definitely interesting feeding little Delilah while sitting outside in the shade next to the wall of the pavilion (I didn't want to freak out any uncles, grandpas, or brothers-in-law just in case I didn't stay fully covered the whole time haha). I hadn't quite gotten the hang of feeding her covered yet, and I only had blankets for coverage. And, let's be honest, no one wants to eat under a stuffy blanket while it's already hot outside! :)<br />
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Later that evening, we travelled down to Jolley's Grove up Springville Canyon and ate some pizza and let the kids play at the park. Charlie had a lot of fun getting his energy out. This year, instead of doing fireworks at Meg's house (we didn't purchase any to shoot off this time), we just went home to get the kids in bed and I watched a pretty cool fireworks show off our back deck. A lot of our neighbors really got into doing fireworks and there were some big ones. It was a surround-sound-and-sight experience. I may never buy fireworks again if I can just enjoy a show like that from my deck! :) Too bad it's impossible to capture how cool it is using a camera (especially a phone camera!).<br />
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Happy Fourth! :)Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-82426352318179014352014-08-10T10:49:00.000-06:002014-08-10T10:52:14.747-06:00Delilah's Birth StoryFair warning... this post is a novel. This blog serves as my personal journal, and I want to remember every little detail of her birth. Good for you if you make it through the whole thing. :)<br />
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Life has totally just taken off since Delilah was born. Being a Mom of two kids is definitely busy, and I just haven't found a lot of time to sit down and write down the story of Delilah's birth. She turns two months old today, and therefore it really is time to post about her birth day! :)<br />
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The story starts a few days before she arrived. I had heard from my doctors that second babies on average come earlier than the first babies... on average about a week earlier. I tried not to get my hopes up, but by the end of my pregnancy I was VERY ready to have my baby! So, when the 39 week mark came and went, I started feeling a little impatient. My Mom arrived in town on June 6th, two days before her due date. She was scheduled to be there helping for about 11 days... and so I started to feel a little pressure and panic about her arrival. I knew I didn't want to be induced unless I medically had to, or when the doctors made me (i.e. 41 weeks). However, if I waited until 41 weeks, my Mom would have been scheduled to leave only a couple days later! So, I started to consider an earlier induction date based around Trevor's work schedule and my Mom's timeline. I called and scheduled an induction date for Monday, June 9th (a day after my due date), hoping that I wouldn't make it to that day.<br />
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Days passed, and my due date grew nearer and nearer, much to my dismay. The Friday before my due date, I had one of my doctors strip my membranes, but it didn't seem to help. Then my due date (Sunday June 8th) came... and went. I was now standing face to face with my induction date... and I was definitely re-thinking the decision. They were supposed to call me on Sunday night to give me a time for induction the next day, but when the hospital called me, they said they had quite a few scheduled C-Sections in the morning, and they couldn't assign times until those were over, because no one knows how long those things will take. I was also 5th on the induction list. They told me they'd call me the next day.<br />
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First thing I did on Monday morning was call my doctor's office to try and get an appointment. I wanted to talk things over with my doctor and have them check me for any progress. I had been dilated to 2cm and 70% effaced for about 2-3 weeks, but hadn't progressed much recently (so disheartening when you're pregnant!). They said they were pretty booked and I had to make an appointment for later in the day, but I told them I was worried the hospital would call with an induction time before I could get advice from my doctor. Miraculously, a nurse called me back a few minutes later and asked if I could come in right away because they could squeeze me in. I was SO happy! I hopped in my car (sans-Charlie, thanks Mom!) and got there as fast as I could.<br />
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Dr. Bean was the one who I saw that morning. He checked me and said I was a 2+ and 80% effaced. It didn't sound like much progress, but he said I was ready anytime. I was an emotional mess... trying to stay true to myself (not getting induced), but also trying to make it convenient for my husband and fit with my mom's flight schedule (getting induced). Lots of my friends thought I was crazy for not wanting to be induced, but I really enjoyed going into labor on my own with Charlie, and I wanted to have that experience again with my second child. And I wanted to see if I could progress farther and labor longer without an epidural... just to see how well I could manage the contractions. I guess I just like to push myself when it comes to the birth experience. Maybe I am crazy! Anyway, I also didn't like the idea of being pumped full of fake oxytocin hormones. I'd much rather trust my body, and wait until it's ready and creating the so-called "love" hormones itself.<br />
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My doctor was so understanding and even told me that I should pray about it! Only in Utah... ;) But it was excellent advice. The last thing he did was strip my membranes again. And this time... HOLY COW... did he ever <i>strip my membranes</i>. It was pretty darn painful (unlike the first time) and I even recall saying "Whoa... that's definitely not what the other doctor did on Friday!". He told me that he stripped all the remaining membranes, and that it would definitely kick-start my labor if my body was on the cusp of going into labor anyway.<br />
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After the appointment I went home and decided to make the best of the rest of my day (instead of waiting around sulking). So, my mom, Charlie, and I went to the pool. I saw quite a few of my neighborhood friends there who all asked me when I was due ("Oh, yesterday") and, again, thought I was crazy for not wanting to be induced. Haha. Swimming in the pool was awesome, especially because my belly felt so light! I was also feeling just a little crampy after having my membranes stripped, so it was nice for relieving those cramps too.<br />
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We got home from the pool a little after 2pm. Still no call from the hospital. So, the next thing I did was to take a shower to get refreshed after swimming. Somewhere between showering and drying my hair, I started realizing that I was having a few semi-painful, crampy contractions. I was pretty sure they weren't the usual Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been having for weeks, but I wasn't convinced that it was not false labor. Just to be safe, though, I told Trevor about the contractions and said that I better get working on some work he needed me to do, just in case.<br />
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So, from about 3:30-5ish, I went downstairs and did some design work on the computer. The contractions continued, but didn't disrupt my work too much. Just before 5pm, the hospital finally called with an induction time, and I told them I had changed my mind on getting induced anyway. Yay for staying true to myself! Plus, in my mind, I was hoping that I might actually be in labor anyway!<br />
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After my work was finished, I suggested that we all go out and get some dinner. I put on my makeup and we drove to Rumbi Grill in Lehi/American Fork just before 7pm. By then, the contractions were continuing and getting more intense, where I'd have to breathe through them a bit, but I still wasn't wholly convinced it was for real. However, by the time I finished my delicious dinner around 8pm, I was having to close my eyes and breathe, they were getting closer together, and I was allowing myself to believe I was in labor. I called the on-call nurse at my doctor to tell her how I was feeling. She suggested waiting a little longer to go to the hospital, especially because I could still kind-of talk through my contractions. (I definitely didn't want to be turned away!)<br />
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Contractions intensified on the ride home. We were all getting pretty excited, and I think Trevor was feeling like it was about to be a long night. Haha :) We got home a little before 9pm and got Charlie into bed for the night. I was excited to settle in at home and labor on the sofa while watching TV. And then things changed... quickly. The contractions started coming very hard (I had to get on all fours and breathe when they came), and I realized they were coming so close together I was hardly getting a break! That's when I started feeling a bit more panicky. It's harder to deal with the pain when you don't have much of a recovery time in between. Trevor had started packing a few things to take to the hospital, but I told him he better speed up the process because I was ready to go as soon as possible (it was 20+ minutes away!!). We took a minute and Trevor gave me a blessing of peace, strength, and health during the birthing process. I am truly grateful for my husband and that he is worthy to hold the Priesthood and give me such wonderful blessings.<br />
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We got in the car at about 10pm, headed for American Fork Hospital. Trevor got on the phone with his Mom to let her know that things were happening, but while he was talking to her I think he forgot that we were in a hurry because he wasn't speeding <i>at all</i> and he stopped at lights when we probably could have sped through and made it. I was DYING in the passenger seat, holding onto the handle on the ceiling for dear life and breathing hard every time a contraction hit. I was thrilled when we finally found a place to park at the hospital.<br />
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We walked up to the third floor and we were put in a room at about 10:30pm. From the way I was reacting to my contractions and how close together they were, the nurses were pretty sure I'd be staying. When they finally checked me, I was dilated to (only!!) about 4.5cm. With all that pain, I had expected more. But, I definitely was progressing fast and hard. By this time, I was getting tired and having a harder time breathing through my contractions without tensing up and moaning a bit. I requested my epidural right away and they ordered it for me. They also showed Trevor how he could push up my bent legs towards my belly to help me take some pressure off while I was feeling contractions. It was <i>really </i>helpful! Thank goodness for such a good teammate!<br />
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The anesthesiologist arrived within about 30-45 minutes (can't quite remember) of us getting to the hospital. I'm not a big fan of giant things poking into my spinal column, so I made sure to keep super still while he put the epidural in. Within the next half hour, just before midnight, I was feeling pretty happy! The pain was gone, but somehow I still had a bit of feeling and control left in my legs! Looking back, I'd say that it was the <i>perfect</i> epidural. He must have hit the "sweet spot" because it was the best of both worlds. All epidurals should be that way!<br />
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Now that I was feeling relaxed and pain-free, Trevor and I decided it was time to try to get some rest before the show. He slept on-and-off on the sofa nearby while I attempted to close my eyes and get some sleep, but I was just too darn excited. And, let's be honest, with all the interruptions from the nurses coming in to check and poke and prod and ask questions, it's nearly impossible.<br />
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Since Dr. Bean was the doctor on call until 6am, he told the nurses that if I chose to get an epidural and it slowed me down, then he would insist that I get a dose of pitocin to speed things along. I agreed, knowing I probably wouldn't need it. Around 1am or so, a nurse came into the room with a bag of pitocin and every intention of using it on me. A little shocked, I reminded her to please check me first, just to see how far I'd progressed. I was at 7cm and fully effaced! She was a little surprised, as I'd only been at a 5 just a little while earlier. Based on my speedy labor, she didn't need to use the pitocin (Thank goodness! Again, let my body do it, please and thank you). She also decided to call Dr. Bean and let him know that I was getting close. He was at another hospital about 15 minutes down the road.<br />
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By 3am, I was checked and was fully dilated! I was excited and ready to go, but the doctor still wasn't at the hospital yet. I remember feeling frustrated, thinking "Whoa now, what if I didn't have an epidural? Would you make me wait? How is this fair to my body, to make me wait for the doctor, when I'm ready to go... even if I'm not feeling pain?" I remember asking the nurse quite often if Dr. Bean had finally gotten there yet. And since I was starting to feel a bit of pain and didn't know when I'd be able to push, I had to give myself another little dose of the epidural.<br />
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At exactly 4am, Dr. Bean came into my room, suited up and ready to help deliver my baby! I was ready to get the show on the road! Trevor had been sleeping and groggily woke up to come over and help hold a leg. After a few pushes, I heard a nurse ask my husband if he was okay. I looked up at him and he was looking a little pale. He said he was feeling lightheaded and everyone started almost-yelling at him to "please sit down!!" before he passed out. He went to sit on the sofa and I told him it was okay, I could hold up my legs by myself because I could feel them enough to do it on my own. He said later that he felt that way because he was tired and groggy, because it was difficult to watch me working so hard, and from the sights and smells of birth. I don't blame him. I was totally fine... in the zone... but it's got to be a totally different experience to watch someone go through it.<br />
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I pushed with Dr. Bean (after he broke my water) for about 15 minutes. I knew I was making some progress, but he told me that we'd have to stop for a bit because he had another delivery down the hall that he needed to be at immediately. I was a little shocked that he was just going to leave me in the middle of pushing. I was extra shocked that they told me not to push for a little while. Say WHAT? I don't think so. I told the nurse I wanted to keep pushing, so she said "okay, we can do some more practice pushes". Practice pushes? No way, Jose... this is for real. So, with the nurse by my side, I pushed with all my might. And then the coolest thing happened... I could feel my baby crowning! I knew I was close, especially when my nurse started saying "Ok, ok, small pushes, take it slow so you don't tear...". Again, I loved my epidural because I could feel everything happening, but it took away enough of the pain that I was able to do it without totally freaking out. So, I feel like I've experienced what is called "the ring of fire" to a small extent, and that makes me happy.<br />
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So, I'm sitting there crowning and trying not to push and telling whoever would listen that they BETTER get SOMEONE in the room asap because this baby is coming out. I didn't even care who... just someone needed to be down there to catch my baby! Within a minute or two, a certified nurse midwife with the last name Seamons, I believe, came in from the hallway to help me deliver my sweet girl. Just a push or two later, at 4:37am, she was born! I did it! All on my own (with a little pain relief)! It was such an awesome moment and Trevor was standing (now strongly) by my side. She was here, after about 13 hours of labor and a half hour of pushing!<br />
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I had requested that they put her directly on my chest after being born, but since there was meconium in her fluid, they needed to take her away and make sure she didn't get any in her lungs and wipe her off a bit. They ended up keeping her for longer than I'd hoped, doing the APGAR tests and cleaning her up.<br />
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Meanwhile, my nurse midwife helped me birth my placenta (and showed it to me... so cool!) and then stitched me up. I kept asking Trevor what she looked like... if she looked like Charlie or not. All he could really say was "uhhh... no... she looks different". I couldn't wait to hold her.<br />
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And finally, after what seemed like a long time, they put her in my arms and she laid there with me chest-to-chest for probably an hour. It's the most magical thing in the world. And I decided that she definitely had her Daddy's eyes, very different from Charlie who has my eyes. I also remember thinking that her lips were huge, but later I just realized that was from swelling. :)<br />
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While she was lying there and we had a quiet moment just the three of us, we picked a name for her from my list. And we knew she was our Delilah Jane. I also let her try to breastfeed for the first time. She latched right on and it's been great ever since, which is wonderful because I didn't get that experience with my sweet Charlie.<br />
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Later that day, Charlie and Kimma arrived at the hospital to meet Delilah for the first time. I'm pretty sure I was on cloud nine during that moment when siblings first met. There's nothing quite like that to make your heart sing. And even though Charlie was only interested for maybe a minute or two, he was still sweet and gentle with her. He also brought her a gift: a plush little doll. And she gave him a gift, too: an awesome play doctor's kit!<br />
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The next 36 hours after birth were spent in the hospital with me getting to know and feeding my new baby Delilah, and doing a bit of recovering. I could walk and pee very soon after birth, again a function of an excellent epidural! The meals at the hospital were delicious, one of my favorite parts! Only Delilah and I spent the night at the hospital that night. I sent her to the nursery until she was hungry and they brought her to me. But she never got really upset about eating, which I was glad about. They would just bring her to me when she woke up and started rooting and trying to eat her hand.<br />
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We had a few of our closest friends and family come visit us in the hospital, including Trevor's parents and brother Troy, my best friend Chris and her husband Darren, and (not pictured) Jenny Buck and her two sweet kids.<br />
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We decided to go home the next day, because home is so much more comfortable (and less expensive!) than the hospital. We were discharged on Wednesday late afternoon and had a pleasant ride home. Delilah seemed to love her car seat and riding in the car!<br />
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Delilah is the sweetest little spirit. She does have an intense side to her little personality (if she gets too hungry she will let you know!), but she is such a laid-back and happy baby. I'd say she's even easier than Charlie was, which is saying something because he was a good baby! We are totally in love...<br />
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Here's a few more pictures for you to enjoy :)<br />
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Uncle Mike came to visit that weekend:<br />
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We are truly blessed.
Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-69453606476493737922014-07-17T19:05:00.000-06:002014-07-17T21:02:37.119-06:00Introducing...<div style="text-align: center;">
Delilah Jane Shipp</div>
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Born June 10, 2014</div>
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at 4:37am</div>
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7lbs 10oz</div>
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19 inches<br />
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Meeting her for the first time:</div>
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Life has, of course, been crazy with two little ones. I am loving it, though. Recovery and expectations are all so much better than last time. And she's the sweetest baby in the world. We are in love.</div>
Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3002231407066128476.post-55927681137738161262014-07-17T13:47:00.002-06:002014-07-17T19:05:27.641-06:00The Waiting Continues in JuneWell, June arrived and still, no baby! Her due date was June 8th, but in my mind I was hopeful that she'd come a week early or so. No such luck. I tried to plan fun activities with Charlie so we wouldn't both go crazy just sitting around the house waiting for life to change.<br />
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One afternoon, when Trevor wasn't working, we all decided to have a picnic on the back lawn. And yes, Charlie is still in his PJs. Best Mom Ever award goes to me. It was a sunny, warm day and we thoroughly enjoyed the change of scenery. I also took Charlie to the pool again. This time I had a new flotation device for him called a Puddle Jumper. This thing is absolutely amazing! It keeps his head above the water no matter which way he tips, and he can actually swim by himself in the deep pool! Love love love it! It just means I can relax a little more when I'm at the pool with him.<br />
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Pony Express Days is a fun Eagle Mountain community event that happens for a week every year. This year, it was during the first week of June and I took Charlie to a free family event on Wednesday evening at Nolan Park. They had bounce houses, face painting, food, and even balloon animals! We met up with our friends the Schramers. Charlie just loves his little friend Aunika... and even though we waited in line for at least half an hour, they were <i>thrilled</i> to get their balloon creations. Charlie got a sword and Aunika got a giraffe. Look at those smiling faces!<br />
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On June 6th, my Mom came into town. Much to her delight, I was still pregnant. She wanted to be here when I had the baby. But then, I started getting stressed about whether or not I should get induced earlier (I don't really like the idea of being induced unless it's at 41 weeks and I don't have another choice). She was only going to be in town for 10 or 11 days, and I didn't want to have the baby a week late and then have her leave a couple days later. So, I scheduled a tentative induction date for the 9th of June.<br />
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When my due date came and I wasn't in labor yet, I was getting more and more impatient. I didn't want to be induced and I wanted this little girl to be here already! It was a Sunday, and after church, I went for a walk with my Mom and Charlie around the neighborhood. We even stopped for a second and I jumped on the neighbor's trampoline (with their permission haha) to try to induce labor. I was so big and was feeling so much low pressure that I didn't really get any air when I jumped, but I hoped the motion of just going up and down would help. It didn't... it just made me tired. But I was determined and we kept walking around the neighborhood. We probably walked a little over a half mile, stopping along the way to look inside some of the houses that were being built. Here's a picture of Charlie looking like a total "mini-man" with his sunglasses and cool guy strut. :)<br />
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I didn't go into labor that night, and the waiting game continued a little longer. Stay tuned for the next post. ;)Alex and Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00933381407783606777noreply@blogger.com0