Bad Day, Good Attitude Alaina's Blessing Day

We have been really looking forward to February 2! We had set up Alaina's blessing, it was free zoo day, it's Rachelle's birthday and the only teams I care about were playing in the Super Bowl!

I set my alarm early so I could get all ready and be to church on time, even if we had a hick-up or two. Everyone's outfits were set out the night before. I even used my special occasion shampoo. Everyone cooperated and we were out the door earlier than ever! Gary was already down stairs and had cleaned off my car. He was sitting in the drivers seat trying to get the car to start. My car has never had issues starting so I knew it would start if I gave it a try. I put Alaina, who was all dressed in white and snuggled up in her carsear, in the car.I ran up front to start the car and told Gary to check fluid levels. It wasn't starting. We had 10 minutes till church started and poor Ellie was standing on the sidewalk in the freezing cold patiently waiting.  I gave up and asked Gary to drive his suv over so we could begin the 30 minute car seat installation process. At this point I was sad and bumbed we'd be late on blessing day and had no idea if we'd even make it in time to bless her. Now you would think this is the part where our prayer were answered and a miracle got us to church on time but that's not so... Gary got in his car, which thankful started without hesitation. He puts it in reverse and nothing. He pushed the gas and the tires just spin and spin in the snow and ice. I'm now standing by my car in my knee length skirt freezing with 13 pound Alaina in her 15 pound car seat with Ellie by my side. I see a man walking his dog and desperately pray he'll go give Gary a push. Thankfully he did. Still nothing. Another kind stranger goes to help and in the mean time, I've decided there is no way we're getting to 9:00 church in 2 minutes so I lug the kids back up the 3 flights of stairs. We go inside, Alaina is hungry and crying and my brain is frantically deciding who to call first. Gary, who's still stuck but trying to get out? The bishop who is probably on the stand about to start, or my in-laws who were there waiting for us? I texted my mother in law and called Gary. Gary called his brother and had him go tell the bishop. All of my efforts were wasted and we were now just sitting stuck at home.

Gary's family came over and I made them lunch. It was nice to visit for a while. Once they left I cleaned up lunch and then we watched some shows as the kids napped. Once they woke up, Ellie and I made some broncos decor with her orange and blue art supplies.  I made pear crisp and got out our guacamole to go with our corn chips and homemade salsa. We sat down just in time to watch the teams run out. The game started and we all know the rest of that depressing story. I guess that's what I get for betraying my home team.
Don't worry though, our snacks were delish and most importantly, we are safe, healthy and happy. I just wish our day was as great as I had been imagining for weeks.

This is what I've been dreaming of....

This morning Ellie woke up at 6:50. If she wakes up before 7:00 I usually make her wait or if it's really early, I put her back to bed. Today she pushed down the baby gate and came into my bed. I was tired and really wasn't ready to be up for the day. I asked her to go play in her room for a few minutes. She did. She literately played for 3 minutes and came right back in and begged me to go watch cartoons and snuggle with her. How could I resist? I went out and we snuggled. She grabbed my cheeks with her little hands and said "You mine best friend". She is the sweetest little person in the world.

I was just eating cereal and Ellie came to share. She sat down on the chair next to me but after eating a few bites of my cereal she decided she wasn't close enough. She tried climbing onto my lap as I held the cereal bowl. Something led to something else and before I knew it the cereal bowl full of ice cold milk and Honey Bunches of Oats was upside down on my lap. I wanted to scream but I caught myself and instead thought "how sweet is that? She wanted to be with me".  I did let Ellie know that she needs to be more careful to which she replied "Sorry" and gave me a kiss. How can you get mad at such a sweet little person? Imagine what would have happend if I did yell at her? I can bet she wouldn't have said sorry or given me a kiss. I was so close to letting that sweet moment slip by. It's so easy to get mad and frustrated rather than seeing things through their eyes.

As I gave Alaina her bath (she started her day out with a bang, or as we call it, a blow out) she looked up at me with her innocent little eyes. I was cooing and babbling at her as I always do and she gave me the saddest little pouty lip I've seen in my entire life. This girl has me wrapped around her little finger.

I get so sad when parents complain about the struggles of parenthood. I will admit I have gotten mad when Ellie smacks my head with her head or when Alaina wakes up a few extra times in a night. I know it's a sacrifice. It takes patience. Sure they break things and make messes but I'd take all of that over not having my little girls with me. I love my life exactly how it is. I wouldn't change a single thing. I have THEE most amazing little girls in the world to spend each and every day with. I have a hard working husband who despite hating his job and the abuse that comes with it, works 60 hours a week so we can have everything we need and want. I have a tiny little condo but it's the most beautiful home I've lived in and it keeps us safe and warm.

I'm not kidding when I say, this is what I've always wanted. This is the life I have always dreamed of. I have everything I have ever wanted in life and I couldn't be happier. I wish I could bottle this up and save these moments. I know time is going fast and it breaks my heart that before I know it my sweet babies will be grown and out of the house. I love this phase of life and I'm trying so hard to savor every second of it!

Now here is our sleepy-head-just-woke-up-messy-hair picture that seems to fit this post quite nicely! Here is to enjoying life as it is and not caring about it's imperfections (something I need to work on remembering)

3 Months Old!

I feel horrible for not writing about Alaina on her one month and two month marks. I suppose I have been in denial about her growing up so fast. She woke me up at 4:30 this morning and I thought "Yay Alaina,  you are one month old in a few minutes" but as I pulled myself out of my sleepy state I sadly realized no, my sweet baby is 3 months old! Why does time have to slip away so quickly? She's lost that sweet newborn cry and her little corndog nose. That is what I call the little tiny white speckles on newborns noses.

Alaina at 3 months:
She wakes up with a huge smile on her face and her arms stretched high every morning.
She loves watching her family run around the house while sitting in her excersauser jumper thing.
She loves jumping in her bumper jumper in the bathroom doorway as I shower each day. After jumping for a few minutes she falls asleep.
She goes to bed at 8:00 every night and falls into a deep sleep minutes after being put in her bed.
She sleeps 8-9 hours each night before waking up for her mid-night snack.
She loves to grab my hair or shirt while I'm holding her
She's too long for her 3 month pajamas! She's starting to wear her 6 month outfits now.
She was diagnosed with eczema :(
She's been rolling from tummy to back since she was 2 weeks old.
She giggles but she's stingy and hardly laughs with us.
She smiles when I talk to her. She smiles a lot!
She can bat at toys and hold rattles.
She's loved tummy time every day of her life but this past week decided it's pretty much the worst thing ever!

Alaina's birth story

The day before she was born:
I was due to have Alaina on October 21st. I had an appointment that morning that I made Gary go to so he could help decided an induction date. Dr. Crawford checked to see how I was progressing and stripped my membranes. She then said "well, I'm willing to bet you'll go into labor tonight or tomorrow" at which point we didn't set up an induction date which was disappointing to all of us!

By Friday the 25th I was still very pregnant and had no signs of labor. Gary and I went in again, this time positive we would be induced soon after the appointment. We packed our bags, cleaned the house and took Ellie to Grandpa's. I saw Dr. Eun this time and she wanted us to have the baby naturally. At this point Gary and I were more than ready to have this baby and told her we wanted the next available spot to be induced. She was a little surprised, as if being 40 and a half weeks pregnant was too soon to be induced. After some convincing she called the hospital and came back into the room to inform us she set up the next available opening which was at 8:30 pm that night. I was so mad! I went in at night with Ellie and we were up all night. I hated how tired we were when we had her so I wasn't too excited to be starting off the same way again. To top it off, the on call doctor wasn't my favorite and I was convinced she'd somehow mess everything up.

We picked up Ellie and had a special day with her. We walked the full mile around Colorado Mills and even let her go on the carousel ride! We even got treats at DQ. We went home and napped and headed over to Gary's parents to attend their trunk or treat with Ellie. She won a goldfish and got lots of candy! At 8:00 we put her to bed at Grandma's and headed to the hospital.

My nurse was Sarah T. She got me all hocked up to the monitors and asked me all sorts of questions to input into the computer. After we were all set up, Dr. Cowles came in and asked me why I was being induced. That was such an awkward moment for me! After Dr. Eun tried holding us off because she doesn't prefer inducing I thought Dr. Cowles was there to convince me again that I shouldn't be induced but at this point I was already admitted and attached to monitors. So I said "I'm 5 days past my due date. I was induced at 40,5 weeks with my first and it went well. I don't have confidence my body will go into labor on it's own so we asked to be induced today". Dr. Cowles basically just said sounds good, I'm going to bed and I'll see you when you're ready.

Later Sarah explained that the hospital doesn't admit people to be induced with pitocin at night because you're guaranteed to have a baby in the middle of the night. She said they usually admit people who take longer to be induced at night, give them some sort of pill to soften the cervix and they can sleep and get the pitocin in the morning. Well apparently I was past this point and was ready for the pitocin. With my last delivery going so quickly they knew I'd have a baby in the middle of the night and that's why they thought it was weird I was there so late at night. I was like "Hello! YES! Why the heck am I here right now? I would have preferred to come in the morning too!" at which point Sarah asked if I wanted to go home and come back in the morning. While it was tempting, I was already on the monitors and had IV. I'd rather be up all night than receive an IV again!

Anyway, here is the birth story:

So I got set up with the monitors around 9:00. Sarah had to go help another patient so another nurse came in to give me my IV. Apparently I have wiggly veins so when my vein wiggled the IV popped out. Getting my IV was my worst memory from having Ellie so I was not cool with having to get it twice with this one! Sarah came back and ended up doing my second IV. She got it, thankfully.

Gary and I napped for a while and by 1:00 I woke up to major cramps. By 1:30 they were bad enough I had to try to not wake up Gary. Finally around 2:00 I was saying "OW" so loud that Gary woke up. I talked to him about whether or not it was too early to get an Epidural. We called the nurse in to see what she though. She said when she had her baby she just went for it. She said you can't really get it too early. As she was explaining her reasoning I was in enough pain I wasn't paying attention to her. When she was done talking I smiled and said "ok well you've convinced me. I'm ready for an epidural but I'm not in a super hurry. No one needs to run". Within minutes the on call anesthesiologist was in my room. She was cute. She had on her sweats and her hair was evidence that we woke her up. She must have been mad at me or just groggy because it was the worst experience of my life! First of all, I apparently don't take well to Novocaine. I didn't realize it's the same stuff the dentist uses and it might be worth mentioning I usually have to have 2-3 times the dose to numb my mouth. I totally felt the needle hitting and grinding on my bones. Can I just say, worst pain in the world?! Seriously. So as if that wasn't bad enough, it happened 4 times because apparently my vertebrae are too close together.. It was miserable. My wonderful nurse was hugging me and holding me up the whole time. That's why she's currently my hero. Her and Gary were really awesome and encouraging. The epidural finally worked. Since Ellie crowned a few inches in my sleep, they didn't give me a very high dosage of the epidural. For obvious reasons they wanted me to still feel a little.

I could still feel pain but my contractions didn't hurt anymore. I could totally feel Sarah trying to insert my catheter which didn't work for whatever reason. Within minutes I was telling her I felt like I needed to push or pee or something. It felt really weird. She checked and said "your dilated to a 7" which was good news. A few minutes latter my water broke. She checked to confirm and I again told her I felt like I needed to push. She called in the doctor and calmly got the room set up for delivery. Nurses came in and Dr.Cowles arrived. They were all so calm, it was lovely compared to the frantic panic of Ellie practically being born while the doctor made her way down. Dr. Cowles told me I have great timing. Apparently she wakes up at 4:00 anyway.

Once everything was set up they told me I can push. I didn't really have to push with Ellie so they had to explain that I had to hold my legs and pull while pushing. UGH! That was hard work. After the contraction was over I had to stop pushing for a minute but since I could feel the head (which was painful) I was anxious to push the baby out and be done! It wasn't long, though it felt like it was, before I could push again. I could see what was going on through the doctor's glasses. That was kind of neat since I was feeling the pain. It was a nice distraction. As I was complaining about how hard pushing is, Dr. Cowles, Sarah and Gary were all making fun of me. Two pushes and Alaina was born. I do realize I'm extremely blessed to have easy pregnancies and extremely easy deliveries! I don't know how women push for hours. That is just nuts.

Anyway, Alaina was born at 4:17 am. She weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and was 19.25 inches long. She didn't cry a lot so they took her off me and took her over to the heating table to suck more gunk out of her nose and mouth. Once she cried more, I got to nurse her. After about half an hour they bathed her, did her foot prints.

Once we were all cleaned up we got to head up to the recovery floor and sleep! Alaina didn't hardly cry. She was so easy going. Later that night she spit up blood and milk a few times at which point the nurse told us we had to go get her stomach pumped and rinsed out. Apparently Alaina swallowed a lot of my blood as she was born and that obviously isn't good for her which is why they pump and clean it out. I was thinking it would be horrible but it wasn't as bad as I imagined. Once her stomach was pumped she was rightfully hungry so I had to feed her a lot that night.

Alaina passed her hearing test the next morning and also got her Hepatitis vaccine. Once the nurse went over all the info on how to take care of myself and the baby, we were discharged.

Sunday at 2:00 we were discharged but we didn't leave til about 4:00. We had to wait for Ellie and Gary's parents to show up with our car. Once they arrived Ellie got to enjoy a Big Sister cupcake in celebration of Alaina's birthday! I let Ellie sit on the hospital bed and eat it. She watched TV and licked the frosting off the top of the cupcake. After the frosting and sprinkles were gone, she was done. She loved holding Alaina and got mad when we had to take Alaina away. She's such a loving big sister! We're in love with our girls and I look forward to watching them build a relationship over the years.

Ellie is 2!

In the midst of adjusting to a new baby in the house, Ellie turned two! Alaina's birthday is a week before Ellie's which should make future birthdays interesting. This year we had Ellie's party two weeks before her real birthday so we could give her all the attention she deserves. It was a simple party. We had Grandma and Grandpa Hall and Ryan over. We had macaroni and cheese with hot dogs and a side of corn and mandarin oranges. I tried going for a book themed party so we had Dr. Seuss decorations and your typical streamers, birthday sign, table centerpiece and balloons. Ellie loved her balloons! We went and picked them out at the Dollar Tree. I let her pick out a butterfly one and I also got one that went with our theme. I'm pretty sure she got a full month's use out of those dollar balloons!

Since I wasn't sure when I'd be having the baby, we decided to keep our birthday treat simple. We had ice cream sundaes with home made caramel, chocolate syrup, hot fudge, whipped topping, nuts, book worms (gummy worms) and Ellie picked out marshmallows and sprinkles too. 

Grandma and Grandpa Hall got Ellie Curious George stuff since that's Ellie's favorite character. She got a backpack, a stuffed George, a pack of books and her own box of Curious George fruit snacks. Grandma and Grandpa Gale sent her a Fisher Price farm, a Fisher Price princess horse, clothes and about 20 of their unwanted Disney and kids DVDs. Grandma Lisa sent Ellie a cool Ring Around the Rosie doll that sings when you hold her hands. She also sent a super cute black and white polka-dot sweater outfit with a matching black purse and some other outfits. She also managed to buy a toy Ellie has had her eye on for months, a Mini Mouse cash register that has a little scanner that Ellie is still convinced is a phone. Gary and I got her a dog bed from Costco. We call it her reading couch and she loves it! We snuggle and read stories on her little reading couch every day! We also got her a handful of books. 

Ellie at 2:

Ellie is still the sweetest little girl! If I have to send her to time out she cries and repeatedly says "sorry" over and over. Luckily she's such a good girl we've only dealt with this two or three times. 

She's starting to talk a lot and can put ideas together to form sentances. "Me home (bye-bye) Baba (grandma or grandpa)" or "Mama wash me help". She has too many words to add here but I'll try to think of them all and add them to the end of this post.

She loves eggs, pretzles, sprinkles and whipped cream, apples and she'll eat bananas if I call them "George bananas". She is also still in love with milk. She recently was introduced to hot chocolate which we call Coco

Her favorite character is Curious George. We watch George every day and have for months. I've been impressed with the things she's learned from George!

Ellie loves her baby (Alaina). She kisses her every chance she gets and gets mad when we won't let her hold her.

She loves art. Play Dough, painting, water colors, coloring, markers... beads. She loves it all!

She loves helping me cook. She's especially helpful at making bread.

She loves books and music

Her favorite movie is the "Grandpa movie" which most people call Beauty and the Beast. 

She asks to have a ball (as in ball gowns and princess music). We did this on her actual birthday. Daddy danced with her after we all got dressed up. It was cute.
She is totally potty trained! (well, she still wears pull ups while sleeping)