Emmaline Grace

I went in for my induction at 7 am to American Fork Hospital. At the Labor and Delivery check-in station I was asked if I was planning on an Epidural, they laughed when I said I would like at before I get the pitocin, but I wasn't joking ha ha ha! My nurses said that was the smart way to go, I mean if I was getting a epidural anyway, I might as well get it before the contractions come! I loved my Nurse Paula, and Dr. Lamoreaux. Once I had the Epidural and Pitocin, around 9 am we just relaxed all day! It was such a peaceful day, and the most relaxing day I had had in a long time! John rubbed my legs and feet while we made guesses about what she would look like and how big she would be, and we took naps (Okay I took naps) and watched "Parenthood" on the iPad. It was almost like a date because we didn't have to be anywhere or do anything but wait together! And I certainly wasn't in any pain :) The Dr broke my water around

2:55 ish I was still only a 4, so the nurse suggested I try lying on my side and see if that would help things progress. We relaxed and started into an episode of Parenthood. But then at 3:35 I told John I was feeling a lot of pressure, and it was different than before-

John's face lit up and assked if it was "time"- 

me: "I don't know, just go get my nurse she's not answering the call button"-

John "OH! Okay, yeah, but should I say...I mean, do you think this is IT?!" 

Me:"Honey, I don't really know but I'm uncomfortable, can you please go get the nurse?!" 

John:" Yeah but what do you THINK?!" 

Me: "JUST GO GET THE NURSE ALREADY, and we'll FIND OUT!!!" 

John: A silent nod and he went to get the nurse 

hahahaha, 

The nurse came in and checked me and said "How bout we meet this little lady now?"

Umm, yes please?!

The Dr was called over from the office (In a different building) and showed up out of breath because he ran there :) 

Now, with Everett there were a TON of nurses in the room, it was crazy and slightly chaotic for me, but this time it was my fantastic Nurse, My Dr, and John. It was so peaceful, and beautiful this time, so calm and just a really beautiful experience. After each Push the Dr would show John what was happening and how cool it was that the baby was faced the wrong way, but when I pushed, she would do her part to turn the right way, she just knew what to do, and he was laughing because she was crowning but then sort of shimmied back inside lol, but then would wiggle as I pushed to kind of help things along, the Dr said she was really smart ;) 

Anyway, 3 contractions worth of pushing later, at 3:50 She was born!

A Whopping HEALTHY 9lbs and 7oz!!!

21" long

and lots of hair :)

The Dr put her right on my chest when she came before she was cleaned off or anything, it was just really special and cool and wonderful! 

She nursed great right away, had no complications at all and is basically sweet baby girl perfection :)

Everett is SO darling with her, when he has her he does NOT want anyone else to hold her, very possessive and keeps giving her kisses and when he does he whispers "I kiss you"...melts me every time.

Daddy snuggles, my favorite things is watching Daddy fall in love with this baby girl, there are no words...it's a beautiful thing!

 Our Family of FOUR!!!

 my my baby girl, you are loved...

Visitors at the Hospital! 

 Coming Home!

 Four Days Old...

Big Brother and his baby "Sits-ster" "Ewaline" or "Emmy-Lou"

(Funny kid needed to wear his hat today...lol)

I know, these aren't Emmaline, but he is just so funny lol!

We are so blessed with this little Angel, so fresh from Heaven in our home:)

Pregnancy, Expecting number 2

So...I'm going to have a baby...in like a week or so :) 

This pregnancy has been so different than when I was growing Everett, must be because she is a girl :)

Pics of my growing belly (Can't seem to find my 25 week picture at the moment though)

Holy smokes, what a difference 10 weeks makes!

Some things are exactly the same as my first pregnancy, but others are not...
-I started off about 10-ish (maybe a little less) pounds heavier this pregnancy, but right now (38 1/2 weeks) I weigh 15 lbs less than I did when I delivered everett! I even had an appointment recently where I didn't gain ANY weight, I lost 6 ounces!) I know it's all relative, and I eat well, and I was much more active (I was teaching) when I was pregnant with Everett...go figure :) But any less poundage I have to lose after baby is WELCOME!
-I have HEARTBURN like you would not believe, it's the WORST!!!
-After 35 weeks, I stopped sleeping through the night (not counting all the potty trips in the night, that's always been constant) So I watch netflix...or read...or re-adjust my thirteen pillows
-I'm carrying her much different than Everett, she protrudes so much farther (And I have the lovely stretch marks to prove it)
-She's more active than I remember Everett being
-I've been having TONS of Braxton hicks contractions, and I never had a single one with Everett. I hate them. They are so uncomfortable, take my breath away, give me hot flashes, make it hard/uncomfortable to breathe, and come ALL night long, and the day time too, but frequent in the night.
-I have round ligament pain...lower belly pain that comes without warning and is paralyzing! I can't hardly shuffle myself to the couch or bed when they come, it's embarrassing, and HURTS! It's like the muscles that pick up my legs are broken...lol....luckily it does go away...but I'm afraid to go anywhere outside the house by myself in case I have an issue with my dang round ligament(s??).

I know that was a lot of complaining...the good things I have going for me in my life throughout this pregnancy are:
-BEST DAY EVER dates with my sistee, we go shopping at Saver's 99 cent day, and go to Seven Peaks water park and bring the kids back to her house for naps and we get to relax some more and chat and sometimes craft! :) We do this once a week, and every time I have to leave, we say "Thanks for like the BEST day ever!"
-John waits on me, cooks and cleans (I have only done a handful of dish loads in the last 2 months)!
-Everett keeps me happy and busy (And tired of course) with all his antics, every day is awesome with him and I wonder how my heart can love even another baby as much as I love him
-GIRLY CRAFTS! Holy Smokes, I have been making a bajillion BOWS and skirts, and embellishing onesies, making all kids of things for baby girl...I know I need to post pics, but that seems like so much effort right now! I still need to make her quilt and other necessities, so that's where my time is going, when I'm not resting, cleaning, packing boxes, or chasing Everett.


My due Date is August 13. I am not dilated at all...or effaced...I'm constantly thinking "What if my water broke, like right now, wouldn't that be sooo exciting?!!!" I'm so excited to meet this baby girl, curiosity is killing me, I want to know what she looks like!!! I want to hold her and swaddle her, and watch Everett with her, and adore her little sounds and kiss her brand new skin, and smell her! I can't wait!!!

We are moving to North Carolina the second week of September (Baby will be one month old, and we will DRIVE across country...fun?) so I'm trying to get as many boxes and rooms packed up before she comes as possible. (We're going to live in NC for 2 -ish years while John does the Special Forces Medic School...we are super excited for the new adventure, we'll be renting out our house while we're gone and come back here when we're done :) It's pretty exciting, but at the moment, kind of stressful :)

By the way, I was working full time for a Virtual Academy (Teaching 4th grade, online, from home) since March..that's pretty much why I've been MIA for the past 4 months or so :) I finished the school year out, but decided not to teach next year, too crazy with a new wee one and toddler. It was a cool job though, I'm super glad I did it, but even more super glad that we have always been financially stable enough that I don't have to work outside the home! Motherhood is the best.

Everett

Everett's birthday 

Out shopping one day and his pants didn't make it back on him after daddy changed his diaper..I was inside Khols, and he came to find me in the store with no pants on...for some reason his bare legs made him super giddy and he danced all through the store and in the parking lot, catching the eye and giggles of everyone in the store...and driving by in the parking lot :) Love those thighs! 

Everett crafting with me...he "cut" fabric for like an hour while I worked on things, cute kid (Don't worry, the blade wasn't out)

 Everett became super attatched to this hat...he loved it because he could put in on himself...I made the tie and suspenders, love this look :) I took these pics back in March, but haven't been blogging...anyway for a few weeks/months he would ask for his hat when I got him up from his nap and every time he put it on he would smile and say "Oh! Hah-sem!" (Handsome).

And now for an update...

This little man. Can I just say, I LOOOVE being his mama?! It's a hard thing for me to describe, but I know every parent can relate. I love every age and stage, he is SO fun! 

Right now (2 years old) Everett:

-BEGS all day to watch Thomas and Yo Gabba Gabba

-LOVES his family, and especially loves to name them off (Jee-kub, Theth, Elia, Meenka, Djames, Stuffanie, Ewolyn, Jeyem, Ben, Kiwiskwen, Keecy, Dywlan, Withiam, Thithy, Othie, Amy, Nate, and his "Pirate Uncles" Skoo-tah, Ewin, Joe...he loves naming them when he see's them, AND when he doesn't lol, he often begs for Jee-kub and Seth and Jumping (On their tramp) or to go Shopping and Splashing )Swimming) with Stuffanie and Ewolyn.

-Kisses my belly...all the time, in fact he prefers to kiss my belly rather than my face, he pats it lovingly and says beeby, tewt, Emmy-WThoo

-LOVES Splashing (Swimming) and actually asks to go store? Shopping?

-Puts his shoes away, throws away garbage, still loves to brush his teeth with "Thomas Paste" and floss like daddy

-Talks a mile a minute

-Sings ever other word to a bajillion songs, John sings to him after scriptures and prayers and listening to them sing together is heaven on earth, my favorites are when they sing "Danny Boy" and "Doo-Da" (Zippidee do-da that is...John sings "Mr. bluebird on my" and everett chimes in super high :"Sould-ah" (Shoulder)...it melts me every time! SO cute! 

-knows his colors and names them all over the place (And repeats himself until we acknowledge "Yep, good job, red truck!" lol) 

-likes to count...almost never in the right order, but still assigns each object a number...it's pretty funny

-knows his shapes and recognises them around the house: Circle, square, triangle, star, heart, oval

-Calls clouds "Howdies"

-Cracks us up with phrases like "Oh Snap!" "Oh YEAH!" "Awesome Dude" "Plah-pah-leese?"(Pretty please), "Kanks, mom" (Thanks)

-Turns everything into a sword, or beew-beew (gun)

-Loves to dance

-Helps me water the plants and get the mail

-Likes to play Bow-Bots (Basically tries to put on any household item, ie hot pads, or say a small trash can on his head and run around in a monotone voice and say "Bo-Bot!" and laugh at himself for being so clever, lol)

-Can operate the ipad just as well as I can...if not better! lol

-Has taken to SCREETCHING...for fun (it is NOT fun...what do you do for that?!!!?)

He is basically theee most fun little boy EVER, and we are having SOOO much fun with him! 

For his birthday Miekka made him this DARLING Thomas cake (I ahem, helped a teensy bit, I made the tunnel and tracks and trees ;)) He loved it! (AND loved everyone singing him the birthday song!) 

He really got into presents this time around and had no trouble blowing out his candles on his own. We gave him a Balance Bike with a helmet, and a play kitchen with food etc. We feel so blessed to have this little man in our lives! 

Surprise! Baby Shower!!!

I know it's been FOUR months since I blogged...I've been busy, what can I say?! Life is so good, more on that later, for now I would like to share this amazing gift my sweet sweet sistee gave me last Saturday in celebration of the new little miss coming in a few (5) more weeks! Stephanie threw me a SURPRISE baby shower!!! Okay, first of all, it is HARD to surprise me, I always figure stuff out (drives my dear husband crazy;)) so keeping it all a secret from me was pretty amazing, and WONDERFUL!!!

John had taken me to the temple Saturday afternoon (Steph's instructions were simple and precise, that he needed to make sure our house was clean, and that he needed to get me out of the house for awhile, but it had to be to somewhere where I would get dressed up and be cute, lol (sweet sistee knew I would be embarrassed if my house was messy or if I wasn't looking/feeling cute...and let's be honest, it takes quite a bit to get me to get dressed in something besides stretchy pants these days! LOL!) So John took me to the Temple! It was WONDERFUL! when we came back, the house was full of people I LOVE, and decorated to the nines with all the CUTEST decor and shower festivities! Stephanie did it ALL on her own, all the food, decorations, etc! She did have a crew to help set up I am told (Thanks Jarom and JoAnna!). She got my reaction to the surprise on video HERE, lol :) And here are some pics of all the FUN!

 The lighting was kinda funny, but you get the gist, it was DARLING!!! Before anyone was able to eat, I needed a few moments to soak it all in! LOVE every. single. detail! Notice the doily garland???!!! The burlap bunting on the table is hard to see in this pic, but was SO darling, it was sewn onto eyelat lace!!! How creative and CUTE!?! 

 Tulle pom-pom's! Steph gave me all the decorations to have for baby's nursery :) LUCKY me! 

So in LOVE with the doily garland, definitely using this one again, sooo simple and perfect! Love all the layers...mmmm :) I kept telling Steph "If people saw this stuff on Pinterest, they would PIN IT!!!"

 

All the food was Gluten Free!!!! AMAZING!!! Lucky me, I haven't EVER been to any kind of social gathering where I could eat EVERYTHING offered! So thoughtful, and YUMMY!

 Scotcheroos :)

 FANCY fruit Kabobs and Fruit dip, to die for!!!

 Marshmallow pops, SO CUTE!!!

 

Fancy and cute veggie cups (btw, aren't the little food labels with the jute tied on soooo cute?!?!)

Rice Crsipie Treats, love the little flags! :)

 

Fancy Water bottles with cute paper and crystal light packets tied on...CLEVER!!! 

The party favors were SOOO cute, a cabachon ring tied onto a burlap packet of yummy jelly bean goodness! They were in a cute basket, but by the time I got to take pics, the basket was taken down :) 

Cutest Party guest :) (I made her seersucker ruffle skirt and bow :) Our little miss has a matching one :)

 Lia and Everett munching on their mallow-pops, Everett kept screaming "Ice-Keems!" in between bites :) 

(John and Jarom took Everett and Evelyn to James' house once the party started)

I felt SO loved by all these wonderful people in my life! We played a game where you put a paper plate on top of your head and try to draw a baby, and then I had to go through and pick the best drawing lol! My friend and Neighbor Shayla won :) It was a funny game! 

Party Fun

Taking a group shot would have been much better had I thought of it, but by the time I thought to take a picture or two with some peeps, half the crowd had already left! ...Look at the size of that Belly!! Woah. 

So spoiled with gifts for the little one! 

Me and Steph...I need to get sentimental here for a sec, so bare with me...

Stephanie is my best friend. She knows me better than anyone, and loves me still ;)

We spend as much time together as we possibly can, we spend a whole day together at LEAST once a week, taking our kiddos to the pool, or shopping, or crafting, on picnics, running errands, you name it. I love and cherish the time we get to spend together because I know we won't always live close and get to spend so much time together. Steph is beautiful, and hilarious, and honest, and the KINDEST human I know. truly. Life has handed her more than her fair share of trials and garbage, but she keeps a smile on her face, stays strong and lifts up everyone around her. I'm just sayin;, if you get to have a sister, you gotta hope she is as incredible as mine. 

 And as if throwing me this baby shower wasn't enough, she made me this Chevron Chenille blanket!!! 

CUUUTE!! 

 If you have never made a chenille blanket, you basically sew four layers of fabric together in narrow rows, and then cut the three bottom layers and wash it a bunch so the cut layers fluff up and become SUPER soft and snuggly, and Chenille! I made one of these for everett, and it took FOREVER, it was hard and a pain, and I knew my other kids would never get to have a chenille blanket because they are just too much work! Seriously, HOURS. Now, I made mine with STRAIGHT rows, which was hard enough, but the zig-zag patttern would take sooo much longer! Sew a little, pivot, sew a little, pivot, for all those zig zags...and THEN to cut it all?! My hands hurt just thinking about it! The point is, this thing is a TRUE labor of love! And I LOOOOVE it!!! 

 I cannot wait to snuggle our little baby in this luxe chenille goodness! 

So, The shower was amazing! It was fun and yummy and BEAUTIFUL and I felt SOOOO loved! 

Thanks a million times over Sistee, and everyone who came!

Now it's time to bring on the baby! Can't wait!

More updates, soon to come!