Merry Christmas 2010

Here we are again, almost another year done! This time last year it was just Madilyn and me here in Phoenix. We were preparing to move back to OK and prepare for Matt's homecoming from his first deployment. Now, we're blessed to be together as a family of four!

The last year has been full of many new and exciting changes (and additions!). We had a homecoming, survived an ice storm, moved to Los Angeles, and welcomed Grace.....just to name a few.

Once again we've come back to Phoenix for Christmas. The girls and I have been here since December 12th, and Matt joined us on the 18th. We're in our last week and getting ready to head back to LA on Sunday, January 2nd.

We have enjoyed our time with family and friends. Madilyn has spent countless hours jumping on the trampoline. We made Christmas cookies. We played at the park. But most importantly, we've had to opportunity to spend time with so many people so dear to our hearts.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Two Weeks

Well, time continues to fly by faster than I can ever imagine. Grace is two weeks old today and doing GREAT!

She's been a wonderful baby from the start. Her jaundice has cleared up and I can already tell she's growing rapidly. Madilyn wore preemie clothes for the first 6 weeks and newborn for several weeks after that. Grace never fit in preemie and has already outgrown her newborn attire.

We have her two week well baby visit scheduled for tomorrow night, so I'll come back and update her stats then. Last week, at her one week visit, she had already made it (almost) back to her birth weight (she weighed in at 7lbs 6oz). The pedi said they like to have babies back at birth weight by 2 weeks and she did it in half the time! Can't wait to see what they say tomorrow :)

Termites?!?!?

Here's a quick peek at our house last weekend. Oy.

We moved out Friday, back in on Monday. We've been so busy trying to clean after they fumigated. Sure hope we don't have to do this again while we're here!

Grace Alexandria

The short version:
Grace Alexandria made her grand entrance into the world on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 8:03pm. She weighed in at seven pounds, seven ounces and 19.5 inches. She is a happy, healthy, little girl!

The long version:
With contractions coming and going in no regular pattern all weekend, my mom decided to head for LA on Halloween day. She thought Miss Grace might be trying to make her way out sometime soon and we didn't want her to miss it! Halloween evening we had our normal neighborhood potluck where people continued to ask "so, ready for that baby yet?". Well, of course! But my answer was simply this, "Grace can come anytime after tonight. Tonight she needs to stay inside so madilyn can go trick or treating with her daddy. He missed this last year when he was deployed." Well, I guess little Grace was listening!

As I went to bed that night, I had no idea what was about to come :) I woke around 2am on Monday with some contractions and general discomfort. Like the other times, I figured it was all a game and I'd be able to settle in again soon. Wrong! I never did get back to sleep. By 4am the contractions were coming every 3 minutes. I didn't want to wake anyone, so I got up and walked through the house, labored on my birthing ball, and just tried to focus through each contraction. I even sat down and checked my e-mail for a bit.

By 730 or so, we finally decided maybe the contractions weren't going to stop after all. I was not in an immense amount of pain and continued to go about things between the contractions. We called my Aunt Kathleen to come and stay with Madilyn while we went to the hospital to see about having a baby...

We got to the hospital around 11am. I was 4cm, 80% effaced, and still contracting every 3 minutes. Since we knew I'd need antibiotics during labor, they moved us into a laboring room and the fun began.

After my initial dose of IV antibiotics had run their course, I was allowed out of the bed to labor in the whirlpool tub. The jets felt great and the contractions were very tolerable. In between being monitored, I also walked the halls.

A little after 5 one of my OB's associates came in to break my water. I was 6cm and he couldn't believe how calm I was without an epidural. Apparently the epidural rate is very high at the hospital and the docs and nurses were in awe that I had chosen to go without. Not too long after my water was broken, (maybe 45 min?) the contractions started coming on HARD. I was doing my best to breathe through them, my mom and Matt placed counter pressure on my back to help with the pain, and they both continued to offer words of support and encouragement.

I changed positions many times during the next two hours. Rolling from one side to the other, using the squatting bars, standing, etc, to get Grace to come down and get ready to push. Once I was fully dilated, I began to push. I pushed through 5 or 6 contractions, and Grace alexandria was born at 8:03pm. The pushing phase of this labor was certainly harder than my last, but the recovery has been so much better! Thanks to an excellent delivery team, I didn't tear at all! Hooray for no stitches and minimal pain by the next day!

Madilyn was allowed to come in Tuesday afternoon to meet her new little sister and snuggle up with Mommy. I know it was only a day, but I sure missed her! She's been a great big sister and when Grace cries, Madilyn replies, "don't cry baby, it's okay, I love you baby Grace." What a little sweetheart.

Because all went so well, the doctors let us leave the hospital after 24 hours, and we were able to come home and sleep in our own beds last night!

Without any more, the pictures you're all waiting for :)

How do you.....

encourage a creative, artistic spirt in your little one?

A challenging question sometimes as I find myself getting wrapped up in my chores. Lately, I've been reminding myself to focus more on Madilyn, and helping her to express her creativity.

She LOVES art. In all forms. Sit her down with a coloring book and crayons and she'll color for quite a while. Especially with someone by her side. Hey, things are more fun as a team! She's also gotten better at staying within the lines. Something I'm quite impressed by at only two and a half! I've recently been searching out various fall and winter projects for her to help with. We're going to try and make most of our holiday decorations this year now that she's at the age where she understands. I think it's going to be lots of fun!

We also encourage her to help dress herself, even if the color combination might not always be something mommy or daddy would have pick out ourselves. For Madilyn, this usually means leggings of some sort and  any one of her shirts. She's not too picky about the shirts. But, we can forget the most important part of her outfit.....a tutu! Yes, our little gal has declared that she is in fact a ballerina and must wear her tutu not matter what else she is wearing. She only takes it off for sleep. I love it.

This blog post was actually inspired by the new artist series diapers put out recently by bumGenius. They are manufactured by Cotton Babies and they have been our favorite diapers since we started cloth diapering when Madilyn was 9 months! (And let me just tell you how excited I am about an itty bitty in cloth soon!!!!) Anyway, this first collection is just the first in a series BumGenius will be releasing. I think it's great that they are giving independent artists a chance to place their creativity into such a wonderful product.

So what about you, what do you do to encourage your little one's creative and artistic spirit???

Pregnancy Update

Since I have neglected to post about baby #2 for quite some time now, I'll do my best to play catch up.

When we got to San Pedro, I was assigned to a doc at a local office. She was nice. Nothing "special", but I thought she'd be alright anyway (it's hard to find a doc you really love....especially when you really loved your last one! The bar just gets raised.). The office informed me that she delivers at two hospitals, both in Long Beach, CA. I thought, "Okay, not too bad, LB is only 12 miles away and I'm sure the hospitals are great." I continued to focus on moving in and getting settled.

Well, a few weeks ago Matt and I went in for our hospital tour. It didn't take us long to see that this was NOT the hospital for us! The rooms were small, dirty, and policies were more than dated. I really wasn't comfortable with how much control they wanted to take over OUR birth (not theirs!) and baby. Way too many places Matt wouldn't be allowed to go with me or baby. I could write them all out, but lets just say it was bad news.

The other hospital wasn't an option for me either.  While researching, I found this hospital to have one of the top NICUs and look pretty high tech. But that's just it. I don't want high tech. I don't want every intervention coming my way unless it's actually needed. I also don't want to share a recovery room.

So, I did what anyone would do at 33 weeks.....panic! Here I was just weeks from my due date and suddenly feeling out of control about the delivery. Luckily, I had spoken with a neighbor of mine a few weeks prior who had great things to say about her OB. On our way home from the tour, we stopped by her house and got the info for this new doc. I knew changing wasn't going to be easy though. I called my primary care doc and requested a referral to the new OB. Once that was settled, I called to schedule an appointment. Uh oh, more bumps in the road....

Turns out I was so far along, she wanted all of my records to review before she would consider seeing me! Yikes! I knew I was cutting it close and scrambled to get my records to her as quickly as possible. Yesterday, I finally received word that she's accepting me! Woohoo!!!! So, I have my first appointment with her on the 14th. (Never-mind that I'll be 35.5 weeks along at that point...)

Anyway, I'm really hoping I like this one! The change is good for many reasons, really. This change means we're going to be delivering in Torrance. I've decided on Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance. Location wise, it is about 9 miles from our house. Torrance is also halfway between Matt's work and our home. This is great because if I were to need him to meet me at the hospital, he could get there much faster!

So there it is. I've got 5.5 weeks to go until our due date. CRAZY.  Any way you look at it, we'll be meeting this next little one soon. I'm so excited!

And just for fun...

ABCs

A Busy Week!

Phew! The last several days have been a whirlwind of motion around here.... and we've loved every bit of it!

The hustle and bustle started last week with Matt's "TDY" to Anaheim. He didn't have to stay overnights there thankfully, but with the commute and conference hours, he was gone quite a bit!

Wednesday my good friend Heather arrived for a visit! She had a big exam to take here in LA and was able to spend a few extra days with us. It was so wonderful to spend some time with her again. It's been harder and harder to get together as we've gotten older, but I suppose that is all a part of growing up right? Anyway, Friday night we had burgers at Islands, saw a movie, and picked up super yummy frozen yogurt on the way home. Saturday morning was spent at the farmers market in Torrance. I love going to the farmers market! Then it was farewell as she went to spend some time with family (and Mickey!).  Heather, I had a fabulous time and hope you did too!


Saturday afternoon Don, Sandy, and Melody all arrived. Just in time for Sandy's birthday! We celebrated with yummy grilled steaks, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, and of course, chocolate birthday cake!

On Sunday the Merritt clan (minus Madilyn and myself) went to Six Flags in Valencia. I think they had a good time. They sure were exhausted when they made it home last night :) Madilyn and I kept busy by spending the morning at the park with a new friend. The girls played chase, had lots of time swinging, blowing bubbles, and flying kites. Then we took a good long nap all afternoon!

This morning we took a beautiful drive along the coast and stopped for a little walk along the cove. It was a beautiful 64 degrees. Madi really liked tossing pebbles into the ocean with Matt and seeing all the puppies. Shortly after, we had to say goodbye to everyone as they started the drive back into Arizona.

Thanks again to all of our visitors! We had a wonderful time with each and every one of you and hope we'll see you again soon!

Imagination Avenue

Today Madilyn and I met up with our friends Ali and Cameron at Imagination Avenue in Phoenix. What a cute little place! It's 3500 square feet of toddler heaven. They have several different "stops" the kids can play in. Anything from a dress up room, to a grocery store, jail, and kitchen. The kids had a great time and Ali and I were able to catch up!

I just love watching their little imaginations hard at work. What fun to see them growing up more and more every day :)

Putting on a puppet show:

In Jail!

Grilling. She told me, "look Mama, I do it, I do it like Daddy!"

Welcome to the third trimester!

Yikes! I'm already into my third trimester!!! We've been so busy with moving and getting settled, the weeks have really been passing quickly. This little one is sure active, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm now just 9 weeks away from where I was when Madilyn was born....CRAZY.....

I took my gestational diabetes test 2 weeks ago and haven't heard anything, so I'm guessing I passed. Thank goodness too..... that drink was gross! I'd compare it to flat, stale sprite, with an extra cup of sugar mixed in. Yeah. They give you five minutes to down ten ounces. And this is first thing in the morning!

Other than that, things seem to be progressing well. My appetite is slowly decreasing as my stomach gets pushed farther and farther up to make room for Grace. I'm not sleeping well anymore, but I anticipated that day would come. I'm out pretty cold until 3 or 4, and then I just toss. I roll from one hip to the other most of the night and by 3 or 4 they are just aching too bad to get comfy again. Add to that having to pee for or five times and night and well, you get the picture :)

And speaking of getting the picture, here's the the belly at the start of the third trimester!

Just Like Daddy!

Madilyn loves to make the same faces as Matt. This is one of her favorite games to play with him (as well as ring around the rosie and chase...). Here's a fun little strip of the two being silly together.

A Toddler Vacation

During the move, Madilyn stayed behind in Arizona to party like only a toddler could with her Grandmas and Grandpas (and her Aunt Melody and Uncle Cole of course!)

Grandpa Don made a yummy breakfast before we left on Saturday morning. Megan stopped by to join in the fun as well. She and Madi had a great time.

Just before leaving, Don got a few pictures of Me, Megan, and Madilyn on the steps.

I don't know they full story behind most of the photos to follow, but here are some of my favorites from her week with the Merritts.

Friday evening she left to spend some time with Grammy Sam, Grandpa Scott and Uncle Cole. Here she is having dinner. Looks like she worked up quite an appetite that day!

She did lots of swimming during her week in the valley of the sun. She sure has a better tan than the rest of us now! Here she is swimming with Grammy.

And because I couldn't help it, a picture of her hair in little braids. I never have learned how to do this!

Thanks again to everyone for giving Madi such a fun vacation! She hasn't stopped talking about you since he got home!!!

"See you later"

I'm not very good with "goodbye".

This last week has certainly been a whirlwind of insanity, to say the least. As I write this, I am already in California.

The last three years have been a real time of growth for me personally, as well as for our little (growing) family. Little did we know that being sent to Altus would be a blessing in disguise. Sure we went kicking and screaming. I mean, don't most people? But, We found a fabulous support system there. Wonderful friends and a really great community that will both be missed. Am I excited to be closer to our families and in a big city again? You bet! But I also know you'll never forget those who touched your lives while you were there.

Madilyn and I both were very blessed with such a great group of girlfriends. I mean, who would have thought we'd all have babies at the same time and we'd all have girls? Then, to make it better, who would have thought we would all "mesh" so well? Madilyn is still talking about Maddy, Bella, and Eva. I know that even at just two years old, they made a difference in her life too.

I know this post is all over the place. I guess I'm not very good at keeping my thoughts together today. Just wanted to thank you girls for everything and wish you the best. I certainly hope our paths will cross again someday.  So, as I was once told.....in the military it is never "goodbye" but always "see you later". You never know where you'll end up next.

We all had a great time in our final days. Here is a short video of the girls laughing and playing together (as always!) the day before we left.



And here is one of us mamas (we're missing Tara, she had already left for her summer vacation).

She's a big girl!

Ah, potty training....... :)

I really had some mixed feeling about how this was going to go. In fact, with how little she's been interested in using the potty, I thought she might just end up having her little sister train her.....

BUT, last Saturday she decided she was interested in the potty again, and we ran with it. I'm so happy to say that it has been almost 2 weeks since she was in a diaper (other than for sleep)!!!!! I'm so proud of her :)

The only down side was being woken up 4 times last night by a little girl who needed to go potty. Guess it's time to start limiting the fluids in the evenings and pushing them in the morning.

Yay Madilyn!

Almost....

Almost halfway done with this pregnancy already! It sure felt like my pregnancy with Madilyn didn't go nearly as fast!

We had our big ultrasound today and there was no denying it, baby #2 is a GIRL. Madilyn is going to have a little sister!!!!!

Unfortunately, while baby kept showing us her gender, she appears to want to stay in hiding until D day, since she would not give us ANY profile pictures. So, no ultrasound pics this time. Everything looks great and she was very active in there....just a little camera shy :)

And in the spirit of updating, here's how I'm looking these days.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day to Matt and all of the other Dads out there! You are loved and appreciated!

Today it was Matt's request to go hiking. He's been asking us for a while now and something would always come up. So, today was the day. We went out near the wildlife refuge and had a wonderful time. The scenery was beautiful and Madilyn even got to see a few buffalo up close. I will admit, they're a little intimidating in such close proximity!

After our hike we had lunch and naps. Then we spend the rest of the afternoon and early evening hanging out and the pool and grilled up dinner. I think Matt had a great day and I know we did too :)

Splashing Through Summer

First, let me just say, how is June already more than half over???? This summer is going by SO fast! Slow down summer!!!

Tonight we had a fun time hanging out at the toddler pool on base with Madilyn's great girlfriends Madeline and Eva. She was so excited to hit the pool and after arrived and I told her the girls were going to be there....she couldn't get to the pool fast enough. These girls really are just the best of friends. Julie got a few great pics and even a video, so of course I have to share!

Impromptu Play Date

Yesterday evening, we had the pleasure of watching Isabella for a bit while Natalie was busy. She came just in time for dinner and fun!

The girls were too cute encouraging one another to eat all their food. After dinner we washed them up and set them free. Boy did they ever have fun! They spent forever chasing one another around the house screaming with delight. Then they'd change directions of one another. As they'd bump into each other they'd pause and say, "huuuuuuuuug" and give each other a hug before continuing to play chase. So adorable!!!!!

I didn't catch too many pics but here are a few.

We sure are blessed to have such great girlfriends out here.

Summertime Playdates

Now that the warm weather is officially upon us, we had some of our girlfriends over for a toddler sized "pool party". I filled up the blow up pool out back, set up the new pirate ship water play table, and pulled the other outdoor toys around to make a fun play area for all the girls. While they played, splashed, and giggled away, us mommies got to hang by the water and chat :)

After pool time we took the party inside for some mac n cheese, Sonoma Chicken Salad, fresh fruit salad, and brownies!

Here are a few outtakes of the girls eating up.

Thanks again for coming Julie and Natalie! Hope to do it again before the move. We're going to miss you!!!