Daisy's blessing

Daisy was blessed by her daddy on July 18th.

She looked just beautiful in the dress I made for her.

It was a beautiful blessing and she is such a sweetie.

My Grandma McBride made this quilt she's laying on.

A picture of Michael and me...rare to get us both.

And, of course, Jack getting down on Daisy's level.

New Arrival

Daisy Jane is here! Here's the story: We scheduled with the hospital for me to be induced on June 3rd at 7:30am. We had been cleaning and moving and selling/getting rid of all our stuff the entire week/weekend previous. We officially moved to Prescott on Monday the 31st (me being 38 1/2 weeks pregnant). All of our belongings now fit into a bedroom (quite comfortably) in my father-in-law's house. After relaxing somewhat on Tuesday, we headed back up to Flagstaff on Wednesday (stopping on the way in Cottonwood to see Grandma Hummel and Grandpa Green). That evening we spent some time with friends. While chatting with the girls I started having good tight contractions pretty regularly. I didn't think too much of it because of my irritable uterus. I had Braxton-Hicks contractions for about half of this pregnancy, so I had determined to wait to declare labor until I was in some pain or my water broke. That night we stayed at the Radisson Hotel a stone's throw from where we had just moved from. Side note: I am now absolutely certain that I hate SleepNumber beds. They are so uncomfortable! I probably slept for about an hour total that night (between 5am and 6am). I had contractions all through the night. I timed them between 3:45am and 4:45am finding them to be between 4 and 7 minutes apart the whole time. I was pretty sure that I was in labor, but still tried to ignore it knowing that at least Michael was getting some coveted sleep.

After dropping Jack off at his best friend's home, we headed to the hospital arriving a little late for our 7:30 time-slot. The check-in questions took a few minutes and then we were taken to our room and I changed into my lovely hospital gown. My doctor checked me and gave me a dose of prostaglandin gel. My cervix was dilated to 4 cm and 80% effaced. Ten minutes after the prostaglandin gel dose I began to feel pain with each contraction. An hour later, we started walking around the hospital. About 15 minutes into the walking phase I was ready to get my epidural, but Michael pushed me to keep walking. We knew the epidural might slow down labor so we wanted to postpone it for a while. I was supposed to walk for an hour and then they would check my progress, but I called it quits 10 minutes short of that.

When my nurse came to start my I.V. she commented on my huge, excellent veins...she then proceeded to miss my vein (ouch!) with the needle. :) She got a different nurse to start my I.V. who got it right, but it was a little messy. My anesthesiologist came and (BLESS HIM!) the epidural was wonderful! Tingly...not what I expected. I promptly started falling asleep. Michael decided to go get some lunch, since we hadn't eaten yet. The nurse and doctor woke me up at 12:15 to check my progress. I was dilated to a 9 and fully effaced. The doc broke my water (which never seems to break on its own) and told me he would go get into his scrubs and in 5 minutes I would be pushing.

I called Michael to see what was taking him so long and to hurry him back for the birth. While I had been napping, Michael had gone to our friends and picked up Jack to take him to lunch. They all went to IHOP and ordered their meals. Mind you, Michael was starving so as the food approached I imagine his mouth was watering in great anticipation. As the server set the food down in front of him, his phone rang. I said, "You've got five minutes to get here...we're having a baby!" Ditching his delicious-smelling Rootie Tootie Fresh 'n' Fruity pancakes, he sped back to the hospital. Back at the hospital, the doctor came into my room and said, "Well, we've given him 15 minutes. Let's prep everything for you to push." I called Michael again to find him cruising the parking garage finding it absolutely full. He finally ended up parking by the emergency room entrance and hurrying to my room. Within 2 minutes of his arrival we had a baby.

Dad and Daisy shortly after birth.

Such a difference from my experience delivering Jack! With him, I pushed in sheer agony and pain for an hour and a half. With Daisy, I only had to push through one contraction. She was just so anxious to come! She let out some sweet little screams and we thrilled at our newest little addition to our family. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 9 oz. and measured 20 in. long. Her head was big, but not as big as Jack's huge noggin. I was thoroughly amazed at how much she reminded me of Jack though. They sure do look like siblings!

Jack kissing Daisy.

Shortly after giving birth, I ate a turkey sandwich. This is important to note because, for those of you who remember my fainting episode after giving birth to Jack, my body was exhausted and needed some nourishment. I was not about to make the same mistake and faint again. We made all the phone calls and sent text messages out to announce Daisy's arrival and then I took a much-needed nap.

Daisy and me ready to leave the hospital.

After wonderful visitors and 30 hours in the hospital, we headed home to Prescott.

She didn't really like the car seat.

Jack, Daisy, and me.

Jack stayed with Riley while we were in the hospital.

Best friends.

We've been loving and enjoying Daisy for 10 days now as I finish up this blog entry. She's a sweetheart and we just simply love her.

A stoopid mom.

Ok, so it's been a while since I updated my blog. Sorry, no excuse, I've just been lazy about it. Jack is being cuter than ever, but I haven't been taking many pictures...again, lazy. I am 36 1/2 weeks pregnant now and feeling it. Of course, if the doctor took my word for it, my due date would be in a few days, not a few weeks. Regardless, I think this baby is coming soon. I went to my doctor appointment yesterday and found out the discomfort is actually causing some change, which is good. I'm 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Sweeeeet! It's been nice for the last little while since Daisy has dropped. I can eat more! Always enjoyable. But I will tell you this: This baby needs to come soon because I am getting dumber and dummer. I seem to forget a lot of things lately...more than usual. I'm starting to lose my confidence because of being wrong so often. When talking to people, I struggle to come up with the most basic vocabulary. Instead of saying "Have fun fishing!" and "Have a good time fishing!", I find words coming out of my lips like "Have fishing!" and "Have a good time campi--errr, fishing!" Then when I go through the drive-thru at KFC, I sign the credit card paper to pay for my meal and proceed to give it to my friend in the car, instead of back to the cashier. It made for a good laugh. On Monday I spent a good few minutes looking for the diaper bag and asking others to help, only to have Michael point out that I was looking for a diaper bag that was slung over my shoulder the entire time I was looking for it....how embarrassing. These are just a few samples of the stupidity this pregnancy has afforded me. Let's just hope for my sake (and the sake of those around me) that this baby comes soon so that I can go back to being an intelligent person.

Shooting

We went shooting on Saturday with some friends. Jack absolutely LOVED playing in the dirt and rocks.

Right after I took this picture Riley went over and kicked Jack in the leg...I think her expression explains it all.

We played with sticks...

...dirt...

...rocks...

...more rocks...

...straws...

...and bottlecaps.

We also had a contest to see who could fall down the most times.

The moms took pictures...

while the boys set up Mr. Snowman and blew him up.

See Mr. Snowman on the left?

Now he is engulfed in flames.

Once there was a snowman...in the flames he melted.

We got some other good explosions. Here's Michael.

And Michael again.

And Pat....careful of this big explosion.

On the way home...

...looking dirty...

...wouldn't pose with Mom for a picture.

Daisy's Blessing Dress

So, I've finally finished crocheting Daisy's blessing dress. I had a lot of fun making this. So much fun that it only took me a few days to crochet it. I tried to find a bonnet pattern to match it, but after no success I decided she should just have a headband of some sort.

Front

Back with daisy button.

Laundry Hamper Entertainment

During General Conference, Jack found this laundry hamper...

...climbed inside...

...got trapped...

...but made the most of it!

And when he was finally free, he decided it wasn't so bad and climbed back in a few times!

Easter 2010

Jack's grandma sent him an Easter basket.

He was so nice to share with me.

And enjoyed it himself...

The Easter bunny also visited me with an Elmo basket. Michael filled me in on why the Easter bunny doesn't bring him anything on Easter. Apparently one year Michael tried to catch the Easter bunny and, instead, only caught his toe. This also explains why the Easter bunny is quite clumsy (toes affect balance so much!).

Jack also got some of these body paints from Grandma for Easter. The kids are supposed to be able to paint on themselves and it rinses right off. I don't recommend them. They work kind of like roll-on deodorant, but they don't paint very well. Fun idea, but not executed well.

Another thing I did to celebrate Easter was to make these wanna-be Reese's eggs. They tasted most delicious. I shared them with some friends at a Killer Bunnies game night. Thanks to Janina for taking a picture of them. She also made some yummy treats:

Chow mein nests.

And my personal favorite, "deviled" eggs.