Made by Memilyrae

Whoa…I almost forgot to post the ‘first day of school’ picture! I would have been frowned upon as a lazy mom! LOL

Spencer started Kindergarten at Reagan Academy last Monday. He attended Kindergarten Jumpstart during the summer so going to Kindergarten was ‘no big thang.’ He loves school, his teacher and his classmates already. He is doing great with his sight words and Steve and I have been ‘quizzing’ him with math (addition) and he’s doing great! He doesn’t use his fingers unless it’s a big number so I’m super impressed! He’s doing great practicing his lower case letters (we previously only did upper case) and does his homework without fussing. He loves to tell me about what they did in class, including how many happy face stamps he received and that there were 2 other kids that got the same number and 1 that got more. (Happy/straight/frowny face stamps indicate how they behave daily.) He’s learning the names of his classmates and which ones he plays soccer with during recess. They have snack time every day, including milk or chocolate milk. They work at stations on occasion working on letters, art, or math. They even got to go outside to do a nature hunt and he found everything on the list except for the bee (it was a chilly day so they were probably staying warm in their hives!)

I love how much Spencer is loving school, how great Steve is working with him on his sight words (with a computer game as incentive…but just to watch Steve play LOL) and how great Spencer is doing!

Evie took an 8 (really 9) week dance class this summer with a lady from Aunt Netty’s ward. Miss Kelly is super nice and is really good at working with the little girls. She always has a neat thing to pretend to get the girls to do dance steps. For ‘shuffle step’ she has them pretend to kick a quarter (or other coin), but then kick it back and stomp on it. With ‘first position’ the girls’ heals are kissing, but their toes don’t like each other, etc etc etc. Really cute stuff and the girls follow it very well.

After the 8/9 weeks of practice, Miss Kelly put on a big recital. There are 3 age groups that she taught and each of them performed. The music for the littlest group (Evie’s) would not do the words, just the music, so the girls were not sure what to do. Evie refused to go on stage. She was scared and there was a large crowd. I tried convincing her to go up there, promising to be on stage on the side, bribing her with chocolate kisses, and even guilting her about wasting money on dance class when she won’t show daddy what she learned. I feel really bad about trying to guilt her…especially because she is little and it was a big crowd and no matter what I had told her before hand to prepare her, I’m sure it was still really scary to her. See the #2 position between the girls in the picture below? Yeah…that’s where Evie was supposed to be.

Instead we were in the hallway looking like this:

Miss Kelly decided to put on a little dance recital for the littlest girls in the studio where they practiced. And the music had the words! Evie was great! She wasn’t nervous and she followed the teacher’s instructions very well. Spencer took all the pictures and I had my phone doing video recording. I’m so sad though! They did “Do your ears hang low?” and “Little Bunny FooFoo” – Evie is SO good at Little Bunny FooFoo and my phone only recorded 3 seconds of it! So I’m bummed because I didn’t get it on video. 🙁 Sadness!

Here’s Evie giving me thumbs up!

the Continental Soldier (“Do Your Ears Hang Low?”)

Little Bunny FooFoo (Spencer did a great job taking pictures, don’t you agree?)

One of the little girls came late so they re-did “Do Your Ears Hang Low?”

Evie in her costume

Spencer was proud of his little sister and wanted a picture with her.

Last Saturday we were trying to decide what to do…we haven’t had a full day with nothing planned for quite a while! Steve thought it would be fun to head to Salt Lake…let the kids ride on the Trax Train and spend the day at Temple Square. Sounded good to me! We called and invited Steve’s parents to come with us and we’re so glad they did!

We parked in Sandy, got our tickets (Wahoo! $12 for 4 adults versus $5.50 each adult!) and tried to not get blown over! The wind was insane! Evie was a bit scared when she wasn’t holding hands with daddy…she thought she was going to get blown away. I strapped Garrett in the snuggly backpack and we waited for the train to leave. The kids LOVED the train! It’s a 35 minute (ish) ride from Sandy to Temple Square and it wasn’t too bumpy.

(unfortunately the picture I took of daddy and Evie did not copy over along with 4 other photos)

We hadn’t had lunch (but we had a late breakfast) so we were ready to eat around 3:30. We went to a restaurant across from the Trax platform where we got off to eat. After that we went to an LDS history museum (I don’t remember the name). They had many neat things and we only saw a section of it before the kids were needing fresh air. Next we went to Temple Square and I ran into a girl who just started her mission about a week or two ago and will be heading to LA this Wednesday. We also ran into our neighbor who was at the Temple for his cousin’s wedding.

At one point I called to Spencer and Evie “Hold up you two!” and as I did, two sister missionaries were walking by, paused and turned to look at me. I said “sorry…not YOU two!” We had a good laugh!

We went over to the Conference Center and took the tour…even though I’m sure we’ve taken the tour 4, 5, or more times. You always learn something new every time you go, plus the people giving the tours are super nice. Mom Shaw’s feet were tired so they offered her a wheel chair (I almost asked for one too!) and Evie decided to help push and get a ride throughout the tour. At this point Garrett went to the bathroom in his diaper (which was a size too big) and it went down his leg and onto my jeans. At least it was only pee!

Yep, that’s right. I have a 3 week old. I’m not sure how you feel, but 3 weeks have flown by so quickly! Possibly because I still don’t feel like I’ve got a good handle on getting everything in order…Spencer to kindergarten, Evie to preschool (starts next week), sleep, nursing, and getting to know all the cues this little man gives us. The nice thing is that Spencer and Evie have been so great! They *usually play great together, let me sleep if I’m tired, and help get things if I can’t.

Garrett is a lot more vocal now than he’s been in the past. Like most babies, it’s the ‘feed me I’m hungry’ or ‘change me I’m poopy’ or ‘help me I’m gassy’ cry…which we’re fine with…but boy has he gotten loud! And he still sounds like he’s a cat half the time! LOL Can’t you just hear how loud he is in this picture?

Garrett will sleep great during the day and then decide he wants to be awake for a few hours when I’m ready to sleep and then I have to struggle to stay awake while he is. But, none of that bothers me TOO much cause he is such a little cutie pie! I seriously still love to just stare at him and kiss him all over his head. Like my Mom-in-law says, I just want to squeeze him to butter! LOL Plus I love watching him sleep…his chubby little cheeks, his cute little hands….all of it!

Spencer and Evie are getting really good at taking pictures and getting their pictures taken.

When Garrett’s belly button stump thing finally fell off we gave him his first bath in the sink. He loved it. He didn’t scream or cry at all. He loves the water.

I took a picture of his foot prints to keep them digitally…

And Little Miss Evie is so cute and goofy….here’s the proof!

Before Church (2 weeks old)

At his 2 week appointment. 9 lbs 0.5 oz and 21 1/4 inches

He’s awake!

And back to sleep

Yay! We’re making progress! I decided tonight to get Garrett started with the shield and then take it away…and guess what! He latched on and nursed!!! Then I tried on the other side and it worked!!!

Look how sweet he is!!!!

I saw these and thought they were awesome! Steve loved them too. So I bought them. he he he.  They are AK47 bullet ice cube trays. how cool is that?

Spencer starts Kindergarten on Monday. KINDERGARTEN! He’ll be gone for 3 hours, 5 days a week. He had so much fun at Jumpstart and I know he’s going to LOVE regular Kindergarten. At Meet the Teacher night last night he got a list of sight words so I thought I’d FINALLY get around to making these fun sliders that I saw on Serving Pink Lemonade.

I made mine just a tiny bit different…I made notches on both ends of the skinny paint samples so when I put them through the holes of the larger sample, they would not fall out. That way I can keep them together and not have to worry as much with them being all over the house.

I wish I would have used an exacto knife, but what’s done is done and they turned out just fine.

I had to bend the skinny sample just a little to get them in the holes. They’re staying in just fine though, so that’s good news.

And I used her sample as well as the sight words Spencer received from school to write down the beginning sounds and the ending sounds.

Sorry for the dark images…I’m crafting on my bed while Little G sleeps in his bassinet. Here they are:

So I’m not completely “feeling” these pages yet, but once I pull out my external hard drive with more digi scrapping stuff I will probably change it up a bit. Until then, these will have to do. 🙂 I might make it a 1 page instead of 2 page spread…but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

It’s true…our newest addition is already 1 week old. I cannot believe how fast it went by! And it’s definitely been a learning experience for our little family but luckily we’ve all been managing fairly well. The kids don’t pay Garrett much attention unless he’s awake, which is usually in the evening. They are very helpful giving him his binkie and for helping me reach things when I’m feeding Garrett or changing his diaper. They are still doing well playing together when I’m still asleep and except for those moments of ‘he/she is trying to kill me.’

Steve is wonderful! He’s been helping juggle the other two kiddos when Garrett needs my attention. What’s nice is that Garrett will take a bottle so I can give Steve a break from the older 2 and he can spend some time with Garrett – who is a little less of a handful at the moment. It’s so cute watching Steve talk to Garrett. And I love how Garrett focuses on him when he recognizes Steve’s voice. It’s so sweet!

Garrett is a really good baby so far. He lets me lay him down while he sleeps – either in the swing or in the bassinet (which is more than my other 2 let me do) – and does’t cry when he has a wet or dirty diaper (which the other 2 freaked once it was a little wet). Now, he DOES cry when I change his diaper … I’m guessing in part because I do not warm up the wipes … and if he’s hungry and I’m not feeding him fast enough. Which, when it comes to nursing, takes a few more steps than a ‘regular’ nursing baby. The nurses at the hospital are assuming his sucking reflex is farther back in his mouth so getting him to nurse on me is proving a hard task. We have to use the nipple shield to reach the sucking reflex but because he has to suck to start the milk flow, and the nipple shield just doesn’t cut it, I have to use a ‘teaser bottle’ of formula or previously pumped milk to drip into his mouth and on the shield to get him even interested in sucking. So. Fun.   BUT, he is nursing so I’m happy. And one day we’ll get past the nipple shield and get things rolling on an easier and more enjoyable pattern. He’s such a good kid though!

Steve has gone back to work and let’s just say I’m not sure how well I’m going to handle mornings when school starts. Right now I’m up 1 – 2 times a night to feed Garrett and then I bring him to bed (usually around 7:30 or 8:00) so I can cuddle and get a little more shut eye..and we usually end up waking up around 10 or 10:30. Nice, right? Well, with Spencer needing to be at school at 8:15 and Evie needing to be at school at 8:30, those extra cuddling times will have to be postponed until an afternoon nap or MAYBE the few hours between school drop off and pick up…but I doubt I’ll do that unless I’m super duper tired. Yeah…school should be fun! LOL

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Oh, I forgot to post pictures from when we were able to bring Garrett home. He had ‘baby rash’ (aka baby acne) on his cheeks and they must of really been bugging him because it made his cheeks all read and even a little swollen! He looked like a reversed raccoon and it was just sad to look at. He had beautiful skin when he was born, and he has beautiful skin now…but the day he came home he just looked sad. Kind of reminds me of the allergy scene from Hitch. Remember that one?

***Warning: Written throughout the days spent in the hospital***

Steve got his wish! It’s 8/9/10 and we’re being induced. 🙂

At 5:50 am we called the hospital to see if I was still scheduled to come in at 6:30- which we were and of course, we were running late. But, on the way up another woman came in much farther along so we were pushed back by a half hour – so it worked out perfectly. After 30 minutes of fetal heartbeats and contraction tracking (which I wasn’t feeling) I was checked…STILL dilated to a 1. Hmph.  Dr Young is guessing a 7 1/2 lb baby, which i’d be happy with especially since the ultrasound said 8 lb 8 oz.

9:00 am – IV in, potocin going…man I hate needles. Not only breaking the skin but getting pushed into the vein. Ugh. The monitors say I’ve been having about 4 contractions within 10 minutes and I think I just felt one….not painful, just a harder tummy.

9:10 am – my doctor decided to help things along so they just broke my water (Dr Wolf did it since he was here at the hospital already). It’s funny because I can now tell when I have a contraction…I have a little gush of water tell me so 🙂

10:50 am – I’m feeling a lot of contractions now…and they’re getting uncomfortable…I think we’re getting closer to epidural time

11:48 am – epidural done. I actually looked at the needle too. Doctor Jones did great! A little bee sting and then a few weird popping and tugs and then he administered the drugs. Its so strange having movement in your legs but having a total feeling of “my foot’s asleep”. Compared to my epidural with Spencer I was able to lay down instead of sitting up trying to curl in a ball…which is hard to do if you have a baby in the way! After he was done cleaning up, we flipped sides to change sheets and the baby’s heartbeat dropped. I have  an oxygen mask and they are monitoring my blood pressure. Good news – I’m dilated to a 4…which is how far I was when I got the epidural with Spencer. Guess I know my pain tolerance – a 4!  🙂

(that’s a self portrait…please, keep all comments to yourself! LOL)

12:20 pm – catheter is in. Yay. Oxygen mask off. Leg numbness weird! But no pain, just pressure…I’m still at a 4 and I’m ready for a nap!

1:00 pm the nurses (Cheryl or Hope) have to re-adjust the baby’s monitor every once in a while. He plays hide and seek with them so their alarms go off every time he’s far enough away from the monitor and his heartbeat is no longer registering.

1:45 pm it’s funny being able to lift your leg up using your hip, but it also being numb enough that your leg falls right back to the bed. I’m kicking Steve out to go get something for lunch. He’s cute – making sure I’m alright, not wanting to leave the room even though I’m pretty positive I won’t be having a baby in the next 30 minutes.

3:00 pm funny thing about that last sentence. Steve went to the car where he had a snack and drink waiting for him. After he got back the nurse came in and said I was fully effaced and ready to push…that is as soon as Doctor Young arrived. 🙂 So much for ‘not having the baby in the next 30 minutes’!!! Looks like I went from a 4 to a 10 and fully effaced within 2 hours (11:45-ish the epidural was done, 2:30-ish our baby was born)

We chatted a bit with Kristy (head nurse maybe?), she checked to see where I was, and I kept my legs closed! Lol! Our Doc arrived, got my “numb butt” (his joke, not mine)in position and my legs in the stirrups and the pushing started. It all happened very quickly…2 full contractions and on the 3rd, he was out with the cord wrapped loosely around his neck, which they just undid without trauma or drama. 🙂 It was great because in between each contraction we were all laughing and joking and it was all very laid back. Very interesting to say the least! They cleaned him, weighed and measured and took vitals so I could see and I got finished doing the labor thing. (the more disgusting details shall not be listed here for the sake of anyone who actually reads this thing!)

Steve went with him to the nursery and eventually the nurses brought him back to be with us. His cute little hat would NOT stay on – so Steve decided to wear it. Cute, huh?

We had Spencer & Evie come spend time with him – each getting their turn to hold him. Evie held him for a few minutes and then decided he was too heavy. Spencer didn’t want to give him up. We mentioned to Steve’s parents that we’re still not dead-set on Garrett and both of the kids said they now LIKE the name…especially, in Spencer’s own words, they both talk too much! (there’s a youth in our ward named Garrett that we get along with really well…originally Spencer said we couldn’t name the baby Garrett because of the ‘naughty boy’ at church. LoL!) I had a check up and my first trip to the restroom (remember that whole numb butt/legs thing? yeah…that took a little longer to clear up than I thought!) We made many phone calls and sent out texts and had some more local family come to visit.

We kept him with us until 1:30 am, where attempt after attempt to get him to nurse has failed. He just won’t open his mouth! The nurse, Ashlee, is seeing if he even has the sucking motion down or not…now it’s 3:30 am. Seems like he has the sucking motion, just a little farther back. We tried using a nipple shield (which I hated with Evie) and he made a few sucking motions. Oh, and the dirty diaper didn’t help him want to eat either. Right now they are doing some repiratory tests on him…I guess flaring your nostrils can sometimes be a sign of respiratory issues.

5:00 am (8/10/10) they’ve watched him and let him (and us) sleep but we still get those few interruptions every 2 hours.

most of 8/10 was spent trying to nurse him, getting a tiny bit of progress and then after 30-45 minutes letting him end with a bottle of formula. Even the nurse who’s the best at getting babies to nurse said “Little Buckwheat is just lazy!” and I agree! He’ll suck on a binkie, a bottle, a finger, a nipple shield (but not enough to start the milk flow) and even a tube but he won’t on the nipple. we’re taking it 1 feeding at a time and praying he’ll get the hang of it.