Up late

So, I'm up late... Jer's out running his last long run before his marathon on Saturday, and the baby should be waking up any minute to eat again... so I didn't think it was worth while to go to bed yet.  (I already started another load of laundry, washed the bottles, fed the dog, etc... I should do the dishes but I'm being rebellious.)  I thought I'd post some pictures. 

Evelyn's billi levels have come down far enough that she didn't have to be on her light bed today... she went from 18.5 to 12.5 in the last couple of days... I have to get her tested tomorrow too though to see if they have kept going down on their own or if we have to put her back on the bed.  Cross your fingers!

And I've been wanting to do an official newborn photoshoot with her too, but since she's supposed to have been on the light bed every day since I've felt good enough to take pictures we only have a couple of pictures.  I'm hoping to get a couple more now that she's off the lights.  Here's what we've got. (There are a couple of variations of the same pictures... sorry, I'm boring, I know.)

Evelyn Joy

We did it!  Had baby #3.  She fits in too... you can tell we're all related here.  She has Jer's thick dark hair, dark eyes, and Sammy's double cow lick.  She also has Ada's round little face... and she may even have Janelle's nose...

Thanks all who've watched kids and cleaned house for me!  You are amazing!  And I hope that I can help out just as much or more when it's your turn for a need! 

Well, we went to the hospital at 7am to be induced... after me sleeping most of the day (I love epidurals) I was finally a 6 by about 10:45pm... and ready to deliver a half hour after that.  Only 15 minutes of pushing this time too!  (even with the doctor being called out in the middle to go help someone else...) They had me stop pushing halfway through as well because she had the cord wrapped around her neck... that's two out of the three kids now.  They got her out, sewed me up, and I fell asleep on the delivery table.  Hmmm... wasn't tired was I?  She's a little jaundiced but she's beautiful and we love her!  She was 8 lbs 3 oz.  20 inches.  and born at 11:28pm.  (16 1/2 hour labor this time... do you think I'm getting better at this?)  She was all folded in half.  It was pretty funny.  My mom said that if she didn't see her come out she would have thought that she was a breech baby because she doesn't just curl up like the other babies, but she sticks her feet straight up and around her ears.  So far the kids both love her and ask to help her with things.  I'm so glad!  I was so worried that Sammy would have a hard time, but he offers her things like binkies and toast.  And when I asked Ada what she thought of Evelyn she said, "Mommy, I think she's lovely."  And when we brought her home... Ada didn't even say hi to me, she just said, "Where's baby Evelyn?"

Just seconds after being born... my first view of my new baby.

Yeah, I know... not my most attractive picture... but we're all there.

Bright eyed and beautiful.

Meeting Daddy

Showin off her stuff... Nella, are you proud?  She's got some chubbins to love!

Don't you love her lips?

Seth, this one's for you... Finger toes!

Ada meeting her sister!

Sammy and Sharon adoring the new baby... Sharon's good at squishing these babies!

Proud Grandpa

Pile on Daddy!

In love!  I don't know what it is... but both his girls had him wrapped around their fingers from second one...

Cuddle time

This one is just a picture of her with her legs folded over... it's pretty funny.

A quick one

So, this is probably my last post until the baby's born... but there's so much to post... a couple pictures of my birthday, A Day out With Thomas, and Sammy's birthday. 

Here's it all in a nutshell... My dad and Sharon went to the Heber Valley Railroad with us to ride on the Thomas the Tank Engine that they bring in once a year.... Right off... Ada was soooo excited to see Thomas that she kept saying, "Hi Thomas, HI!!!" Sammy was kind of tired so it took him a moment to realize what we were doing, but he caught on and kept pointing at the pictures of all the different engines.  They loved the bubbles, balloon animals, riding the train, and playing with the Thomas trains that were set up in the play area.  Ada wanted to do the mini golf course they had set up but it was getting late and everyone was hungry.  We went to eat, drove home and took a short break... then we had Sammy's official "birthday".  We opened presents, ate Wacky Cake (Sammy kosher!), and chocolate train suckers that I made a couple of days ago... and my favorite... ice cream.  (Sammy had the rice ice cream... Ada thinks it's disgusting.  It's pretty funny.)  Sammy was so distracted by a ball that my Dad had gotten him at the Thomas thing that he didn't want to open the rest of his presents.  We made him open a couple... then he caught on and got more and more excited as he opened the rest.  He got a Woody riding a car toy, Mickey Mouse book, Play dough R2D2 mold, ball, truck, a Thomas train for a wood train set, Harold the helicopter, an attachment that you hook to your hose to run through, and Ada and I made him some binoculars out of toilet paper tubes.  Happy 2nd Birthday my Sam!

Stylish Blogger Award

Well, my friend and sister-in-law, Diane, awarded me this award on my blog... I thought it was a fun was to get connected to other bloggers out there... So here we go...

The rules:

Link back to the person who awarded you...

Tell us 7 things about yourself

Award 15 deserving bloggers

And the time consuming part: tell the people that you have awarded that they've been awarded.

7 things about me:

Well, funny thing about me... I like me and I like what I've done in life so 7 might be hard... I'll be good.

1. I'm giving birth to a baby girl in less than a week!  So excited and can't wait to meet her! 

2.  I'm a mother of two toddlers... fun wrapped in diapers, that's about what it is.

3.  I work from home for Mightyauthors.com . I love to see all the creative things that people come up with and print... I use the site to make family history books and scrapbooks, but I've seen everything from birthday books to a 5 year olds drawings about their visit to the zoo.

4.  I LOVE to go places and see things... it's harder with little kids but we still manage, even if it's somewhere an hour away...

5.  I like photography, I'm still getting better... I've definitely gotten better in the last three years, but hopefully I keep getting better... I just like doing it.  

6.  I like to paint and sculpt, but with little kids and with being pregnant I haven't done it for a little while... hopefully I'll be able to again after I'm done with growing kids in my belly.

7.  I love my family and in laws... I don't know how I lucked out, but somehow I ended with amazing people surrounding me everywhere I go.  

Awards:

Well... I want to give one to Diane and Becca, but since they've already been awarded... I'll abstain! And I'd nominate nienie because both her story and because her kids are just adorable... but I just follow her, but never comment... 

1.  BlueLily  Absolutely beautiful photography... and a travel blog besides... can't lose!  They probably won't post their reward, but their blog is worth sharing...

2.  iammommy  A lot of fun, from a really nice lady with her cute kids and dogs... also the author of iambaker.

3.  Jenny  Love this lady... has been our friend for the last 6 years even though most of those years have been spent in seperate states.  Love her style of writing and her design work.

4.  iambaker  Amazing recipes and this lady was featured in a Bridal magazine for bridal shower refreshment... not shy about sharing what she knows!

5.  Summer  A friend of mine... love her family!  And she is a really fun photographer and maker of jewelry!

6.  lissa  Jer's cousin... I get jealous of their swimming pool but I love reading about their family!

7.  meghan  A busy mother that adores her twins... I love her pictures and how she has come to terms with being a mom... a lot of people struggle with that one.

8. Katie  A soon to be family of 6, LOVE Katie, she is hilarious and both her and her husband are excellent parents

9. Aliesha  And her troupe of red headed children. So fun to read about friends of mine from days gone by.

10.  Amy  my sister in law that is in every way the best shopper ever...

11. Jer  my hubby... though he only posts about twice a year, they're always worth reading

12.  Sarah My friend that has battled with depression and heart disease and is overcoming it all...

13.  Courtney  A sweet family from Alabama that love each other and focus on family!  What a good thing to do!

14. Emily  My mission friend who has some fun opinions about random things... is: the post office.
15.  Lindsay   My cousin and his wife... she's quite the crafts woman...

Birthday post

So, I've just had a really nice birthday! 

For my present, my mom came and cleaned my house!  It only stayed clean for about a day, course I had Ada that decided to pee across the whole bathroom floor just after my mom left... sorry mom, and just the fact that they like to get out EVERYTHING and not put it back... But it was so nice to have a clean one and know that it was clean once!  Especially my bathroom!  She got all the dust and the hard to reach spots on the baseboards, etc... While she was here my sister Janelle called, after she left my sister Sharon called, and my brother McKay called and had his two kids sing me Happy Birthday.  But I tried to go out and weed my front garden... which started my contractions... I'm not quite ready for the baby to come so I sat down and it stopped... Sammy's birthday party is on Saturday... don't want to miss out on that!

After lunch I took Sammy and Ada to Red Mango for birthday ice cream... and since Ada told them that it was my birthday they gave us our toppings for free.  I love it....  one of the only ice cream places that don't have corn or eggs in their product... and only one has soy... it's just trying to make sure that Sammy doesn't get too much milk on a day when we go there I guess....

I was expecting a small present from Jer, but he got me Megamind, Red and the new Lego Pirates of the Carribean Wii game... made me yummy BBQ chicken for dinner, and my FAVORITE!!!!, last time I was out of the house for a couple of hours he and the kids spent the whole time recording little videos of themselves and made me a DVD out of it.  It's so fun to watch and he even added some videos in of the last two years... it's amazing to see how much our kids have changed in two years!  It made me that much more excited to bring another little person into our family as well!  If we have that much fun with just the two, how much more fun with three? 

Thanks all!  Best 30th birthday I could ever ask for... and no, I really don't feel old.  I feel like 30 is a great year... I've earned every one of those years and can happily say that I have something to show for each and every one of them so far!  I think that as long as we keep trying to do things we'll have things to show for it!  Maybe I won't even mind being 80 when I get that far?!

And no... this wasn't taken on my birthday, it's just a picture that makes me happy.  I do have a couple that we took during our picnic dinner outside, I just haven't looked at them yet. 

Saturday

You know those crazy days?!  Well, yesterday was one of them... though mostly of my own making...

First, wake up and fold the laundry and start the dishes... feed kids and get them changed... shower... go shopping and end up running into my Brown cousins... catch up with how they're doing.... run into my Wilcox (Chris and Cheryl) cousins and catch up... finally get in the car.  I'm 45 min late for a luncheon for all the new mommies and mommies to be thrown by my VTer who's also part of the RS presidency.  They waited for me... whoops!  They ended up having presents from some of the sisters... which made me feel dumb cause I got things but didn't give anything.  Then Jer had to get the kids ready for me to take to a baby shower in SLC.  I left to pick up someone from Provo to take with me... part of the way down I realize that I forgot the present, turn around and went back... picked it up... Jer had to wrap it while I was on my way back... Thanks Jer!  Went down to Provo, got lost on the way to her house... end up finally finding it at 3:15 when the shower's supposed to start at 3:30 and we still have a 45 -60min drive.  Finally get there and I realize I'd forgotten half the present... I hadn't told Jer where it was.  And I was the only North American that came... they were all Latinas.  Which is fine with me, I had fun catching up with my Spanish and there was actually a big surprise waiting for me... it was just funny because all the Latinas acted like I had no idea what was going on... big surprise for them.

Here's my big surprise... The sister on the left was Hna Lopez... A sister missionary from our mission that is from El Salvador... I left the mission field thinking I'd never cross paths with her again... and yet here she is... living in UT for the last year with her two boys (a 3 year old and a month old) and her husband working for the church in manufacturing... Loved saying hi to her again! 

The shower was for Mayra Cueva Clawson... she's only got about 5 weeks left and I think it's pretty funny... I'm fatter in the picture but she looks more pregnant than I do, I've only got about a week and a half left.  Partly becasue I'm taller than her by about 4 inches... and my baby's dropped already where hers hasn't.  And probably also because mine's a girl and hers is a boy... maybe he's a husky boy?  But looking at this picture I can see why some people are still surprised to find out that I'm pregnant and not just fat.  I don't exactly have the typical pregnancy shape do I...

The kids had fun playing in the water... Sammy had fun trying to sneak chips from other peoples plates... I hope he's not going to be grumpy at church today because he had corn... And Ada had fun trying to participate in the shower games. 

Graduation

Yes, I know... it's a 3 year old graduation, but it was cute.  Ada graduated from Joy School last Thursday.  If you don't know what Joy School is, they try to teach you to like yourself so that you can treat others nicely.  It's really a fun idea and Ada just loved it.  She loved Mrs Le (my aunt) and all her friends... She learned how to obey rules like picking up after toy time, sing songs when it's time to sing (and let me tell you... that has made a big difference in Primary... she's the only one in her 10 classmates that actually sings at singing time...) and how to take turns with others her age... we're still working on her taking turns with Sammy and others that are younger than her though.  She LOVES art time and loves to paint.  My favorite is that she filled up an entire 11x14 sheet with orange paint and told me that it was a tiger... so I entitled it, "Close up of a Tiger".  She learned how to write her name and likes to try to teach Sammy.  And she learned her birthday and is learning that she can complete goals... These are all things that I can do at home with her, but she's had fun doing it with friends and I've loved watching her Joy in learning!  And I loved hearing Wyatt and Zachary saying, "Hey Ada look at this!"  Ada is actually the youngest in her class, but since it was my Aunt's last year teaching Ada was given a spot.  But she always does better with older kids it seems like.  She even is as tall as the class... Some of these kids are 5... Ada's 3... can't really see an obvious difference.

Rainbow bright

Yes, a thing of the past, but Ada really likes Rainbow Bright.  I bought the cartoons off of Amazon and she loves the rainbow and the horse... But it's funny... she says that the bad guys are Murky (and not Lurky... ) and Banana Brain... because that's what Murky calls him.  Nice.

Of knots and slippery pirates

So, along with Ada's growing independence/stubbornness she's also become quite the pretender... it's really fun to watch.  Her newest obsession is with her My Little Ponies... the baby always gets captured and tied up while the mommy has to come in and save the baby.  I've been giving her pieces of yarn to do the capturing with otherwise I find my phone charging cord or sewing machine cord in a knot that takes me a good 15 minutes to undo.  The other day this is what her game sounded like...

"Oh no!  Mommy, mommy help me I'm trapped!"
"I'll help you, then we'll swing down there to escape..."
"But you're not my mommy!"
"No I'm not, I'm the bad pirate!"
(then she goes on to push the tied up baby off the platform... where it usually hits the door and bounces to the floor.)
"Waah!"
"Oh poor baby, I'll save you."

Another day she said that Sammy's name was not Samuel Parker but it was Samuel Pirate... and that Ada was a slip-pirate... in other words, that she was a pirate that could slip across our kitchen floor in the knitted slippers that my mom made for her.  They're now officially called her "slips". Yes, Ada is our Slippery-Pirate.  What can you not be or do in your head?

To make your day

This is a sight to make your day... She got these at the Dentist office for being really good during her check up... and I mean REALLY good... she giggled while they cleaned her teeth because "It tickles!"  Then we went to Target and she promptly lost them... lots of sadness on that part.  But I thought this was an extremely happy face and if you look close you can see my pregnant belly in the reflection.