Chapter's First Bath

Chapter's first real bath was a while ago, but I'm still cracking up about these pictures.  I know he looks like he is freezing to death in that first one but I assure you that the bathroom was approximately 1000 degrees and that Mommy and Daddy were dying of heat:)

He handled the first bath really well, he just looked confused most of the time.  Then the next one he screamed bloody murder the entire time.  Each bath has been increasingly better since then and I actually think he liked it last night.  Logan was using a cup to pour water over his belly and legs and he looks really relaxed and happy.  I hope Chapter grows up to be as comfortable with water as Logan is.

The Post Where I Tell the Story

Having a baby is kind of like every other milestone in life, like moving out or getting married.  You think it’s going to be really weird, and then it happens and it isn’t.  It’s just normal.  Except now someone else lives with you in your house and every once in a while you look down and realize, holy cow, that baby is mine.  I made that.

If this post is too much info, I apologize.  But I love reading other people’s labor and delivery stories and I just want to write it out because my memory is already getting foggy.  I’ll blame those amazing hormones that my college biology professor told me actually do dim the memories of labor, hence people have more than one child:)

So I was 8 days overdue.  There was some speculation at the last minute about my due date being 2 days earlier than it should have been but September 24 was the date I had been waiting for and it was the date that came and passed and in my mind is my due date.  I was supposed to go to the doctor at 11:40 on Tuesday October 2, and the plan was to induce me the next day.  Only I pretty much hadn't told anybody that. 

On Monday I decided I had been living on borrowed time for too long and I needed to get stuff ready, especially Logan’s birthday presents and some grocery shopping.  So I got that done, luckily.

Anyway, so I woke up about 4am on Tuesday because I felt funny.  Not sick, but not what I had imagined labor to feel like either.  I got up and went and laid on the couch.  Just for kicks I decided to time my “sickness” and found out that I felt gross about every 7 minutes or so.  Then I got bored of that and I tried to go to sleep.  Only as time passed my feeling sick started to hurt.  Around 6am I went back to bed and I decided that this probably was fake labor but I was tired of being the only one concerned about it so I woke Logan up.  By now it was hurting fairly bad.  Not unbearable but enough that I was pretty bugged about it.  (I wonder how Logan remembers these events, especially since his memory isn’t foggy).   

Just before we went to the clinic

Logan started to worry.  He went and got his bag and packed it.  He grabbed the car seat.  He started reading about early labor in my pregnancy books.  I did a load of laundry.  Weird I know.  I also wanted to shower before we did anything. So I got in the shower.  Logan called the doctor.  By the time all of this had happened it was about 7:30ish.  By the time I had blow dried my hair and got ready it was about 8.  The doctor still hadn’t called back.  Showering had made the contractions a lot less painful.  So now I was thinking I was being dumb and that we shouldn’t have called the doctor.  But then they got worse again.  So Logan decided to just take me to the clinic and we would see.

 

I think Dr. Chamberlain thought I was crazy.  He had seen me just a couple days before and there was absolutely nothing happening.  But he saw me right away anyway. I was at a 3+.  I was so relieved I wasn’t crazy.  By now I was really really feeling it.  It sucked way more than I had imagined.  Anyway, the doctor sent me home with a prescription for Loratab to wait until I couldn’t stand it anymore.  I know, everyone I have told that to has had the same reaction I did.  I couldn’t take so much as an Advil for 41 weeks and now I can have painkillers?  Weird.  So we headed home and went to the Walgreens drive thru.  They told us it would take 20 minutes to fill the prescription for 2 little pills that I desperately needed.  I was dying big time now every time I had a contraction.  Logan was getting worried.  So we dropped off the prescription and went home.  Then I decided that I wasn’t waiting until I couldn’t stand it anymore because I already couldn’t stand it anymore, they were about 3 minutes apart and very painful.  We stayed home for 20 minutes and then got the Loratab and I took some on the way to the hospital.  It was amazing.  It didn’t fix anything by any means but it took the edge off enough that I could walk into the hospital without crying.  By the time I got to the hospital at about 10am I was a 4+.  They got me into my room and then promptly blew a vein in my hand trying to get my IV in despite my many warnings that they needed to be really careful with my sucky veins.  They got it in the second time.  Then they came and drew my blood.  And they left us. 

Time went by really really fast.  I got my epidural around noon when I was almost a 6.  It was amazing.  I didn’t even feel it.  It worked perfectly.  I could still move one of my legs really well and I couldn’t feel anything.  Logan went and got lunch about 1:00.  While he was gone the doctor came and broke my water.  The afternoon flew by.  I was so excited that I didn’t need any Pitocin to keep my labor going.  We decided to call my mom at 3.  Then 3 came and went and we decided to call her at 4 and we did.  She left to come immediately.  My nurse (who was kind of grumpy) got off at 6.  I was really kind of nervous because I knew I was getting close and as much as I didn’t love my nurse I was getting used to her and I knew all the other people were going to be strangers.  At 6 when they did shift change I knew immediately that I loved my nurse.  Then I realized I was getting really close because another nurse came in and told me that she would be my baby’s nurse.  Then all the closets started opening and baby stuff started coming out of them.  And then Dr. Chamberlain came in wearing scrubs and I was like holy cow, shouldn’t this feel weirder to me?  Why am I not panicking?  And then they were like “Okay it’s time to push.” I was like, “Okay, no big deal.”  They asked Logan if he wanted to hold my leg and we said no, to go get another nurse.  I said if he holds my leg you are going to need 3 more nurses to take care of him when he passes out and it would be easier to just start out with one extra. 

Everything was calm and relaxed which I liked.  My new nurses were funny and they kept joking and stuff with us and the doctor.  It wasn’t weird at all.  Then after about a half hour or so out pops a baby.   I looked down and I was like, “He has Logan feet!” and Dr. Chamberlain looks at them and says, “He does have Logan feet.” (Dr. Chamberlain is the one who got Logan through the foot fiasco last year).  So here I have this beautiful baby boy with lots of dark hair and Logan feet. 

And we still have no idea what to name him.  We start chatting about names and Dr. Chamberlain says the weirdest name he has ever heard was a baby girl name Urethra.  Anyway, we decide to name him Frederick.  And I’m not completely sold on it, but I’m not completely sold on anything because it’s still weird to me that this little bun is ours.  Logan starts taking pictures and keeps saying stuff like, “Hey, turn Chapter toward the camera.” or “Hey little Chap.  Daddy’s taking pictures of you.” And I said to Logan, “Isn’t his name Frederick?” Then we realized that his name was Chapter.  His name had always been Chapter since the day when we were dating and Logan told me that if we ever had a son his name would be Chapter. 

 But that’s the story.   Maybe another day I’ll write about that night.  About our paranoid nurse on the post-partum floor that made our night terrifying.  Or the wonderful nurse we had the next day who did everything she could to help.  But either way this is definitely just the beginning of our story.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Today is Logan's Birthday.  It's been pretty low key since we have a new person living in our house!

 Here is Logan with all of his gifts.  Chapter and the tripod were opened earlier this week:)  More about that later.

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband. I'm so glad I got my butt in gear on Monday and went shopping and wrapped stuff up, or this poor man might not have got a birthday from me.  He also got money from all the parents, and a very nice pan that he has been dreaming of for a while from his siblings.  He's very excited about that.  As a matter of fact he's leaving right now with his birthday funds to look for more sizes:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my love, hope you have had a good one!

Swiss Days and Elder's Quorum Breakfast

We were able to celebrate Swiss Days! Sydney was a little worried that the baby would come and she wouldn't be able to attend, but alas he has not graced us with his presence.   The day started with the infamous Pancake Breakfast.  It's hosted by the Santa Clara 3rd Ward Elders Quorum and it's in our drive way because we live the closest to the town hall.

I found a very pretty hand model for this picture thanks Jeff.

This is the President and counselor setting up for the breakfast they also do all the cooking. 

Here are some of the "Cool Kids" hanging out on our front porch.

The breakfast was a success, nobody left poop on our toilet seat this year.

Here people lining up for the parade, we counted 18 members of the 3rd Ward. How many do you see?

It was a fun day and we got hit with some really good candy at the parade.

Baby Shower

This is very much belated, but since I still haven't had the baby I thought I'd kill some time blogging about my baby shower.  I had one thrown for me in June by some sweet ladies in my ward.  And then over Labor Day my adorable sisters-in-law threw me another one for family and close friends.  The theme was Dr. Seuss, which was so fun because I love children's books.  

I stole these pictures from Anisa since I'm not cool enough to remember a camera:)

 These were the invitations, they were like library cards with a cute little poem requesting that guests bring a children's book instead of a card.  We got some really nice books which I'm sure our little baby will enjoy very much!

 This was the food table.  All the foods were Dr. Seuss themed and really fun.  We had: Cat in the Hat fruit kabobs, Hop on Popcorn, Thing 1 Thing 2 cupcakes, Truffala Seeds (skittles), Green (deviled) eggs, and Ham (sandwiches), and yummy Pink Ink punch.

So much work went into this and I really appreciate it.  None of my family were able to make it since my mom got the flu, my oldest sister was hospitalized due to complications from a surgery earlier this summer, my other sister was also sick and none of my nieces can drive:) There were still a ton of people who attended.  Most of Logan's aunts, grandma, and cousins were there and my friends Moe and Jessica.  It was a lot of fun, and Baby Blake made a haul:) I think this kid's gonna be just fine with so many people who love him, now if he'll only decide to be born!

That night Logan had a "Dad-chelor" party thrown by Lucas.  

This is the only picture I have of the occasion.  Logan, Lucas, Ryan, Ron, and Craig (and possibly others, I wasn't there) went to Mesquite and ate at a buffet and then went skeet shooting somewhere along the highway on the way back.  The whole time all I could think about was how funny it would be if they got pulled over.  Imagine a minivan filled with men and fire arms:) Haha!  It was a fun and busy weekend, thanks to everybody who spent so much time planning it!

Tarantula Season

I've been on the lookout for Tarantulas lately because I remember that September is when I saw a ton of them last year.  They are surprisingly sneaky and I haven't seen a single one this year.  I thought that spray that Logan's cousin Cash recommended was working:)  Then yesterday a friend from the ward came to borrow our cow for the evening for her mom for Relief Society. (Goodness, all you people who don't live nearby are going to need an explanation.  It's a fake wooden cow for Swiss Days that people decorate.  I blogged about our cow last year too).  Anyway, while she's here picking it up she says, "Oh, why'd you squish him?"  And I was like, "What?"  It looks like this poor guy got backed over by Logan as he was going to work yesterday.  He's big.  Probably the biggest or second biggest one I've seen since living here.  Of course his splatter might make him look bigger:)  What I don't understand is why he didn't run away when Logan started the engine?  They are very skittish and fast, I can't believe it was dumb enough to get ran over.  

I put my foot in the picture to represent the size.

I surprisingly am not overly concerned with the tarantula situation.  I'm much more concerned with the scorpion situation.  I'm about 85% certain I saw one going down my stairs a while back (they, too, are surprisingly swift and can go down stairs much faster than I can), and now my poor sis-in-law has been stung in her house in Ivins and has since found another one.  Tarantulas are pretty nasty looking, but harmless.  But if I find another scorpion (or even what I think is one) I'm calling someone with bigger better poison to take care of the situation!

UPDATE: When I left this morning to go to Target, I apparently backed over a much smaller one.  Maybe they aren't as intelligent as I had given them credit for, poor stupid things.

The Flood

Since I'm not cool enough to take my own pictures, these have been "borrowed" from my facebook friends who are cooler than me and took pictures.  Especially Gina Prisbrey, her pictures rock:)

So it started raining at my house about 7-ish this morning.  We didn't think anything of it because it has been pouring here pretty regularly and giving us scares with our basement.  It rained all morning.  I went to hang out with Logan at work for a while and it still rained.  We went home for lunch and when we were done I was going to take Logan back to work and go grocery shopping.  When we left to take him back to Sunbrook, Sunset Blvd. was closed.  We thought the wash had flooded the road (again) and went down through the Santa Clara valley and made it there.  I was planning on going to Walmart to pick up a few things, but then I realized I didn't have my phone. In light of all the closures I thought I better go back and get my phone because I didn't want to risk having to navigate through some back roads to get home and get lost without a phone.  On my way back to the house the roads I had used to get to Sunbrook were now closed and I had to find another way back through the valley.  I made it.  Phew!  And I got my phone and tried to get back through the valley down to Dixie Drive so I could go shopping.  Now all the roads were closed and the police informed me that the valley had been evacuated.  I scoffed, I mean it wasn't even raining anymore.  But I obviously complied and went up into the Heights to get to Pioneer Parkway and into town.  On my way I drove past the little league ball fields by the Santa Clara Park.  They were full of water til you could only see a little of the fence poking out at the top.  Wow!  This was maybe about 1 in the afternoon.  It took me forever to get to Walmart.  As I drove I called Logan to complain about having to go around and told him that the valley had been evacuated.  He told me that they must be worried about the dike by the Middle School.  I was like, "What dike?"  I didn't even know it was there.

While I'm at Walmart I get a voicemail from the Santa Clara Emergency Response team.  I assume that I have now been evacuated.  Then I get to my car and the voicemail tells me that I have not been evacuated, but there has been a breach in the dike.  It said to go home (if I could get home) and stay home.  So I drive clear up and around again to get home and on the way pass by the ball fields again...only now they are empty.  Just a little water in the grass.  Apparently the dike really has been breached.  I knew it was bad, but seriously, I didn't know how bad.  I had no idea how much water that sucker was holding back.  I was obedient and I went home and stayed home.  Therefore I got interesting pictures of nothing;)

 Here is the flood.  Poor Dutchman's Gas Station!

 Inside Dutchman's Gas Station.  I think this picture came from their Facebook page.

And the monster "breach" in the dike.

Again, thanks to all those who I stole pictures from.  I think it's just Gina and Dutchman's.  All this went down about 1.5 blocks from my house, maybe less.  We are fine.  Thanks to all the many people who have called both Logan and I throughout the day to see if we are safe and dry.   Logan is down on Vineyard right now helping to dig people out.  Keep these poor folks in your prayers, it's going to be a long haul cleaning this up.  I just wish I wasn't 38 weeks pregnant and basically useless when it comes to shoveling mud.

Our Anniversary

I realized that I never posted about what we did for our actual 5th Anniversary.  It was pretty low key for us this year.  We just stayed home, made one of our favorite dishes (Shrimp Alfredo with broccoli and mushrooms) and drank some of the grape juice we bottled earlier this summer. 

That's what I get for washing my windows

Someday soon I'll have to worry about little finger prints on the inside of my window, but today all I've got is lizard prints on the outside:)

My Last Hoorah

I've been wanting to go on a small trip before I have this baby and don't ever get to go anywhere just me and Logan for a while.  We decided to go on a little road trip to Cascade Falls up by Navajo Lake and then we drove back on some back road to East Zion.

 It was really fun.  Logan packed us a picnic of some of my favorite things like homemade chicken salad, Cheetos puffs, Sprite, and Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies.  Logan is so sweet.  We left about 11 and ate when we got to the trail head.  Then we went on the short hike and it was really fun.

Then we drove for a long time and planned all the cool hikes we are going to go on when I'm not pregnant anymore.  We drove through Zion and talked about how it is one of our favorite places and how sad it is that there are so many hikes there we have never done. 

And Logan even found his new favorite kind of tree on the way home:)

Pepsi Vs. Diet Pepsi. Can You Taste The NutraSweet?

I forgot to mention this really funny story that happened over the 24th of July.  Sydney's Mom (Mama Holm) won't eat anything low fat, light, and especially sugar free.  She says and I quote, "It taste like NutraSweet, It burns the throat".  This happens to be one of my all time favorite Mama Holm quotes, of which there are a few, but I will not disclose them all.  At any rate, I have had this Idea in my head to see if she really could "Taste the NutraSweet."  You see Mama Holm is an avid Pepsi drinker and she will only drink regular Pepsi, it must be from the can, because plastic tastes bad and aluminum tastes better.  So while we were patiently waiting to watch the fireworks hours later we went to "The Sunny" and purchased one can of regular Pepsi and one can of Diet Pepsi, we wanted to do Pepsi Max but "The Sunny" didn't sell it and besides, it was really a battle with the NutraSweet riddled Diet Pepsi.

The 1st Test.

Pepsi vs. Pepsi.

I knew that if we told her there was going to be one diet and one regular she would find one,whether it was there or not.  You see, I think this "Burns the Throat" is all in her head.  So we opened up both cans so as to let her hear the sound of two cans cracking open and poured two identical glasses, both were filled with good old fashioned high fructose corn syrup regular Pepsi.  She didn't disappoint and actually she didn't like either of them particularly well.  She even stuck her tongue out at one of the glasses, then she made her choice on the other glass as being the diet, it made no sense, but my theory was upheld. She found a gross one.

The 2nd Test.

Pepsi vs. Diet Pepsi.

I thought to myself that was kind of mean psyching her out like that so I did a real test.  I think she must have thought I put diet in both this time around, because they were both still gross.  She first tried the diet and said, "Oh! this one is terrible!" then she tried the regular and said, "Oh! this one is worse! This is the Diet." I told her that she was wrong and apparently likes diet more than regular and strangely finds them both objectionable.  She didn't see the light from this test, because she still drinks her gross tasting regular Pepsi religiously.

The 3rd Test

Sydney vs. Pepsi

We gave Sydney the real test and she couldn't find the difference, and didn't like either one.

The 4th Test

Logan vs. Pepsi

Sydney gave me a taste test.  You see, on occasion I will drink a soda, and one of my favorites is Dr. Pepper.   There is a draw back though, when you don't drink sugary drinks they make my throat feel gross and coated.  That is why I prefer the Diet Dr. Pepper.  Same great taste, fewer calories and no gross throat.  There is a slight bitter after taste, but the pros out way the cons.  Knowing this about Dr. Pepper, I applied the same principles to the Pepsi. I found that one coated my throat and one did not, but had a slight bitter after taste.  I told Sydney my choice for Diet and I was right.

The moral of this story is that Tastes Tests are a fun way to spend a lazy 24th of July afternoon, and all you heavy Pepsi drinkers out there, don't dis on the diet apparently if you drink a lot of soda you can't tell the difference. 

P.s. I can't however tell the difference between real coke and cheap coke, my mother proved that to me years ago, but I think they're both gross.

#5

First let me open by saying that 5th Anniversaries are for old people:)

Now let's talk about how we have celebrated the last 4, shall we?

Wedding Day doesn't really count as an Anniversary, but we obviously celebrated that with a wedding and a trip to Las Vegas.  Basically the two things that stand out to me the most about our wedding day is being really really happy, and extremely hungry.  Nobody ever thinks about feeding the Bride and Groom:)

#1 was on a Sunday so we cooked dinner at home.  We ate the top of our wedding cake and then went for a walk down by the Virgin River.  Since our wedding we had accomplished a few things.  Logan had graduated from SUU with an engineering degree.  He got a job in St. George and we had moved from our 1 bedroom basement apartment to a very sunny and happy 2 bedroom on the East side of St. George. He'd taken me on my first rafting trip, I was working at Malibu cleaners and had just started school at Dixie.  We were feeling pretty optimistic about the future.

#2 we road tripped to Colorado (so Logan could shop for his upcoming rafting trip).  We went to Arches National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, spent time in Durango and drove through some crazy mountain passes.  I think our actual anniversary was in Grand Junction (probably the most boring day of our trip, haha). Since our first anniversary I had started the Elementary Education Program at Dixie.  Logan was working hard at the St. George airport for insane hours.  I'd been on another rafting trip, but this one resulted in what I consider a near death experience:)  Good times!

#3 We celebrated with another large scale road trip.  This time we went up and visited Lucas and Shellie in Rock Springs and then went up to spend a few days in Yellowstone National Park.  This was before our actual anniversary since I was beginning to student teach in mid-August.  Since our last anniversary, Logan had rafted the Grand Canyon and we hadn't seen each other for two weeks and only talked on the phone once.  While he was gone my mom and I had went to Hawaii. 

#4 This year we celebrated by going for a hike in Zion and eating a Cuban sandwich at The Flying Monkey in Springdale (sadly we don't have a picture with both of us in it).  This had been a very eventful year for us.  I'd started and finished student teaching and graduated.  I'd wrecked my car while Logan was working out of town, and we had moved into this house.  We'd spent the year painting and settling in here. 

#5 is today.  A lot has happened in the last year.  We have still been slowly changing the house.  We realized that everything doesn't always go according to our original "5 year plan" but usually ends up being better than the plan.  Basically we did follow the plan, we're just not as wildly successful and rich as we had originally thought:)  We're still together and happy, we have a house, 2 bachelor's degrees and a baby coming.  I think we've got it pretty good.  And as weird as it is that we have been married for 5 years (hello!  We're so OLD!) I've never regretted it and I know that everything the future holds for us will be even better!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LOGAN!

Hey Logan, Are You Lost?

I think so was my reply to my old college chap Ryan Anderson.  The Andersons are an institution in the little green valley of Monroe, UT. None the less my BE-EH-Utiful wife is a local and knows her way around.  Every year that we've been together we've made our own little trek to Monroe to celebrate Pioneer Day (the largest local holiday).  We awoke bright and early at 6:30am and drove straight there to get our spots on the correct side of the road (tsk tsk Kristy). Everybody was surprised that we came because we said we weren't on account of the both of us working the day before and after. Meghan was especially surprised when there was a creeper with a large camera taking unsolicited photographs of her marching in the parade.

The Parade was spectacular as usual. The two best floats are the old tractors which Sydney thinks my dad should get into it. and the pooper scooper though I'm not sure they are an official parade entry but they sure are entertaining for their rather long procession duration.       

This one captures the essence of the small town celebration.

John Deere was a True Patriot

Yeah, Monroe is classy like that.

This guy is a real farmer he drives a tractor in flip flops

He's doing so well.

We stayed the whole day hung out with the family we even bought a hot dog at the park from Jacey to support the freshman class at Big Bad South Sevier High School, Go Rams! We tried to catch up with Jacey and Justin at the Concert at the Middle School before the Awesome firework show but he was sitting way too close to the band and I was not going to hurt my ears for that long listening to that woman sing. So we moved back about 200 plus feet to a more comfortable decibel, and we didn't see them the rest of the night but we had a great spot for the fireworks. The Fireworks in Monroe are great they are very bright and you are really close to the action I recommend them to anyone.  We drove straight home and got home at 1:00, makes for a long day and a rough day at work but it was worth it.

On a side note Mama Holm is selling her prized 1994 Buick Regal Custom.  It has a plenty powerful 3.8 liter V6 engine, powered leather bucket seats, and comes in a charming sea-foam green.  The perfect car for the needy high school student.  Low blue book value of $1300 offering a $100 discount for cash.  Hurry this inventory is priced to move!

Girl's Camp

I headed up to Girl's Camp after the last day of teaching summer school on Thursday.  Just one of my many interesting duties as a Beehives adviser.  I'm not really much of a girl's camper and never really have been.  I think I might have gone 3 years when I was in Young Women's, but I found that camp is much more enjoyable as a leader who can come and go as she pleases and pick and choose activities to attend:)

I got my hair braided by the talented and beautiful Cam.

 Proof that I went to Girl's Camp 7 months pregnant.  My belly was somewhat of a novelty to girl's I have never met before. 

 I felt really really old signing them off on their certifications.

And these are the leader bunks, the girls' ones looked the same only their section was much larger and slept 27 girls instead of 6.  The top bunks are seriously like 6 feet up there.  They were kind to me and I slept on the bottom.  Oh and the bathrooms were in one of these storage boxes too and they flushed and were SO NICE!

Aside from eating deep fried donuts at 10pm and puking in the night with Breauna it was really fun:)  Yep, I only threw up twice with this pregnancy until girl's camp.  Now my total is up to 4:) Oh the memories.

What that Storm looked like at our House

Logan was home teaching, so I took some pictures because I didn't think he's believe me if I just told him:)