Swimming Lessons

We went to swimming lessons today, for Chapter's first swimming lesson I think it went well...

We decided to sign him up at the college since I haven't heard anything good about the SHAC lessons and my friend Alli used to teach them at Dixie and said they were great.  We signed Chap up for level 1 and I couldn't be more impressed with the teachers.  His class had 6 kids (he's the only boy) and 2 very nice college girls for the instructors.  He didn't like getting his head wet, but hey, it's the first day.

 He really liked all the water toys they had!

Every time they would dunk him he'd come up and shout "Momma!" It was pretty funny but I wonder if he'd do better if I wasn't there.

Fire Truck Parade

Last week I saw something on Facebook about a firetruck parade that would be that night.  Logan thought I was insane and I don't think he even really thought there would be a parade, but I talked him into going and it was so much fun! I didn't get a ton of pictures (it was probably only 15 minutes long) but Chapter loved it.  He didn't get very much candy since he was too busy plugging his ears!

June So Far

 We've spent a lot of time outside.  Especially since Logan built us a pergola in the back yard and fixed my mom's old swamp cooler and put it back there.  It's like our own little oasis in the desert.  Now if we could only keep Chapter from picking green tomatoes our outside experience would be perfect.

 This little cutie keeps getting bigger and cuter.  She smiles all the time now, I just haven't caught her doing it with the camera yet.

 And this one just cracks me up.  Chapter has been spoiled rotten with me always holding him and singing him to sleep (even for naps) until baby sister came along.  I think we've got our routine figured out but some days naps still happen in weird places and weird times.  Haha.

Merit's Blessing Day

Merit's blessing day was special.  Lots of family were able to make it and we made Gable House brownies for the refreshments.  Now I'll share a little about Merit's dress and name.

Her dress was made by my paternal grandmother Ilean Holm in the early 1990s.  When she started getting great grandchildren she realized that she wouldn't be alive or at least still sewing like a crazy person when they all were born.  So she made each of us a blessing dress to use when we blessed the daughters we may someday have in the future.  My grandma died when I was 16, but I've had it with me and carried it from move to move waiting for the day when my someday daughter would be able to wear it.  She was super duper slippery in it but she didn't fall and it was very special for me to be able to use this dress.

Merit's name: We were laying in bed one night before we even knew she was a girl, making fun of a name that rhymes with Merit (I'm not disclosing that name to protect the guilty:) when Logan came up with the name Merit.  After that night, she never had any other name.  There was never another name discussion from that point on.  Interesting fact: If she had been a boy she would have been named Tushar after the mountain range I grew up near.  Eliza is a name we love that happens to be in the ancestry of both sides of the family (just like Chapter's middle name of Frederick) so that worked out nicely.  On my side of the family it was my Great Great Grandmother Eliza Ann Watts Gardiner who was an early convert to the church in England.  On Logan's side it was after Rosena Eliza Blickenstorfer Gubler Blake, Logan's Great Grandmother.  She was a very interesting lady who was born to Santa Clara Swiss pioneers.

I love that our children have unusual first names that are all their own and a middle name with the rich legacy of their pioneer ancestors.

With Great Grandpa

His mother is one of the Eliza's she was named after,

Merit's First Bath

Merit's first bath took forever for us to finally get to because her belly button didn't fall off forever, and then it oozed forever, and then we were lazy.

Birth Announcement

First Sunday at Church

My sister Kristy sent Merit this adorable church dress, and it was a happy accident that it matched Chapter's church shirt perfectly.  This picture cracks me up, and it pretty much sums up our life right now.  She doesn't cry a lot, but Chapter really loves her and likes to love on her until she cries:)  I'm so glad he likes her though, and when she gets big enough to play I think they'll have a really good time.

Easter 2015

Easter was a little different than we anticipated this year, but it was still great!  Logan took Chapter to the Easter Egg Hunt at the park (I was going to, but Merit had to eat at the last minute).  We made Peep houses, colored eggs, and had the Easter bunny come leave us baskets and eggs in the backyard.  Good thing the Easter bunny knew Merit was born and brought her some goodies too:)

Welcome Merit!

I woke up Sunday, March 29  not feeling well.  I had worn myself out the day before playing all day in the sun and planting the garden.  I didn't really think much of it.  I was still 1 1/2 weeks from my due date and I was planning on nothing short of 2 weeks until baby.  In fact, I had been procrastinating a lot of things that I needed to get done before the baby was born.

We went to church at 1:00. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have gone if it wasn't my turn to teach combined Young Women and if I hadn't put 2-3 hours of prep into my lesson.  During Sacrament Meeting I noticed small contractions about 7ish minutes apart.  At the end of Sacrament Meeting I told Logan that I thought I was having a baby, but I wasn't really serious.  We dropped Chap off at nursery and then headed to Sunday School.  The Sunday School room was HOT.  Unbearably hot.  My contractions were getting slightly stronger at that point but I was still in denial.  At end of Sunday School I went to the bathroom because it was so hot that I thought I was going to die.  I was planning on telling Sherry that I couldn't teach but as I left the bathroom I ran into her in the hall and when she asked if I was ready for my lesson I smiled and said yes.

I must have been blessed for teaching my lesson, because I swear I only had maybe 4 contractions the whole time I was teaching and although they were getting pretty painful, I was able to manage it without anyone knowing I was in labor.  And to be honest, I was still pretty deeply in denial.

After church I had convinced myself that it was false labor, after all, I had only had 4 contractions in one hour.  But almost immediately after getting home I was hit by a steamroller of almost constant contractions that were immensely painful.  At probably 4:30-4:45 Logan called Anisa to come get Chapter.  She was riding her bike to her mother-in-laws house and had to go back to get her car.  I felt really bad not saying goodbye to Chapter, but I was having a hard time coping with the pain and I really thought I'd be sent home within an hour.  But we packed him a bag and handed him off.

Before we left Logan gave me a blessing, he blessed me with peace and strength and that really should have been a clue of what was to come. Logan drove us to the hospital and it was very reminiscent of going to the hospital with Chapter.

We walked into reception and apparently I looked pretty bad because they didn't even take me to triage, they just took me to a room.  When they told me I was at a 7 I panicked.  I started demanding pain medication and the grumpy nurse I had wasn't very nice or understanding.  They started pulling the baby stuff out of the closet and I told them to stop.  That nothing was going to happen until I had had my epidural.  But of course you can't have one until you have had a bag of IV fluids.  I was not happy.  Logan later told me that I was mean to the nurses.  Then shift change happened and an adorable sweet nurse that looked just like a grown up Legacy came in.  She told me that the new anesthesiologist was just coming on duty and that she had people waiting at the door for him and that he wouldn't even change into scrubs, he would come straight to me.

He did, but it seemed to take forever for him to get the epidural in, and I was having a really hard time holding still while he did it.  Things started to feel really funny and I was legitimately freaking out at this point.  Basically right after the epidural was in, my water broke all over someone's shoes.  There were people everywhere, but all I really remember was the doctor, Logan and the nurse who looked like Legacy.  And an old lady nurse who wanted me to push before the drugs kicked in.  Which I pretty much ended up doing because my body started pushing and there was nothing I could do to stop it.  I think the drugs may have been working slightly at that point, but I was still freaking out and my Legacy nurse was AWESOME.  Literally one push and our sweet Merit was born at 6:33. weighing 6 pounds and 12 ounces, much smaller than Chap was.

It was at this point that we realized the camera was still in the car, so no cute scale picture of Merit. Logan was amazing the entire time, he was so calm, weirdly calm and him rubbing my head was so comforting and helped so much.  I would never choose to have a baby under such circumstances, but I have to admit that recovery was much better not having been hooked up to drugs for 8 hours.  I could walk almost immediately and I felt so much better than I did after having Chapter.

 MMM...Turkey sandwich and Oreo shake!

 Meeting big Brother Chap.

So tiny in the carseat.

UPDATE: Here is proof that I taught while in labor. The cute YW secretary took this photo to take roll, but it turns out to be the only labor picture we got with Merit:) Haha.

Daddy's Helper

We planted the garden today, and Chap was such a good helper.  He even wore his hat and work gloves.  

 This is me.  38 Weeks.  How's that for a maternity picture? :)

Power Wheels

Logan's boss was cleaning out his kids' stuff and we became the beneficiaries of who pretty awesome Power Wheels.  We bought a battery for the smaller one, but we're going to make him learn to drive before we fix the 2 seater.

He was really scared of it at first (still is), but his older friend Romney showed him the ropes.  He'll drive it now as long as you are hunched over holding his hand while he does it.  Plus, his steering needs some serious work:)

Suckers!

Logan inherited his mom's sucker horse from her Valentine's bin of decorations.  It had been hot glued together and was in pieces when he got it.  Of course, being a man, he couldn't hot glue it back together but he had to wood glue and clamp it.  Let me tell you, that was interesting.  It took DAYS!  And some very creative clamping.  Since Valentine's is right around the corner, we broke it out to display.  And I decided to mix traditions by making homemade suckers like my mom used to make to put in it.  Mmm. Watermelon suckers.  The best idea I've had in a long time.

January- 2015 so far

 Chapter has a fascination with his fishy game and his "dirt".  The fish ride around in the "dirt" and occasionally, they drive.

 This is a funny story.  He got a chocolate dump truck in his stocking and one day he decided to eat it.  I really didn't think he'd eat the whole thing, but he did and afterward, he told me he was sick.  So funny, no puking though.

 This has been the month of the sticker on the forehead.  He got some Thomas stickers in his stocking and he is obsessed.  Sometimes mommy and daddy have to wear one too.  And the pudding beard (my real reason for including this photo).  I think he looks exactly like Logan with this faux pudding scruff.

 Chapter is finally old enough to play with playdough without eating it!

And my toe.  I think it's broken, although I never went to the doctor.  They aren't going to x-ray it so what's the point?  This picture was taken yesterday (5 days after the INCIDENT) and believe it or not, it looks a million times better than it did the second day when it was as fat as my big toe. This should be interesting.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning still wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it would be.  Chap got really excited when I brought all the wrapped presents upstairs and put them under the Christmas tree Christmas Eve morning, and all he could talk about was the Thomas wrapping paper:)

 First look Christmas morning.  He really wasn't very excited and he still only wanted to talk about the Thomas wrapping paper.  We have a video of him running into the living room and all he says is "Thomas".  Haha, I guess that't my fault:)  Santa came through with a tricycle and a rug with roads to drive on.  All month Chapter said Santa was bringing him candy, which was in the stocking, but Chap didn't really care about the stocking all that much.

 He warmed up to the tricycle though, and then we had a hard time getting him to stop long enough to open presents.

 He was very serious the whole time.  I wonder where he gets that from, Logan? :):):)

And I just threw this one in because Chap's face was hilarious.  All in all, Christmas was very good to us:) Chapter got lots of toys, the tricycle, a Thomas blanket, puzzles, etc.  Logan got an inflatable kayak, paddles, a pump, a dutch oven, a canyoneering rope, a harness, basically everything his heart desired.  I got a pair of diamond hoop earrings, lotion, and socks.

The next day when Chap woke up he asked if Santa had come, so I guess he kind of got it.

In other news, I got the flu the afternoon of Christmas.  So I ended up missing out on the Blake family CHRISTMAS dinner, and it was a really good one this year!  Logan and his dad bought a prime rib from Costco and Logan cooked it.  Some of the other items were stuffed mushrooms and waffle love dessert.  I don't really know the rest since I wasn't there, but I heard it was awesome! Oh well, maybe next year will be my year:)