The New Guy

Much to my approval, our baby decided to come on his own before we could induce him! We got to the hospital Wednesday morning at 6:30. The doctor broke my water at 8:30 and we had a baby at 12:30! I was hoping that it would have gone a little faster, but the little guy stayed at a 9.5 cm for about 3 hours. He really did not want to move down! But we're very happy that he's here! We will go home from the hospital on Thursday.

Spencer Adam Jamieson
Wednesday, May 28th at 12:24 pm
8 lbs. 14.5 ozs.
22 in. long

If at first you don't succeed...

Yes, we shall try, try again!

So I went to the doctor today. He checked me and was very happy to inform me that much has changed since last week. I have now dilated to 3 cm and am about 75% effaced. And who would have guessed, but he is going out of town this weekend and he wants this baby to come before he goes. So he went and scheduled me to be induced tomorrow night! Who would have thought that you could be induced twice on the same pregnancy? I thought that it was certainly out of the question, but count your blessings I guess. So if this baby doesn't come on his own tomorrow, which is our due date, then he should hopefully be here by the next day. For those of you that don't know, Savannah was born on her due date, so I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow is the lucky day, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Wish us luck this time!

Yard Update

For those of you that recall, we started digging up our backyard back in November. Our back fence is about 9 inches higher that our patio. So we were having a lot of draining issues. We removed a ton of dirt and then it rained about 4 weekends in a row. Needless to say, it has been somewhat neglected since then.It was a pretty pathetic sight. And if it rained, then Savannah called it the muddy mud pit! We did get one of my brothers and his friend to come and remove some more dirt back in March. But now summer was creeping up on us and it wasn't making any progress. So we hired my brother, Bryan, who is a contractor, to get our backyard finished. Since then, they've made great progress. If it hadn't rained last weekend, then we would have had sod already. But that has been postponed until later this week. So, I thought that I'd give you a sneak peak at what it looks like now. Can you believe how much higher the back fence is than our patio? That's why we had to remove so much dirt! And I think that the retaining wall looks so nice! Nice job Bryan (and crew)!

Savannah's Last Day of School

Savannah had her last day of preschool last week! She was so excited to go and give her teachers a present. She has loved going to school and learning new things. She even asked me today if it was a school day. I had to remind her that school was out for the summer. But thank you Miss Kylie and Miss Staci for being such great teachers! She absolutely loves you! And it rained quite a bit that afternoon. So Savannah wanted to do something that she saw on Aunt Maria's Blog...pop popcorn and watch a movie. So I popped some popcorn and we sat and watched the DVD that her teachers had made and sent home of their past school year. It was lots of fun to eat the popcorn and I loved watching the DVD. Savannah has certainly learned a lot this past year! I can't believe how much she's grown!

Labor Ready Test

Last night and most of today I underwent an extensive labor ready test. The exam had 2 purposes. First, to see if my uterus was ready to for labor and second, to see if the baby could withstand extended labor. Okay, so this is just what my doctor told me so that I wouldn't feel quite so bad. But Jon and I went into the hospital last night so that I could be induced. The baby was still high up and I was only dilated 1 cm. They started me on one thing to soften my cervix. After 9 hours, I was having about 8 contractions an hour and I hadn't dilated any further. So I was started on something else, in the hopes that I'd have harder contractions and the baby would drop, then the doctor could break my water. After 4 hours of this they came to the highest possible dosage that they could give me and the baby still had not dropped and I hadn't dilated either. I was having harder contractions, about every 2 minutes. But whenever I'd get up out of bed, then the contractions would practically stop. So, after being at the hospital for 14 hours, then we were sent home. The good news: The baby seems to handle the contractions just fine (passing part 2 of the test) and I hadn't received an epidural, which made the departure much easier. The sad news: Apparently my uterus is not ready/willing to depart with it's inhabitant and therefore no baby today. But I am glad that they were not able to break my water, because I may have ended in a possible C-Section if I hadn't been able to have adequate contractions to help the baby out. So I guess that it's a blessing in disguise.

For those of you that don't know how I managed to convince my doctor to induce me 8 days early: I have randomly had some major back pain over the last 2 weeks. After determining that I did not have a UTI, they told me that the baby was laying on a nerve in my back and that there was nothing they could do to help me. My instructions were to take Tylenol, apply heat, and massage the area. The doctor decided that it would be in my best interest for the baby to come early to help this problem, but apparently the baby had other plans. So now we wait for another day!

So I guess that there is one more random fact about me: I've had a successful induction and a failed induction!

Muppets Personality

I wanted to do a post that was quick and easy. Thanks Elizabeth for finding this!

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgable, you are the perfect sidekick. You're always willing to lend a helping hand. In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going. "15 seconds to showtime!"

The Muppet Personality Test

I thought that it was probably pretty accurate. I'm definitely more of a behind the scenes person!

Random Things Tag

Thanks Amy for tagging me! I've taken a couple of days to think about what random things I want to tell you about me.

I hope that you all enjoy!

The rules:
a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
e. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I played tennis through all of high school. I absolutely love the sport! I originally tried out to be a cheerleader in 9th grade and was majorly bummed when I didn't make it. But I had a PE teacher that taught tennis lessons in the summer and let me take them for free. So I made the tennis team in 9th grade and played on Varsity every year after that! In the end, I still got to wear the cute skirt even if I wasn't a cheerleader. And I'm so much happier with how things turned out!

2. I thoroughly enjoyed school. I graduated 3rd in my high school class of about 830 students! It's not something that I usually talk about, but I'm definitely proud of myself for pulling it off. I worked my tail off my senior year, taking 4 AP classes and my electives being Seminary, Choir, and Sports PE (tennis of course). Not only did I have a lot of classes, but I was also the secretary for NHS (National Honor Society) and the treasurer for Choir, not to mention a member of a handful of other organizations.

3. Jon was my very first boyfriend and my first kiss. I went on a handful of dates during school, but I never had a consistent boyfriend. I guess that I consider myself a rather reserved individual. Even after Jon convinced me to let him hold my hand, it was quite a while before we actually kissed. But I'm certainly happy with how things turned out!

4. I did my student teaching with one of Jon's former math teachers. She was his favorite math teacher, and he managed to get a B in her class! It was fun getting to hear stories about how Jon was back when he was in high school. I definitely learned a lot from her and wish that I had had the opportunity to put those skills into action the following school year.

5. Jon and I graduated from ASU together. Not very many people can say that they received their Bachelor's Degree along with their spouse. Jon and I decided to go to ASU's large graduation ceremony. We had to sit on opposite sides of the arena, but it was fun. Before the ceremony, they had a place set up where you could get your picture taken in your cap and gown. Jon and I didn't really want a picture of just us, so we asked if we could get a picture together. The response we got: Do you guys know each other? We looked at each other and just laughed, and then told them that we were married. It's still one of my favorite pictures of us.

6. I was able to convince my doctor to induce me 5 days early when I was pregnant with Melanie. Why? Because Jon was taking the Bar on her due date! Since Savannah was born on her due date, I didn't have any hope that Melanie was going to come early at all. So my doctor induced me 5 days before Jon took the Bar. Jon spent the night with me at the hospital and then quickly went home in the morning to continue studying for the Bar. I called him later that afternoon and had him come back to the hospital so we could go home too. It was definitely a good excuse to be induced, and I hope that I'll never have to use it again! And so does Jon!

7. I know that I was only supposed to come up with 6, but I wanted to add one more. I have lived through a natural disaster! During our second year of law school, we flew back to Ohio after Christmas and arrived at our home to find the power out! We made it home just in time for an Ice Storm that covered most of northwestern Ohio. Basically, we had ice covering everything. The biggest problems were the tree branches that weighed too much were continually breaking, making a huge mess and taking out power lines left and right, and the icy roads were too hazardous to drive on. We were without power for 5 days. After 2 days of no power, and a crabby, cold 6 month old baby, we drove to the nearest town that did have power and stayed there. So, I guess that we're only partially hard core, since we didn't stay and stick out the whole storm!

Okay, so I usually follow the rules exactly. But since I haven't really done that so far, then I feel no obligation to tag 6 more people. So, if you'd like to be tagged then consider yourself tagged!

Our Vacation: The Grand Canyon

The main part of our vacation was taking the train from Williams up to the Grand Canyon. I have never ridden on a train, and the girls (and Jon) were so excited about this adventure. Tuesday evening we drove up to Flagstaff and took my sister, Andrea, out to dinner. We stayed there overnight (and slept awful - the pillows at the Ramada Inn are too big!). Wednesday morning we drove to Williams and got our train tickets. The fun started with a little gun show-down! This was fun to watch, but it was quite windy and the girls weren't quite sure what was going on. We boarded our train car and got comfy in our seats, which were at the very back.They had a little buffet that we helped ourselves to: some yummy muffins and fruit. There was even a cowboy that came and played his guitar and sang to us. After each song, Melanie would say: Again! (Sorry the picture is blurry.)The girls loved looking out the windows and watching things go by. They even made friends with a little boy that was sitting in front of us.One of the cowboys from the opening show-down came through and Savannah was brave enough to get in a picture with him!
It was nice to just relax with the girls and play with them while we traveled, instead of trying to keep them happy from the front seat of the car.

After our 2 hour train ride, we made it to the Grand Canyon! It was certainly at trek, hiking up the stairs from the train depot to the Grand Canyon village! When we got to the top, I had to sit and take a breather, especially since I had been carrying Melanie! Of course the Canyon was beautiful! Savannah wanted to know who made the big hole in the ground.We got ourselves some lunch. Savannah had her favorite: a hot dog! And Melanie got a grilled cheese sandwich.

We walked up and down the Canyon and poor little Melanie was so tired that she fell asleep in the stroller! Notice that she is NOT wearing her sweater. She refused to wear it the entire time and just wanted her blankey put over her!I wanted a picture next to the Bright Angel trail head. My dad and I hiked this trail about 10 years ago! I can't believe that it's been that long! I am currently in no kind of shape to do any hike like this right now!Jon and Savannah stood in a really long line just to get us some ice cream! We didn't have much energy, so the ice cream was worth the wait.We got a finally look at the Canyon and this is about as close as we came to a family picture!Back on the train, we made a little bed for Savannah and she quickly crashed!Melanie was wide awake and got to have some of the sparkling cider that they served to everyone. She totally loved it!We thoroughly enjoyed the fiddler player that came through. He did a great job! Then they brought the train to a stop and we got to see some outlaws riding horses next to the train!They boarded the train and worked their way back through each car, robbing all of us!Savannah got woke up from her nap and was completely disoriented, but Melanie gave one of the outlaws a dollar! She wasn't quite sure what was going on; only that the bad guys had come through. The people sitting behind us told the outlaw that he should be ashamed for taking money from such a cute little girl!Then the Marshall came through the train looking for the outlaws. After a little while, he marched all of the outlaws back through the train, saying that he had caught them!Anyways, we had a fun time! The girls really enjoyed it! Here's us with the actual train that we rode on. And here we are with one of the train engines that they had back at the train depot in Williams.We then drove back to Flagstaff and had dinner with my sister again! She made it for us this time! Chicken Pasta Salad - one of Jon's favorites! Then we packed up all of our stuff and made the long drive home!

Free Giveaway

Are you interested in winning this beautiful piece of art?Matage Custom Framing is a custom frame store owned by Rob Brinton. I've known the Brintons for a long time and they have a wonderful family!

So, if you think that you would like to win this beautiful framed piece, then here's what you need to do:
1. Add Matage Framing as a link in your sidebar
2. Write a post to tell all of your friends about the giveaway
3. Email Rob and let him know you're participating

If you want the contest details from the original source, then check out Matage Framing. I'd love for all of you to check it out and participate, but I won't complain if you decide to slack off and let me win!

Our Vacation: Friday's Front Row

After our very fun trip to the zoo, Jon and I went with some friends to the Diamondbacks game! I love the Diamondbacks and Jon enjoys going to the game in style! So we got ourselves a table at Friday's Front Row, out in left field.



The food was great; much better than what we had eaten at the zoo! And we had a great time visiting with the Chapmans! Plus the Diamondback beat the Giants, 4- 2! It was lots of fun and nice to get out of the house without the kids and with some friends!

My sister even took the girls to the park to play while we were out! She even gave them a much needed bath. So there were no complaints from their end!