Memorial Day

Being true to form, our little baby decided that he was ready to come on his due date, which happened to be Memorial Day. This is baby #3 that has had me up at 2 am with contractions on the exact day that he/she was expected to arrive. I got Jon up around 3:30 and after getting ready and the kids taken care of, we headed to the hospital around 4:30 am. Once I was checked-in and changed, a nurse came in to check me. Before she even hooked me up to any monitors or anything, she asked me if I was just there because it was my due date. I told her that I would have waited until a more reasonable hour to come in if I was just there because I expected my baby to come on his due date. But since I had dilated to a 5 and my contractions were about 5 minutes apart, they agreed to keep me. Unfortunately, since it was still so early in the morning, then my doctor wasn't on call and since it was a holiday when the clock reached 7 am, then he still wasn't on call. I reassured the nurse that the doctor had informed me that Dr. Tutt had nothing going on, since his wife was off at Girl's Camp. But she decided that she didn't want to call him very early and wanted to give him a chance to sleep in on his day off. So she called him around 8 am and he didn't return her page until around 8:30. Apparently he had got up early and gone on a bike ride, only about 16 miles! He said to give him an hour to get showered and changed and he would come and check me. He showed up shortly after 10 am and said that I was at a 7 . He broke my water then, which is what I was really waiting for. In fact, my contractions had slowed down so much that they had put me on pitocin to keep my contractions going. Since Dr. Tutt had nothing better to do, he sat and visited with Jon, my mom, and I about Girl's Camp and hiking at Camp Lomia, and also scouts and other random things. About 45 minutes after my water was broke, Dr. Tutt said that I looked like I was almost ready, so he went and changed. By the time he came back I was definitely ready and sweet little Owen was born at 11:07 am. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, which tied Savannah for my smallest baby. He was also 22 inches long, which was an inch smaller than Spencer. I was so happy to finally get Owen here and extremely grateful at how quickly he came. Of course, Jon was a happy daddy too. The girls were so excited to come and meet baby Owen. They love him so much and want to hold him all of the time. Here is our most recent family picture. Spencer liked meeting Owen, but wasn't as entertained by him as the girls were. The hospital was like a 2 year old's playground.I wanted to check out of the hospital the next day, June 1st, but Owen was jaundiced and so they had us stay longer. You can kind of see how yellow he was in this picture.It was really funny because the 2nd night, my nurse was someone that I knew from my parent's ward. She actually came and helped me out quite a bit when Savannah was very first born and was giving me trouble with nursing once I was home. So it was fun having Tracy check on us and she was too sweet to take Owen down to the nursery so I could get some extra sleep. Owen was still a little jaundiced the next day, but they let us come home and I took him to the pediatrician the following day just to make sure that he was doing alright. We've been doing quite well. Of course, I would love to get some more sleep, but Owen is quite a good sleeper. He definitely sleeps well whenever anyone snuggles with him. He loves being snuggled! The girls are always asking to hold him. Savannah is quite a good little helper. She seems to be able to keep Owen entertained too and can occasionally get him to smile. Melanie always has to be as close to Owen as possible. She always wants to kiss him and hold his hand. She drives me crazy when I'm trying to nurse. But Mel is a sweetheart and just loves little Owen! Spencer loves Owen too, usually. He's a little rough with him, so I fear for Owen's life sometimes. Spencer even tries hard to say Owen, which comes out as: O-hmm. Sorry, no pictures of Spencer and Owen. I don't trust Spencer with Owen long enough to take a picture. But we all love having Owen around. And I couldn't help but put this "Rad like Dad" shirt on Owen for Father's Day. He just can't wait to grow up and be like Daddy! We love our little O-hmm!

The Gig is Up

Savannah's tooth was extremely loose today. With the way she was going, I figured that she would loose it tomorrow. But it seriously looked like it was just going to fall out of her head.She totally babied that tooth all day. I told her that she needed to twist it or at least let me touch it. But instead she went and got herself a paper towel, folded it up, and kept it in her mouth. She said it kept the tooth from moving and hurting. It certainly kept her quiet for a few hours. But then we went over to my parent's house and she picked an apple off of their tree. A few bites into the apple and the tooth was gone. Not only did it fall out, but it was no where to be found. We tried to convince her that she probably swallowed it, but she's still not sure. All she knows for sure is that her tooth is gone and it wasn't as painful as she thought it would be and it didn't hardly bleed at all. Of course we had to leave the tooth fairy a not explaining the situation; hopefully she'll understand! In the end, we have a very happy girl. And she had to remind me that she won...still no baby, but she lost her tooth! Even though, she told me this morning that if I went to the hospital on the same day that she lost her tooth, then it would be a tie. So I guess that I have about an hour or so left, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to make that deadline.

The Race is On

For those of you that are anxiously waiting, still no baby. The 20th came and went with no hope of our little guy coming. I am currently shooting for the 24th-26th. A girl can hope, right?

Well I told Savannah that we would have a race. She has her first loose tooth. So I told her that we would see if her tooth would fall out first or if the baby would come first. I know that that sounds ridiculous, because you would think that it would definitely be her tooth. But I'm telling you, that she has been claiming that that tooth was loose for the last 3 months. There were so many times when Jon and I would feel it and tell her that it wasn't loose and she would say that our fingers were too big and that we just couldn't feel it wiggle like she could. Well, it is finally loose, but it's been about the same amount of looseness since Wednesday night. I don't think that she wiggles it at all during the day. So it remains in places. In fact, on Wednesday she was practically in tears because she thought that she could feel a hole in her tooth with her tongue. I told her that it was just the space under the tooth and that it was just fine. But what would I know? It's not like I've ever lost any teeth. Nope, she wanted me to schedule her an appointment with the dentist. Luckily Daddy walked in about 2 minutes later and was able to resolve her fears. But the tooth still sits there. She is afraid to loose it, even though she really wants the tooth fairy to come.

So the race is on. Baby vs. Tooth. Feel free to vote for who you think will make their appearance first. Jon's dad says that it will hands down be the tooth, but I have my doubts, especially at the rate that the tooth is currently going...not that I have any room to talk though!

Nope, not yet

For those of you that were wondering, nope I haven't popped yet. I guess that I technically have 2 more weeks, but I keep telling myself that I only have about 1. I don't go early. Both Savannah and Spencer were born on their due dates, and Melanie was only early because we had her induced since Jon was taking the Bar on her due date. But I'm secretly hoping that our little dude comes this Thursday, the 20th, because it would make all of our family birthdays line up so nice and neat.
Savannah: July 28th
Melanie: July 20th
Spencer: May 28th
So that must mean that this little guy is going to come May 20th, right? Plus Jon's birthday is August 20th and our anniversary is December 20th. So I guess that I'm slightly fond of the 20th. Just don't tell my mom, because she'll be out of town that day...going up to Utah for my cousin's wedding.
However, I'm thinking that I'll actually go around the 24th-26th, just because I think that this due date isn't quite as accurate as my other ones. Jon thinks I'm silly, but I keep telling him that my super power is willing the baby to come on the date that I want him to come. I guess that only time will tell. And I'll let you know when he actually gets here.

Savannah's Nail

I know that I've become an awful blogger, but I've had some issues downloading pictures onto my computer and I really don't like posting without a picture to go with it.

Well, here is a before and and after shot of Savannah's little pinky nail, or maybe I should say an after and then a recovery picture. You may recall that she somehow managed to partially rip her nail off while riding/falling off of a bike. The entire nail didn't come off, but it was still connected on the outside of the finger. We had to wash it really carefully for about a week and a half. Then we just had to make sure that it was bandaged well so that the nail wouldn't snag on anything and come completely off. After a week of that, then we've just tried to keep a bandaid on it. It's been about a month and a half, but that little thing finally fell off yesterday. She was so worried that it would hurt when it came off, but it didn't hurt a bit. And I have to say, that we're all happy that the little thing has finally given up it's hold. We told Savannah to throw the nail away; instead, she decided to put it under her pillow and see if a Nail Fairy would come and give her some money for it. Jon and I had a good laugh about that this morning and informed her that we would all be rich if we got money for every nail or nail trimming that we had. But hooray for no more bandaids!

Savannah's Rough Week

Savannah has had a rough little time lately, mostly with causing herself physical harm. I'm not sure if it's a Kindergarten rite of passage, but Savannah seems to think that she has to master the monkey bars. She's getting very good at them. But she has also got some callused blisters going on. The week before she went back to school, she decided to peel off the skin on one of these blisters. It was not a wise choice. Her poor little hand was very sore and I wasn't quite sure how to keep the blister covered, since I couldn't seem to get a bandaid to stay across the top of her palm. It is healing relatively well and has required only a few trimmings of dried skin that continues to peel back.

That was on a Friday, the following Monday Savannah was playing at her cousin's house. She fell off of his scooter and the fingernail of her pinky finger snagged on something. She ripped half of the nail off. The nail didn't completely come off, so we've had to be careful to not let it snag on anything else. It did bleed quite a bit though. I think that we've kind of got it under control though. It requires a daily (or twice a day) cleaning and bandage change. We're trying hard to make sure that it doesn't get infected. I was pretty sure that the nail was going to fall off, but now I'm not so sure as to how it's going to heal. It's been a week and a half since this happened and I think that it is finally not causing her pain even when we change the bandage.

The Wednesday after her nail occurrence, it was bedtime and Savannah came out of her room crying. I was a mutual and missed this little exchange. But she told Jon that she was scared. He asked why and she said that she had swallowed a toy. This is a first for us. I think that I had told Savannah about 10 times in the 2 weeks prior to this happening to stop putting things in her mouth that didn't belong there...i.e. toys, coins, and everything else that's small. But she was now scared because she didn't know what was going to happen to her. She told Jon that it was a small toy. So he told her that she would digest it and then poop it out. She was still worried about this, but he reassured her that it wouldn't be a big deal, but that the toy was gone for good. I questioned her the following morning and found out that it was a small Polly Pocket accessory, so nothing to worry about, it was definitely small.

Not that this is a big deal, but on Thursday Savannah came home from school with a huge paper cut on the end of her middle finger. I think that by the end of the week we had about 3 bandages on her little hands.

And then to top it all off, on Friday night, Jon and I went and played games at a friend's house. Just as we're about to walk out the door Savannah says, "Mom, I just threw-up." Sure enough, she had. And being the awful parents that we are, we left her with a babysitter and a barf bowl. I really didn't think that she would hurl again, but boy was I wrong. Luckily, she's really good at getting it in the bowl. But I did feel pretty bad for our babysitter. I certainly wouldn't want to have to deal with a barfy kid while babysitting. But to top it off, before we went to bed that night, I checked on Savannah and she smelt just awful. Yeah, she had diarrhea too. I had to drag her out of bed and wash her all off. We got her sheets all changed, but she stayed up a little longer because she didn't want to fall asleep with wet hair. Unfortunately she drank some water at this time and then threw-up again. Jon was a great daddy and did a run to WalMart at 12:30 to pick up some Sprite and Pedialite. Too bad she had fallen back asleep by the time he got back about 15 minutes later. She was also very upset that she missed a birthday party and a primary activity the next day. But she was feeling much better by Saturday evening. Unfortunately for us, Savannah decided to share her fun stomach bug with the rest of us.

Savannah is finally on the up and up. I'm hoping that her little rough patch here is over. Now all we have to worry about is her little finger healing properly.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

For those of you that have been dying to know how I've been feeling, well here it is.

Mostly, I've been tired. Melanie is such a little angel to just sit and look at books or color or watch a movie and let me nap. Rarely has she actually joined me, but she always lets me sleep and I don't have to worry that she's getting into trouble. Unfortunately, I've been so tired by 9:30 that I've fallen asleep while the kids watch cartoons. However, Spencer is not so nice to me while I'm napping and is usually trying to wake me up during those times.

I'm also starting to feel a little bigger. None of my regular pants fit comfortably, so I don't even bother wearing them. I drug my box of maternity clothes down. Luckily I organized it very nicely last time and was able to just grab a few pairs of pants off the top and so they are keeping me happy for now. I really do dread when I have to make the full switch to maternity clothing. Although it is fun to see some of my old clothes again that I haven't worn in a while.

Nausea is never fun, but has always been a part of my pregnant life. I have felt very blessed to not toss my cookies everyday or even close this time. I have had a number of very miserable points, mostly every evening. But I have actually been able to think of things that I would be willing to eat, lots of refried beans this time, and then keep it down. So far, I've only lost it 3 times, which is a great record for me. I used to be happy if I only lost it 3 times each week, but I'll take 3 times in total for this time around. Since I am now at 13 weeks, I'm hoping that the nausea ends soon. I know that Jon hopes so too, so he doesn't have to stay up and do the dishes every night. But I love him dearly for it and it really has helped me keep it together in the morning.

The girls are excited for a baby. Savannah says she wants it to be a boy, because she loves Spencer. Melanie was insistent that it is a girl and wouldn't let me talk of the possibility of having a boy; however, after listening to Savannah talk about having a boy a few times, I think that Melanie may have been won over to the boy vote. As for me, I'd love to have another boy so that Spencer could have another little guy to play with. He's only a year and a half and he's already rougher and tougher than Melanie by far! I think that he tackles/clobbers her at least once, if not more, on a daily basis. Of course, we'd all take a little girl in a heartbeat! You can never turn down a little sweet thing! Savannah is already asking if the baby is kicking and if she can feel it. I informed her that she's going to have to wait a while longer for that.

So that is the low-down on us. We're managing and hanging in there, some days better than others, but we're all still alive. Thanks for all of the love and concern!

Benefit Dinner and Auction

Need somewhere to go for your date tonight? There is going to be a benefit dinner and auction for my sister-in-law's mother tonight. Go if you can...it's dinner for a good cause! Click Here for a list of the auction items (there's a bunch of good stuff) or to buy tickets online.

Help Cancer Patient

My Sister-in-Law's Mother was diagnosed with cancer about 2 months ago. She is currently responding well to treatment, but costs are of course adding up. Here is a flier for one of the fundraisers that they are doing. I know that lots of you live just around the corner from here, so if you could, go eat at Baja Fresh in a little over a week, Monday, May 25th. Make sure you take the flier with you! Let me know if you need one. You can also check out her blog: http://www.margaretmanning.blogspot.com/ if you are interested in donating or can attend some of the other fund-raising activities that they have planned.

Being Sick

The girls ate so much candy on Easter that we wouldn't have been surprised if either of them tossed their cookies. But let me tell you, I was completely caught off guard when I checked on Spencer before going to bed that night and found him asleep in his own barf. The poor baby didn't have any treats at all, but he had hurled his entire dinner all over everything. Why does it always have to be tomato based? He woke up the next day with diarrhea too. I figured it was just a bug and he'd be better the next day. But when the vomiting and diarrhea continued into Tuesday, then I took Spencer to the doctor. The doctor said to just keep him hydrated and sent us on our way. We got back home from the doctor and Savannah started calling to me from the bathroom. She had actually thrown-up in the toilet! I didn't even know she wasn't feeling well, but I was so proud of her for running to the bathroom. We all took naps and Melanie woke up and tried to find me while I was feeding Spencer and ended up barfing on our family room floor. I guess that new carpet had to get broken in some time. Melanie ended up throwing-up 4 times in 2.5 hours. Luckily, the last 3 times were all in her barf bowl. She got over it the quickest and didn't throw-up anymore after that. Savannah and Spencer continued to take turns vomiting. I don't know how many times I washed all of Spencer's bedding. Savannah was so great to try and make it to the bathroom or use a bowl. It took a week, but we finally got over it! I knew that the girls weren't totally feeling back to themselves when I found them both passed out on the floor while watching a movie. I'm just so glad that we're all feeling better. Except Spencer now has a cold and the girls have started calling him The Snot Monster!