Our Christmas- 2010

We has a nice quiet Christmas here at home! It was a nice day just the four of us! We woke up early and opened presents and spent the day watching Oliver play with his toys! After Oliver took a short nap we headed out to the movies to see Yogi Bear! Oliver laughed and laughed! He really enjoyed it! We had a great day and hope you and your families enjoyed your Christmas too! We have been truly blessed this year and are so happy in our home here in Utah! We've made some great friends and although we missed our family we had a lovely day here just the four of us!

Merry Christmas!!

Isaac is 2 months old December 21, 2010

Issac turned two months old last week! He's growing so fast! He is such a sweet baby! He's been a little needy the past 3 weeks. He had a cold, ear infection and seems to be having some reflux issues. He is a trooper! I don't think I mentioned this before but Isaac was born with Pectus Excavatum (sunken chest). He will be able to lead a normal life but we did learn that we will always have to watch his weight to some extent. I'm not sure how you watch the weight of a breastfed infant but we'll see! He's smaller than Oliver was so that's a good thing!

Isaac's two month stats:

Weight: 12 lbs 12 ounces 75th percentile
Height: 23 inches long 75th percentile

We love our little peanut! He's brought so much joy to our little family!

Oliver's 3rd Birthday- November 4th 2010

Wow, time sure has gotten away from me. I am completely overwhelmed with two kids! So today I'm going to attempt to play catch up on my blog at least a little bit (just the big events not EVERY little thing)... and I'm even going to attempt to clean my house... wish me luck!

Oliver had his 3rd birthday on November 4th. He's such a big boy! I love my little man. He's becoming a good helper and is such a loving big brother. He loves baby Isaac! Since I was planning on having Isaac just three days before Oliver's birthday we didn't plan much. Which was good since I was still recovering when we did celebrate his birthday!

My mom was in town helping with the kids that week so it was nice that she was able to be here for Oliver's birthday! We picked up a Costco pizza and ate birthday cake! Then we decided at the spur of the moment to take a ride on the trax to temple square! Oliver loved it! We had a little train theme going because for his present he got a Chuggington train station and some trains! He had a very special day! We love our big boy!!

Halloween

Well, we didn't do much for Halloween this year. Since Isaac came early Berto took Oliver to the trunk or treat at the ward we had attended since June! (He went to ours but no one was there, weird!). They had fun. Oliver was super shy for some reason (So Berto tells me) Oliver was of course Harry Potter! I am so proud. I made his costume myself! Well, the robes I made anyway! I took Berto's gown from graduation and altered it to fit Oliver! He looked so stinking cute! Next year we're going to have much more Halloween fun!

Oliverisms

I am going to have to post a lot of these now I think. Oliver is becoming such a big boy. Of course today I'm posting it to remember how much I adore my big boy... after an hour and a half long battle to get him to take a nap which ended in a complete sobbing meltdown I need this post! :)

It took him more than two weeks to warm up to his baby brother! But NOW he adores him!

On Sunday Isaac was crying (a rarity for our little baby) and Oliver said "Don't cry baby Isaac you're safe!"

This morning I was sitting down to nurse Isaac... and Oliver said "Mom, I think Isaac wants his milk in a cup!"

Those are the two things that are sticking out in my mind right now. I really should write things down!

Oliver has embraced big brotherhood. This morning when he woke up he came over and started rubbing Isaac's back! And he keeps trying to help him play with the toys on his bouncy seat! Also, last night I had Issac kind of sitting up in our boppy pillow and Oliver came over and laid his head down on the side of the pillow!

Isaac Reed is HERE!!!!!

Isaac Reed was born on October 21st 2010. He weighed 7 lbs 2 ounces, was 19 inches long and came into the world at 4:56 am. We are so happy to have him here... even if we do have to share our anniversary with his birthday! :)

Things did not go exactly according to plan. Oliver was a c-section because he was breach so we were all scheduled for a repeat section for November 1st. As you can see we didn't exactly make it that far.

Around 12:30 am on October 21st I awoke to a gush and somehow managed to JUMP out of my bed! I very quickly realized my water had just broken! Berto had fallen asleep in Oliver's room while putting him to sleep (I have a feeling Oliver could sense something was coming because he had only fallen asleep maybe 30 minutes before). I went and woke Berto up and told him what was going on. We were both very near panicking. You're supposed to be unprepared for your first baby... not your second one! :) Since we have so recently moved here we weren't sure what to do with Oliver. We don't have any family close by and we have friends but didn't want to bother anyone in the middle of the night... so we had tentatively decided that I would do the birthing alone and Berto would remain with Oliver. We got to the hospital and they told us that Oliver was allowed to stay all the way until I was either pushing or being wheeled into the operating room. That was a HUGE relief! So we hung out in the labor and delivery room for a couple of hours. After we had been in the delivery room for probably an hour and a half my contractions started coming extremely STRONG and very close together. They were trying to hold off as long as possible on the c-section because I had, had a snack at 10 pm. Their goal was to do my c-section at 6:00 am... that didn't happen either. Once my contractions started coming so quickly they got the anesthesiologist in to put in an epidural to try and hold thing off for a couple more ours. That was probably around 3:30 am... well it took him over an hour and multiple pokes in my spine to finally get the catheter in place. By that point my contractions were about a minute apart and the last three I felt I had the urge to push. It was VERY close. I was nervous to try a VBAC and that was why we were still going with a c-section (although the nurses were setting up the L&D room because it was going to be so close). We made it into the operating room. They let Berto watch this time. Something he was very disappointed not to be able to do when we had Oliver. (Eeewwww) But he said they really had to work hard to get him out of the birth canal. Isaac was just a little over three weeks early and a pretty decent size! He had some fluid in his lungs which I understand can be normal for c-section births. He did have to spend about an hour in the NICU while they observed him and made sure it was all aspirated.

I had a slight complication. On Friday evening I got this KILLER headache. It was the most intense pain I've ever felt in my life. I could not sit up, tolerate sound or light. It was due to the trouble with the epidural/spinal tap. They poked a little hole in my spine and spinal fluid was leaking out and pulling on my brain causing the headache. Saturday afternoon they did a procedure where they sterily draw blood from the arm and inject it into the site of the epidural to clot the hole. Within about two hours I was headache free!

We came home on Sunday afternoon. And are so happy to be home!

Isaac is a sweet little baby. He is easy going and such a joy in our home. He goes 3-4 hours in between feedings around the clock which has been so nice and he even lets me put him down! He is such a different baby then my sweet Oliver!

Oliver is still adjusting to being a big brother but definitely loves little Isaac. If he doesn't know where Isaac is he asks "Where's baby Isaac?"

We are so grateful that Isaac is here healthy and happy! And next time I will be prepared for anything... I hope! :)

Which one will be bigger???

So today Lianna told me she thinks that this baby is going to be even bigger than Oliver was. All I have to say about that is YIKES. Oliver was 9 lbs 7 ounces. My belly was looking smaller for a while there... until the last couple of weeks it just popped out a ton. So today while Oliver was napping I decided to play around with photoshop and put these two pictures together. The one on the left is me at 39 weeks with Oliver. The one on the right is me at 37 weeks with Isaac.... which one do YOU think is going to be bigger???

I really need to remember to thank Berto for NOT telling me how big of a baby he was before we got married.... I sure am lucky to be the carrier of such HUGE babies! (Insert sarcasm here).

We are all still alive!

And just to prove it here's a picture of Oliver! We're getting nice and settled! I'll post a few pictures of our house soon! We're loving the space and the quiet pretty much just everything about where we are!

Here's a fun picture of Oliver. Him and I went to the free craft day at the Lakeshore Learning Center today! He had a ton of fun! Also, I finally made the blanket I've been itching to make! I've had the fabric for a couple of months... and yesterday I cut it, pinned it, tied it and finished it! YES!!!

PROGRESS

This is the front of the house!


This is the side yard! Check out the apple trees!


This is the kitchen!!

We moved to Utah just over two months ago. Since then we've felt kind of in LIMBO.. okay BIG TIME in limbo. Our very generous friend Alisa invited us to crash in her basement so we didn't have to add to our stress in finding a home before we moved. Since then it has felt as though one thing after another has happened. The BIGGEST thing is our car started acting up and it felt as though the transmission was going. We had already put one rebuilt transmission in it and decided it was NOT worth messing with again. So we sold it to Carmax just over two weeks ago. We acquired a rental car and the car searching began. We had one stipulation, the car had to paid for with the cash that we were given for our car as we do not want a car payment at this time. This did NOT leave very much room for choice AND it made car buying scarier than it has ever been for either of us. We didn't know who we could trust and felt like every car we looked at was junk and would fall apart in minutes after we bought it. After a lot of searching and a lot of prayer we were exasperated to say the least. I was feeling so discouraged. This was about a week after we sold the car. There was no turning back. That very evening Berto's mom called to tell us that his aunt decided she wanted to sell her low miles 1998 Honda Accord. We talked about it and with the price she was selling it for we could afford to fly Berto to AZ to pick up the car and drive it back. It was a major miracle for us. So we have a car that runs well and will be reliable and we are so grateful!

In the middle of all this we were still in our house/apartment search! Another thing that was adding to this pregnant chicks unwanted and unneeded stress. A couple of weeks ago I went to lunch with a friend from my mission. In passing she said she wished she knew a couple of months before we moved that we were moving because they had rented this great little old house in Murray for dirt cheap and it helped them save money to buy a house of their own. Well, I of course put that thought out of my mind thinking that there is no way such a great deal would still be around several months later.... well last week Katrina emailed me and told me that she had spoken to her father in law (who works for the landlords) and the house was still unoccupied. She put me in touch with the landlords and we are moving in on September 27th! We couldn't be more thrilled! The rent is inexpensive and we will have a 1900 square foot 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house to live in with a nice sized yard! It is going to be heaven!

We feel so blessed! On Friday I am meeting the landlord at the house to sign the lease and give them our deposit. They are giving us the keys that day so we can take our time moving in the little things before we need help with all of our bigger items!

It is so nice to feel like we're making progress! I was starting to feel like we weren't going to find the "right" place for our family before I have this baby and thankfully things are all falling into place! We will be moved in and settled with plenty of time to spare! I'm so happy!

Here are the three pictures we took of the house. For some reason we only took one inside of the kitchen! It's an older house but has been well taken care of!

This and That

This is me at 29 weeks! I'm feeling pretty good! A little smaller than I was with Oliver which is NICE!


This was this morning at 30 weeks!!


This morning we decided to walk to church! It was fun! When I told Oliver we were walking he said "WOW, that's AMAZING!!!" He loved it! And so did we! It was a beautiful morning!

We haven't had anything too exciting to post about lately! Today I'm 30 weeks! Yay only 8 or 9 more weeks until little Isaac joins our family! We're so excited!!

Here are just a couple of pictures!

A couple recent Oliverisms

Yesterday:
Me: "Oliver, did you have fun in nursery today?"
Oliver: "Yeah, I played with the kids."
Me: Did you learn anything? Did you learn about Jesus?"
Oliver: "Yeah."
Me: "What did you learn?"
Oliver: "Jesus is up there" (Pointing to the ceiling!)

He's got a point! It was so cute!

A few weeks ago we were in Salt Lake and drove past the Salt Lake City Temple. When Oliver saw it he said "WOW MAMA A CASTLE!!!"

Today:
Oliver was pretending he was a doctor. I randomly decided to say "I love you Oliver Cole." He said "NO MAMA, DOCTOR OLIVER!"

Things for baby...

I have a growing list of little projects I want to do for baby Isaac! First on the list is a blanket! I got the ADORABLE fabric above! I saw it and LOVED it and didn't buy it... after a few days when I was STILL thinking about it I decided to just go buy it! I love the puppies and the stripes coordinate PERFECTLY! I can't wait to see it all finished. Also on my list is a car seat canopy. I was thinking about making a whole new car seat cover for our infant seat ... but I decided that was just too much and that a little canopy would be the cute touch I was looking for and it would be easier AND cheaper! AND it would keep strangers, weather and germs off of our little bundle of joy! I also want to make some cute burp clothes and about a thousand other little things! Guess I'd better get started... and maybe should get a part time job to pay for all the fabric I want! lol! ;)

Movie Night at Capitol Hill

Last night we went up to Capitol Hill in Salt Lake and watched a movie on the lawn! It was so much fun! this is just one of the many movie at the park type things they have all around us all summer long! It was great! The capitol was a beautiful location and best of all it was FREE!!! Oliver had fun running around before the movie started! We picked Berto up from work and took a picnic dinner! It was great!! Here are a couple of pictures we took while we were waiting for it to get dark!

Two year old trials and finger painting

Since moving to Utah we've done A LOT! We've been enjoying having so many options so close by! It's been wonderful! This week has been no exception! Since my first trimester was so difficult and Oliver and I basically just sat around the house for four months, I decided when we got here that we'd do something fun together every morning after we drop Berto off at work. Most mornings we go hang out at a local McDonalds playland! He LOVES it! We call it the inside park and he loves to play with the kids. We were there a few days ago and there were some frustrating kids (who's parents were of course not doing their job). One little boy was into pushing and another one thought karate kicking was a good idea. Oliver handles things pretty well. He just gets up and walks away usually. (Sometimes he hits back but what can I say?) He's pretty good natured and doesn't cry or get nasty. One thing that Oliver does do is hit, but it's not to be mean. He gets SO excited to play with other kids (especially girls) that his hands start going and he "hits" the kids. It isn't hard and it isn't meant to be mean but it happens. We try time and time again to teach him that hitting is not ok, and are trying to figure out how to make our words sink in. Today we went over to Mc Donalds after dropping Berto off. There was one little girl who was probably 4 or 5 and her little brother who was probably 1. The little girl was so happy to play with Oliver... until a couple of other kids showed up. They were all four playing together fine until Oliver got over excited and hit the new little girl on the back. (I am not an irresponsible parent and I keep a close eye on what's going on and saw everything that was happening). I got up to have him say sorry and to remind him not to hit... WELL the first little girl comes up to me and starts saying that Oliver was hitting, kicking and pushing her. I was at the end of my rope and decided that it was time for Oliver and I to leave. I had him say sorry to the little girl he did hit and we left. Not without a fight of course. It was such a disaster. Oliver screamed his little heart out and balled his little eyes out. I guess I don't know exactly how to handle those situations. We're trying to teach Oliver what is acceptable but then he of course has the behavior he learns from all the other little kids... and then the nasty little kids that make up stories. I know this is going to be an ongoing battle of parenthood ... but any advice? What should I do? I know Oliver is only two and his behavior is completely normal and that part of the issue is kids think he's older because he's so tall and they don't really understand why he still acts like a younger kid. Anyway, once Oliver calmed down and we had a little talk I decided to do something fun at home with him...

So we attempted FINGER PAINTING!! We do art projects from time to time. And we've used paint... but I've always used paint in a very controlled environment because I haven't wanted to worry about a huge mess... well today I decided to get a little crazy and let him just go at it! Oliver had a BLAST!! We spread a big blanket out on the floor and I stripped him down to his pull up and he went crazy! He had a blast! He painted pictures for all of his grandparents, aunt Lianna, uncle Donnie and of course daddy! What fun we had... and clean up... well he just got his bath a few hours early!

Dino Museum

Waiting to meet up with our friends! (Nice face Oliver!)

The crazy boys! Oliver is the youngest! But look how tall he is!

Digging in the mud!! I think this may have been their favorite part!!



Digging for fossils... another crowd pleaser!!


The moms! We had so much fun catching up! It was like we just went to lunch last week not years ago!!

Today was the best day!! Oliver and I met two of my dear friends from high school (who I haven't seen in YEARS) at the dinosaur museum! We had a blast! The boys were all born the same year (I'm pretty sure) and they all had a blast too!! It was a great day!

Thanks Jen and DeDe!! We had a great day!!

Aquarium and Big Cottonwood Canyon

We've been enjoying all of the inexpensive and CLOSE family/kid friendly things to do here in UT! So we've been going a little overboard with activities. I think we've felt so deprived living so far away from everything that we're trying to get it all out of our system!

On Monday (Berto's day off) we went to the Aquarium! I was so excited! I knew Oliver would love it and he did! It was a great time! After we left Oliver conked out in the car (it was naptime) so we decided to head up big cottonwood canyon for a little drive! We've it was BEAUTIFUL!! We loved it! Oliver woke up during our drive and LOVED driving in the mountains and loved looking at everything. He would've been down for an impromptu hike... if only his big ol' pregnant mom had worn the right shoes! :)

Attack of the ducks

Last week one day we were at the park in the neighborhood here and we were visited by about 20 ducks. There's a little loche right next to the park that the ducks hang out at and I guess they decided they wanted to pay us a visit! We didn't have any bread or anything with us but decided to bring some to them the next night!

We had a pretty fun time feeding the ducks. They are crazy though! One pecked my foot two different times and one got Oliver's finger! And they were super mean to the little baby ducks! As fun as it was... we'll probably stick to feeding them through the fence at the canal down the road... it's a little safer! :)

Fourth of July Celebrations!!

(This is a horrible picture but we rarely end up with one of all three of us I had to post it anyway!)

On Saturday after we picked Berto up from work we headed over to Sugarhouse Park to watch their fireworks! We took a blanket and got ourselves seats on the grass! It was a neat park and there were TONS of people!! Oliver took every opportunity to run around and wear his dad out up until the fireworks began! Just before they started Berto grabbed us some yummy ice cream and we enjoyed some of that while we watched the fireworks!

This is the first year Oliver has really gotten to see the fireworks! His first 4th of July he was 8 months old and by the time the fireworks came around he was a mess so we took him home. Last year he conked out in the car while my mom and I (Berto was working) were on our way to try and watch them in Arizona.

We'd been hearing fireworks for a few nights before and when we dropped Berto off on Saturday morning at work he told Oliver when we pick him up that evening we were going to watch the fireworks. Of course I heard nothing but "mama, when sun going down so we can watch fireworks??" ALL DAY!!!

Well the fireworks did not disappoint Oliver! He loved every minute of them! He was saying the cutest things (I can't remember exactly what he said)! And kept pointing and smiling and laughing and yelling! It was so much fun to see the joy that the fireworks brought to our little boy!!