If I Only Knew How to Sew

For REAL - is this the cutest costume or what?

I SO wish I has some sewing skills like Heather Bailey.

Take a Hint

I prefer not to dwell on the subject, but I wanted to recount two amusing conversations I've had this week.

First was with a Jehovah's Witness who stopped me right after I dropped Ryan off at his preschool. I was just putting Millie back in her car seat and turned around to find the two women standing and waiting for me. I greeted them and the one lady asked, "Is that your baby?"
"Yes, she's seven weeks old."
"Oh, you just had a baby?"
"Yes, I sure did."
"You look like you just had a baby."
"Yep."
"Well, actually you look really good for just having a baby. My daughter had a big stomach for a long time afterwards."
"Thanks."
(Or no thanks)

Next was Ryan. (While rubbing my stomach.)
"Mom, when is your tummy going to be flat?"
"After I eat right and get some exercise."
"Well, it's still kinda big."
"I know, it got stretched out when Millie was growing inside. It will get smaller with time."

Now, I will ignore the comments from people that go something like, "Whatever Jen, you look fabulous!" Because quite frankly, I know that I don't look fabulous, but I also know that I don't look awful either. I don't need encouragement or sympathy or anything. My self-esteem is still intact and I realize that I still have a good 15 pounds to lose. I'll get there. I got back after my other pregnancies.

Those kind of comments (truthful kinds) don't hurt my feelings at all. Just keeping it real, right?

Emilee is 6 Weeks Old

Some baby highlights:

• I'm pretty sure she hasn't reached 10 pounds yet
• Still wears newborn sized clothes
  
• Smiles a few times a day
• Is very predictable during the night - eats at 10:00pm, 4:00am, 6:00am with few exceptions
  
• Gags on any type of pacifier
• Will very likely have blue eyes
• Still has baby acne and gets a heat rash instantaneously
• Has an awful breastfeeding latch - but nurses in 5 minutes flat without ever wanting both sides in a single meal
• Gets hiccups after every meal
• Sleeps like a rock in a carseat
  
• Has an "outie" bellybutton
• Is super alert when she's awake, but still sleeps around 20 hours every day.
• It's SUPER hard to get a flattering picture of this girl (Where's my mom when I need her?)
  

(Oh, and thanks to Dad, Ryan has taken to calling her "Millicent")

"Uh Oh"

Moments after being passed the bread during the Sacrament, Katie says in a distressed (but quiet) voice, " Uh oh, I swallowed a Polly Pocket shoe."

Apparently she'd been chewing on one before she ate the bread and it all went down together. It was one moment where I could easily say, "Oh well," and get on with life. I knew it wouldn't get stuck anywhere - those things are the smallest objects on the planet, and it didn't have any sharp edges. Heck, we didn't even have it's match in the first place. No stress, but an amusing sort of moment.

A Story From My Childhood

Tonight we had Family Home Evening in the Park.

This is a ward activity where we all meet for a potluck BBQ at a nearby park. Ryan had a little baby doll in the car and asked if he could take it with us to the park. I told him it was fine but that he might lose it. He insisted that he'd be very careful about it. "Okay, but don't be sad if you lose it," I warned.

We left around 8:00pm so it was dark. I reminded Ryan to remember the little doll so he ran off to get it. He came back and told me he couldn't find it because it was so dark.
"Is Dad's flashlight still in the car?" he asked.
"Wow," I said, "this reminds me of a story my Dad used to tell me all the time before bed. Do you want me to tell it to you?"

So, as we walked to the car and found a flashlight, I began the story.

"Once upon a time, there was a girl named Sally. She had a doll named Sandy that she took everywhere she went. She loved Sandy so much. Sandy was there when Sally was sleeping, eating, and playing. One day, they were playing at a park near Sally's house. They played on the swings, the slide, the sandbox, the monkey bars, the teeter-totter, and went on the merry-go-round. They were having such a fun time when a little boy showed up.

"Hi, my name is Ryan," the boy said. "I just moved here and don't know anyone yet. Do you want to play with me?" "Sure," Sally replied. She put Sandy down on a park bench. Sally and Ryan played on the swings, the slide, the sandbox, the monkey bars, the teeter-totter, and went on the merry-go-round. They were having such a fun time when Sally heard her mother calling her. "Saaally... time to come Hooome." "Oh, I've got to home Ryan, I hear my Mom calling," Sally said. "I'll see you another day."

This whole time we are walking the park with the flashlight trying to find the little doll. We are shinning it around on all the park equipment and the field. My kids are looking but are mesmerized by the story.

Sally hurried home because she always obeyed her mom. Her family ate dinner and Sally went upstairs to brush her teeth, but realized that she couldn't find Sandy. She went downstairs and asked her mom if she knew where Sandy was. Her mother said, "Maybe you left her at the park." Sally's dad got out his flashlight and walked her over to the park to see if they could find Sandy. They looked on the swings, the slide, the sandbox, the monkey bars, the teeter-totter, the merry-go-round, and even the park bench. Sandy wasn't anywhere. Sally's dad said, "Sorry Sally, we'll have to look again tomorrow when it is light outside."

Now, we have located the doll and we are walking back to the car, still telling the story.

They went home and Sally cried herself to sleep that night. She missed Sandy so much. In the morning, she slowly walked down the stairs and started eating the cereal that her mom had poured for her. Then she heard a knock at the door. And who do you think it was?? RYAN and SANDY! Ryan said, "Hi Sally, you left Sandy at the park last night and I didn't want her to get lonely so I took her home with me." Sally was SO happy and gave Sandy a big hug. "I love you Sandy," she said, "I'll never leave you anywhere ever again."

I asked Ryan, "Does that remind you of what happened tonight?" He said in a super excited voice, "Yes, and I'll always remember that story! When I'm a Dad I'm going to tell it to MY kids every night." I told him that it would make Grandpa really happy. ;) He asked me if I would tell it again when they went to bed. They have heard this story plenty of times before, but now he had a real life experience to relate it to and I think that made him pretty excited. Family rituals like that are pretty fun to pass along.

Keeping Us On Our Toes

Are you wondering how things are going with three kids? Wonderfully. We aren't losing any sleep at night, Emilee eats well, and is very predictable during the day. She is still sleeping tons and isn't fussy as long as I respond to her quickly. I feel much more laid back as the mother of a newborn now than I did when my other two were babies. I'm really happy. She is 5 weeks old and will smile at me every once in a while. I am really looking forward to regular social smiling and for Millie to fill out a little more and have a round face. She's still so scrawny to me. ;)

Meanwhile, the older two are giving us a run for our money.

Ryan started swim lessons two weeks ago. Before the lessons started, he was still afraid to go under the water. Now, after 4 lessons, he begs to go to the pool EVERY day because he is confident enough to jump off the side of the pool into the water and swim over to the steps. He loves to dive down and get rings off of the bottom step but he can't quite get himself under the water far enough to get rings from the bottom of the pool. My point is, that he now tells us every day that he can swim and is a bit over-confident.

Last night we took the kids to the pool and they were piddling around on the steps while Derek sat out and watched them. Katie walked off of the step and was under water for a few seconds. Derek jumped up and ran over to save her but slipped on the pool deck (remember why they say "no running") and fell. He jumped up again and was able to get her out before she swallowed too much water. She was probably under for a total of 5 seconds, but it totally went in slow motion. Didn't take her long to recover - but it gave us all a good scare.


Then tonight, I was giving the kids their vitamins and was playing around with Ryan. I held up the vitamin and he opened his mouth for me to give it to him. I pretended to give it to him but took it away when he was about to close his mouth. I did that a few times while he was laughing about it and then the time when I decided to let go, I didn't want him to bite me and I dropped it into his mouth. Unfortunately, it went right to the back of his throat and he started choking on it. I'll spare you the details, but basically, I was 3 seconds away from starting the Heimlich maneuver. I put the baby down on the floor, got behind him, tried to get his hand out of his mouth so he wouldn't push it in farther, and was ready to start when he managed to get it out himself. Another brush with death. That one also lasted probably 4 or 5 seconds, but it sure made my heart pound. I could see how scared he was and didn't know how long I had before he'd pass out.

Life is fragile - they keep reminding me. I get the point.

Oh, To Be a Hamster

We fully expected this "fun roller" to last a grand total of one day. We knew it would pop from kids jumping all over it. To our surprise, it's still kicking after 4 different days of use.

Little Miss Afro

These pictures are all pretty much the same, but she's my baby - how can I possibly decide which is my favorite?

I want to draw your attention to her hair. Does it look curly to you? Now look back at my first post and notice it straight. What do you think?

To me, it appears that the top is curly, though the sides behave much more straight. If I let it go 4 or 5 days without washing, shell get a great Kewpie doll look with a fabulous curled fauxhawk going on. I was a bit distraught at first - too much maintenance. But I have to admit that it's grown on me quite a bit. The headband seems to tame it - but it's the only one I own so it's getting a LOT of use. I wonder what will become of the curls when all of her hair starts falling out. Will they return? It's anyone's guess.

Admit it - she's cute.

Our Three Babies

Here is a bit of a comparison shot of my three kids. Do you see any resemblance?

Silly Millie

Katie Girl

Rhino

Emilee's Birth Story

Millie's birth was my hardest and longest so far. At about 6:00 Tuesday night I decided that I was probably going into labor that night. I had some strong contractions but they were irregular, still, it seemed that it was a little different than days before. At 8:00 my contractions were at about 3 minutes apart and my Mom took my kids over to a friend's house to spend the night. Once she left, the contractions went to more like 20 minutes apart. We went for a walk to try and get them going again and they started coming more regularly. I told Derek and my Mom to try and get some sleep while they could. They napped for about 2 hours while I tried to relax through the contractions. Right around midnight I woke Derek up and told him we might as well go to the hospital since they were back to 3 minutes apart.

When we got there, my contractions went back down to every 20 minutes or so and I was only dilated to a 5. I think my body sort of shut down because I was in an unfamiliar place. I was in a VERY bad mood and just wanted to go home. After we did all the checking in, I tried to get comfortable in the hospital room so that I could labor, but the floor was so hard and the rocking chair didn't have a pad on it, and I didn't want to be stuck in the hospital bed, etc. The only place I could go to "escape" the hospital was in the shower. Unfortunately, the nurse came in every 30 minutes to monitor me and the baby. They didn't have a portable/hand held monitor so I'd have to get out of the shower and sit on the bed each time I was monitored. It really "threw off my groove." Which made me much grouchier.

At the point when I was transitioning, I was supposed to get a 20 minute stretch of reading from the monitor (my arch nemesis) but it had to be a perfect stretch so I was hooked up to the darn thing for close to an hour during the hardest part of labor. I couldn't get comfortable and didn't have the presence of mind to rip off the monitors and get back in the shower so that I could take care of myself.

Finally, right before 7am I was ready to push. From the time I started pushing to the time that she was completely born was less than a minute. I had notions of pushing in a slow and controlled manner to help prevent tearing, but to no avail. The pain was fierce enough that I couldn't help but push with all my might so that the whole thing could be over and I could hold a baby. Emilee was born at 6:57am on July 30th. I had never been so happy to see a baby before. I had waited 5 extra days and worked for over 13 hours of labor in order for her to get here.

Unfortunately, I tore a small amount and it just so happened that the tear went right into an artery. Which caused me to lose about a liter of blood by the time they figured out what had happened and were able to sew me up. My blood pressure dropped to about 70/40 and I passed out for a second. They had to pump 3 bags of fluids in me to get my blood pressure back to normal, but luckily I was able to avoid a transfusion. There were 4 times in the hospital where I came close to passing out, but other than that, I felt like a million bucks.

It made for a longer recovery. I'll be anemic for a while and I was told to take it easy and stay in bed for about 2 weeks. Fortunately, I've had TONS of help from people in my ward who have had my older kids all morning for me the entire week and Derek came home early from work to take over in the afternoons. I'm already feeling much better and don't get lightheaded or weak when I'm up now.

Ryan keeps telling me "I'm so happy that you had Millie. I love her." and I would have to agree completely. She has been a wonderful baby. She eats really well, has good periods of awake time and sometimes smiles at me, and she is a very reasonable sleeper. She will sleep for 2 or 3 hour stretches and all she needs is to be swaddled and then I hold her really close and she'll doze off. We haven't had a "witching hour" or "cranky baby hour" yet, and I don't lose any sleep at night. Life has been grand.

I had a hard time accepting Emilee's birth. I wanted it to be as wonderful as Katie's birth, but it just wasn't to be. I didn't look back on it and feel super happy - I wanted to cry when I'd think about it. But, I've come to realize that I am not entitled to a perfect birth just because I want it. All experiences are different and unique and I will have to be prayerful about each birth in the future. I think that if this one was a home birth, I probably would've been an ambulance call. That would NOT have been ideal at all. I have come to accept that this birth was good to have at the hospital - but I hope that my next one will be born back at home.