Alice's blessing day

Today was a special day in Alice's life as she was blessed at church by her father. When Scott was blessed as an infant I explained the significance and purpose of blessings here. But basically it is meant to pronounce the name of the child as they will be known as well as offering them an inspired blessing of spiritual and temporal strengths and promises of blessing from their obedience to God's commandments.

It is tradition for the child to wear white, and for years I have been dreaming of having a daughter who would be draped in a beautiful white gown for her blessing. Luckily my mother has been a domestic seamstress! She has made clothing for us ever since we were babies, our Halloween costumes, and even our prom and homecoming gowns, among many other projects. So, while she was visiting us after Alice was born, she made Alice's blessing dress, to my specifications.

I wanted an old fashioned style, that was very long.

A closeup of the embellishments of lace, pin-tucking, buttons and bows.

Alice looked lovely in her dress and the blessing was beautiful. I am grateful for family and friends who support us. It was nice to have people come together for our daughter's special day. (My apologies for not spreading the word about the blessing for anyone who would have liked to come, once the dress was finished I didn't put a lot of thought into it.)

Alice dressed to go to church, I didn't want her white dress to get dirty.

Grandma and Grandpa Worley

This was the best picture I have of us as a family, Scott couldn't wait to go to nursery.

My dad and my sister, Natalie

Brothers, Matt and Michael, with their children: Lauren, Michael, and Alice (minus Scott)

My uncle Steve and aunt Laurie and their children: Nathanael, Tessa, Benjamin, Adam, and Micah

Alice showing off her dress

My mother's co-worker made Alice's socks

Alice's birthday

We would officially like to welcome our daughter, Alice Marie, to the family! Born Thursday, June 30, 2011 at at 10:42pm. She was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long (length may be incorrect). She is absolutely beautiful! That is the short version. Continue on if you are ready for all the fun details of THE Birth Story.

Wednesday night I was timing my Braxton Hicks contractions once again, hoping that they would turn into actual labor. I finally gave up and went to bed, but found myself waking up several times in the middle of the night having felt an unusual sensation. I knew I was uncomfortable but I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was causing my discomfort. Finally, at 6:00am (when Scott woke us up), I realized I was still having contractions...but these were different, these were like the ones described in all the books! We spent the first couple of hours timing contractions. We weren't sure if this was actual labor or not. Keep in mind I was induced with Scott and my labor progressed very slow, so I wasn't really familiar with how things were supposed to feel. We decided Matt could go to work and that I would stay home and time contractions and then call him if I needed him. I think it is safe to say that I was hopeful, but in slight denial.

My body quickly convinced me that I was actually in labor, so I decided to get ready! I showered, pulled my hair back into a braid, donned some very comfortable clothes--black leggings, and a black top (Matt later commented that I looked like a beatnik in labor), and yes, I even put on makeup. I was up and about doing way too much when I should have been resting and just timing my contractions, not to mention the fact that Scott was running around pulling and climbing on me. I decided it would be best to call Matt back home (after only about an hour of him being gone), I figured I was going to need some help!

While we were at home I tried sitting and lying in different positions to stay comfortable. I asked Matt to bring me the large exercise ball for me to lean up against or sit on (as seen on many baby birthing shows on TLC). Scott was having so much fun that when I was kneeling over the ball having a contraction he came running up to me and jumped on my back! Matt tried to keep Scott busy while loading up our hospital bags into the car. I periodically had to yell for Matt to come support me if I was standing while having a contraction. It was an interesting morning!

Around 1pm we decided to leave for the hospital. We finished loading up the van, dropped Scott off with his Grandma Jill, and drove up to St. Jude. We got settled in our room around 2:00pm. The plan for this delivery was to do a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean). I had intended to hold off on receiving the epidural, at least initially, but not completely opposed to it. However, when I was taken to my room the nurse informed me that I would be receiving the epidural and an IV just in case of an emergency C-section due to my previous C-section. We decided that we could place the epidural line, but not activate it. I wanted to make sure that I was progressing. The nurse checked me and I was only dilated to 2cm!!! I was a bit disappointed. My biggest fear about coming to the hospital was the possibility of being sent home for not being far enough along in my labor. But the nurses insisted that the doctor wasn't sending me home. Thank goodness! Also, the doctor did not want to put me on pitocin. Apparently this would have also put me at a greater risk of ending up with a C-section. I am so pleased that my doctor was on board with my plan to let my body do what it needed to do naturally so I could have a VBAC.

I got set up with my soft and peaceful music, and we waited. Around 5:00pm I sent Matt out to go get some dinner. I figured things would be taking a while and I wanted Matt to go sooner rather than later, so he could hurry back before anything serious happened! In the meantime I was getting to the point where I felt like I needed the epidural! I called for the anesthesiologist but I had to wait for him to come out of a C-section. Matt returned, and helped me through the intense contractions until the epidural got started. Right as the anesthesiologist finished, the doctor came in to check me. I was dilated to 5cm and he broke my water (Niagra falls!). I was so relieved to know that things were progressing, in fact things moved along so well that in the next hour I was dilated to 8cm!

For the rest of my labor I was quite comfortable. At one point they put me on oxygen due to the baby's heart rate dropping, which came back up. Matt busied himself by taking pictures of objects around the room that he found humorous, and we watched a bit of TV. Around 10:00pm I was 9.5cm dilated, the nurse came back 20 minutes later and had me try pushing. I managed to get things moving! The doctor came in and after only pushing for about 20 minutes all together our little Alice was born!

She was placed on my chest as they cleaned her off. Her color was purple and she had a lot of mucous. They held my oxygen mask over her face while they tried to clear out her mouth and nose. They finally had to take her to the warming bed to finish cleaning her. She finally started really crying and pinked up. Nothing to me sounds better than a baby crying for the first time!

We spent our private time together. I held her, Matt held her, I held her again...then Matt came back to take the baby so I could try standing up and he noticed her color was purple! I thought she looked fine but we asked the nurse to check her color. Sure enough, the nurse agreed with Matt and took her to wake her/stimulate her. Alice managed to cough and cry and she pinked up again. Then I thought to myself, how on Earth am I going to sleep tonight? After all, I was HOLDING her and didn't notice her turning purple. Thank goodness Matt was there! Luckily we didn't have any more incidences.
Brother and sister meet the next day.

Mama and her babies

Matt brought Scott to the hospital to meet his baby sister. He wasn't really interested at the moment, he was more excited to see me and climb on my hospital bed. Since then, he has become very interested in her. He has started hugging (to the point of smothering) her, and has recently started trying to pick her up! I have to keep a close watch on the two of them! But I love my life as a mom of two beautiful children. Alice is such a lovely little lady and we love her dearly!

Matt & Scott's 1st "Father & son's outing"

Every year our church holds a Father & Sons' outing/camp out. This was the first year that Matt took Scott to go! As a mom, I had mixed feelings about this. I was so excited that they would start going on these adventures together, but yet I was worried that 1. Scott may not make it through the night sleeping in a tent and sleeping bag, and 2. that I would miss him too much. Well one of my two concerns came true...I missed him SO much!

They drove out in the afternoon, had some fun, ate hot dogs for dinner, and then when it was time to wind down, they snuggled up in the tent and watched one of Scott's favorite videos on Matt's phone. Scott managed to fall asleep without too much of a hassle, and that is where he stayed until morning!

They woke up, had breakfast, and came home shortly after that. It was a simple camping trip, but they did it! I am so pleased to know that Scott had a good time spending time with his daddy and enjoyed camping!

Scott enjoys a yummy snack.

The park had a carriage that Scott enjoyed climbing on.
Water is so much fun to play with!
All dressed for bed, time to settle down and get ready to go to sleep.
This is how Scott fell asleep...
...and this is how he was in the morning...he slept like a baby.
Yay for camping!
Bye-bye camping!

Easter 2011

We had such a nice and relaxing Easter Sunday. We began our day by eating waffles while watching Sesame Street (thanks Netflix!). Eventually we watched our Living Scriptures video about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but our mornings just wouldn't be complete without a little Elmo first.

After breakfast I took Scott to his room for a few minutes to play and when we came back out there were a few surprises for Scott! He went straight for his Easter basket and found the bubbles and candy. Before he spent too much time taking out each piece of candy one at a time Matt pointed out the eggs carefully hidden around the room.

Scott seemed to really enjoy finding all the eggs, and the candy inside. I figured it wouldn't be a problem if he a had a few pieces of candy before church...mmm, chocolate!

The rest of the day was just as simple as can be. After church we just stayed home and kept things simple, what a good day!

Baby girl

Being pregnant for the second time has been an interesting experience. Of course the excitement is there, although there are noticeably fewer people asking me "Are you excited?" (I always thought that was the dumbest question you could ask anyone when they were pregnant, because 1. if they are excited, of COURSE they are excited and 2. if they aren't excited, are you prepared to hear "no..."? Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to. ) But as far as thinking and daydreaming about the pregnancy, quite honestly I don't have the time! I've been busy running around and chasing after Scotty. In fact, there were several times prior to feeling the kicks that I would actually forget that I was pregnant. But my little lady has put an end to that.

My expected-daughter has already tried to make her presence known. I imagine that perhaps she knows that she is the 2nd child of the family and wants to be sure that she is noticed. My tummy definitely shows that I am pregnant, which is a good thing since I only have 10 weeks until my due date!!!! But, my darling daughter finds moments to say "I AM HERE!" She pokes, and flips, and rolls, and punches, in addition to your standard kicking. There is a single spot that is her absolute favorite to jab. She also manages to "launch" herself off my hip bones. She moves on the surface, and she moves deep inside. When we go to my doctor's appointments she wiggles and shakes my belly while the doctor listens to her heartbeat. Matt calls her a mover and shaker. I've got her occupations pinned down to a few options:

• a martial arts expert
• a ballerina
• a soccer player
• a professional boxer

I guess we shouldn't be too surprised, after all she is due a few days before the 4th of July. She is already my little firecracker!

A day in San Diego

Matt does quite a bit of traveling for work. This past week he has been in San Diego, and even though it isn't too far away from home, it is a lot easier for him to stay in a hotel down there rather than driving back and forth for 5 days. Of course, that also means that he is away from home for 5 days!

We took advantage of him being close enough to home that Scott and I went to San Diego to visit him for a day. We got there a couple of hours before he was done working for the day so Scott and I took advantage of having the hotel room to ourselves.
We started with a picnic lunch out on the balcony
Then we both played on our laptops while relaxing on the bed.And Scott even wanted to make a few phone calls, room service anyone?When daddy finally came to join us we went for a walk and enjoyed the lovely San Diego atmosphere, and even took a dip in the hotel pool.

We had dinner in a restaurant right over the ocean, and watched a couple of cruise ships taking off. And I was even treated to a complimentary "congratulations" dessert for my pregnancy. This little girl is going to be my favorite if she keeps getting me free food!!!! Actually to be honest, I think our server was confusing us for someone else, because after she brought the dessert she asked if she had waited on us before, and obviously she hadn't. But the gesture was very nice!

It was a nice day to spend together as a family, and I am still crossing my fingers for Matt to be sent to Hawaii and have me tag along!

My life with a two-year old...

My life with a two-year old: tiring, playful, repetitive, sweet, disgusting, joyful, frustrating, chaotic, sloppy, silly, tiring some more...I am sure all you mommies out there can add your own list of adjectives to go right along with mine.

Normally I just chalk it up to normal toddler behavior. There are so many moments I enjoy. I absolutely love it when Scott gives me kisses, when he laughs hysterically at something that I am doing, when he snuggles up and sits on my lap to watch TV, when he learns a new word or shows other signs of learning. He really is a joy in our lives. But he is two. And with that age comes a certain amount of "extreme" behavior. Lately Scott has discovered that he can scream when he doesn't like what is happening, such as nap time, diaper changes, getting into the car seat when he would rather run around outside, etc. We have our moments, I generally walk away from tantrums and they typically don't last very long.

This week started out just the same as the rest...but then it all started going downhill on Sunday at bath time. Scott pooped in the bathtub. In the grand scheme of things, it usually isn't that big of a deal. Luckily Matt was home so he took him to the shower to clean him off, while I took care of the tub. Done.

Monday I had a few errands to run. Scott and I went to the bank to deposit a check. I try to use the ATM so I can park right in front of the machine and avoid having to take Scott out of the car. This time I left the car running, with the A/C on, as well as giving Scott a book to read while his DVD played. I am only 8 feet away from the car, and it was going to be a quick transaction. So being the "responsible" parent that I am, I made sure to check to see that the doors were locked, but just leave mine unlocked so I could hop back in. ***I feel like I have to put disclaimers all over this paragraph...When I have to leave Scott in the car (such as for pumping gas, or using the ATM--I would NEVER leave my child in the car if I was not able to supervise him directly) I will take my keys, at least the remote to lock/unlock the car. But this time I didn't. And so, the inevitable happened...my door locked behind me. Which means I was locked out, and Scott was locked in. Luckily I keep my phone with me too, so I was able to call for help the very moment it happened. Matt was not able to come to rescue us immediately, so I called AAA and they issued an emergency call to have my door unlocked. I had to wait 15 minutes, but it wasn't bad at all. Scott was in his car seat, with the A/C on, watching his movie. At one point I made faces at him and he laughed. I could have just as easily been chatting with a friend outside the car while he waited patiently. But still, now I have the "I locked my son in the car" on my parenting record.

So we got over that incident pretty quickly. I never felt panicked, in fact my AAA operator was a little more scared than I was. But then comes today...

I took Scott to get his haircut. This is his 3rd haircut, and he has usually done fairly well, with a little candy encouragement. Not today. He was screaming at the top of his lungs the entire time. I had to hold him on my lap, pin his arms down, and hold his head still. Once the lady started I was NOT going to leave without finishing his haircut. I felt like all eyes were on me with the judgments of "bad mother" floating all around. It took all the energy I had to hold him and it was quite frustrating. Luckily daddy came (once it was finished) and we had lunch to calm down.

After that was over I thought we just needed to come home and take a nap, but first he would need a bath to clean off all the loose hair down his neck (because he won't wear the drape). So bath time starts...and just like that (after I cleaned and sanitized the tub from Sunday's accident), he poops again in the bath! ARGH! So, needless to say, I have been just a tad overwhelmed with my son's antics this week. I realize that the car situation was MY fault, but it adds to the stress of being "mom."

20 Weeks

Half way there! Yesterday marked 20-weeks of pregnancy, which means I am half way to my due date! Our little baby girl sure does like to make herself known, especially when I am settling down to go to sleep. I figure she will be a dancer, or maybe a soccer player, or a martial arts expert...something with lots of kicks and twirls.

On the other hand, she doesn't get noticed too much just yet by others because I guess I am not showing all that much. When I am at work I am wearing baggy scrubs, so you can't tell at all. I only really "pop" out when I am wearing something a little more form fitting. But based on her ultrasound I am not too worried about my size, she measured to be just right. But for comparison's sake, here is a link to my post I did for my 1st pregnancy's half way point (picture included)

I hope these next 20 weeks (or so) fly by just as quickly as the first half. I think because I am so busy chasing Scott around I don't get much time to sit back and just daydream about my pregnancy. There is less time devoted to dwelling about it, so the time just seems to fly by.

We are having a...

Our little baby wants to say "hello!"

I realize these pictures may not be that to clear to a lot of people, but this next one has a little hint at the bottom to tell you what it is:

That's right! We are having a GIRL! Oh my!

Matt and I are very happy to finally know "who" are little baby is, and now we can start planning for all the additional things we are going to need...mostly clothes! Next, we have to pick a name for our little girl.

Boy or Girl?

Time to start the guessing! We'll be going in for an ultrasound on Tuesday, February 1st, and hopefully the baby will cooperate to show us who he or she is!

Personally, I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other, no predictions. Although just for convenience Matt and I have been saying "he," perhaps mostly out of habit.

The Chinese gender calendar predicts: GIRL

What do you think?

2-years old!

Scott turned two just a few weeks ago! Scott is such a wonderful little boy. He is so gentle and sweet, and yet he is an adventurous little boy who loves to climb, jump, and even wrestle. He is a very quick learner. Generally when he has a new toy in front of him the first thing he does is he figures out how it works, not necessarily how to play with it, but how it works. He finds the on/off switch and he opens and closes it, and once he has figured it all out, then it is time to play!
Scott has had some "terrible-two's" behavior, but he has also learned that it doesn't get him what he wants, so it really hasn't been that bad. We had about one week of the full screaming tantrums, but those seem to have dissipated, I think that was possibly also related to the fact that all of a sudden his pacifier magically disappeared. :)

Scott has a loving heart. He is gentle with his friends, he gives love to his mommy and daddy, and sometimes even to his friends. Scott is also very independent. He doesn't seclude himself, but he also doesn't need constant interaction. He can occupy himself very well (which comes in handy when mommy needs to cook dinner or do dishes). When we tell Scott it is time to go to bed, he finds a few toys to take to bed and then scampers off to his room. The toys aren't usually a distraction, so we allow him to do it for now. Scott still enjoys his swim lessons, in fact, he has moved up to the baby-grad class. He is such a little fish! His teachers often have to keep an eye on him because it is not uncommon for him to try to swim on his own while they are working with another student. Luckily the classes are small, so there aren't too many children to wrangle.

Right now, Scott's favorite toys to play with are his trains and cars. He also loves to color with his crayons and chalk. He is also very good with puzzles, so he received the shape-o-ball for his birthday. And speaking of balls, he LOVES to bounce and throw and kick bouncy balls. When Scott gets a chance to pick out his own movie, he will usually choose "Finding Nemo," "Thomas and Friends," "Bug's Life," or "Cars."

Here is a fun picture from Scott's birthday party. We kept it very simple. Just cupcakes and family only. Scott got a new tricycle, some clothes, and a bunch of other toys from family members. We just love our little boy to pieces and can't wait to see what this year will bring!