Where has the time gone?

Ok folks, it has been two years since my last post.  Needless to say a lot has happened so I think I'll do a quick update a la Christmas card style.

Matt is still working in the same job.  He has been traveling a lot for work.  Some of the more exciting destinations have been Peru, Italy, and Hawaii.  He has been working on completing some college courses so that he can transfer and finish his education.  

Katie, moi, is working part time, which means I get to be home with my babies the rest of the time!

Scott is four years old and is going to preschool.  When Scott was two he was diagnosed with mild-moderate Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  I can talk more about this in another post.  He has become very interested in Legos and superheroes.

Alice is 22 months (technically, tomorrow).  She is such a beautiful girl.  She had a rough patch from about nine months through about 18 months.  She is extremely attached to her mommy and this was the cause of many tears (both hers and mine).  She was quite a little pill, but has come around and has become such a beautiful little girl.  She is very talkative and playful.  She still loves her mommy a lot, but she also is quite attached to her daddy.  She loves princesses and Popsicles.  

We are getting ready for some fun this summer and I wanted to make sure I documented all the fun!  Now that I've started, I suppose I have some more updating to do.  Stay tuned!  

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!