Friday Fun!

Last week I did a photo shoot for a friend. Wilson loves their whole family and was so excited to spend so much time at their house! Even better they just put up their trampoline! He was so cute and did so well! Here are a few picts of his fun day!

Easter

*Disclaimer - It has taken me two days to write this post so I have no desire to try to get the pictures in the right order, but you get the idea.

Holidays around here are always a marathon event. We have lots of family and lots of parties to attend. This year Easter started Saturday night with an egg decorating party. This is the first year that Wilson has really been able to decorate eggs by himself. He thought it was so much fun! If we would have let him I think he would have decorated all six dozen eggs.

Then Easter morning Wilson woke up ready to see not only what the Easter bunny brought him, but where he hid his basket.

Then after church we had a party with my mom's family which always includes family pictures and an egg hunt.

After that we headed to Ryan's family for dinner and an egg hunt there!

And last but not least we then went to my dad's families for dessert (not pictured, I must have been pictured out by that point)

This is the egg hunt with Ryan's family.
Ryan helping Wilson look for eggs

Wilson checking out his loot with his Aunts

This is cute Alex checking out his eggs! I love this picture! And if you look close this is one of the maybe three pictures I took of Elsie. This is about all she did that day.

Our first Family picture. Wilson looks so happy about it!

His Easter basket from Aunt Marlene




Easter morning - On the hunt for his basket

He walked around for a while and couldn't find it. We hinted towards the dryer and he finally decided to look inside.






Coloring eggs at Grandma and Grandpas





Elsie that night. She was worn out!

LOVE

What more is there to say?

Brother Love

This sweet boy can't get enough of his baby sister!

Another Ear Infection..

Tuesday Night I went in to check on Wilson before I went to sleep and I found him sitting up in bed with tears in his eyes he told me his ear hurt. Poor kid kept asking us to kiss it better and at one point he asked Ryan to put a band aid on it to make it better, but he quickly figured out that nothing was going to work. After a sleepless night for Ryan and Wilson we went to the doctor and found out it was of course an ear infection. However Wilson has had so many ear infections and throat infections that we need to how go see a Ear Nose and Throat doctor. (more info on that after we go see him)

Wilson was of course tired most of the day, but we were so busy there was no time for a nap. We finally got Wilson to bed around 7:30. I checked on him at about 8:30 and found this.

At first glance I thought he was awake just looking at his book...


Upon closer inspection I found a boy that was so tired he couldn't even finish his book.

Things to remember

Right after Elsie was born Ryan sent out a mass text to family and friends. Ryan's parents who were watching Wilson for us asked Wilson if he wanted to say anything to his daddy and Wilson replied "ask Daddy where the fence is." (It was a toy he was looking for at their house).

Elsie didn't cry much her first few days (accept when she was hungry) but when she did cry it sounds almost like a monkey!

Elsie loves to sleep with both arms above her head and close to both ears (just like Wilson did when he was a baby).

When Wilson first wakes up in the morning he comes into my room and says "wake up mommy. Where is Elsie?"

When I am nursing Elsie Wilson often wants either to hold her or for me to hold him (luckily he settles for me putting my free arm around him).

There have been a few people that have asked Wilson if they can take Elsie home with them and each time Wilson responds "no, cause we have her car seat."

I feel so lucky that Wilson loves Elsie and that he just accepts that she is his little sister.

Two Weeks Old

I can't believe Elsie is already two weeks old. It has gone by so fast. In the past two weeks she has grown and inch, gained 3 oz (since birth), learned to sleep in her bed (well that is a work in progress), learned to have some awake time and many other things I am sure.

Elsie is still in newborn sleep mode. She sleeps what feels like 23 hours a day and most of the one hour she is awake she usually decides to do it at around 4 in the morning. For the most part she eats well the only problem being that she usually falls asleep while eating.

Wilson still loves her! He does ask us often to please put her down and play with him, but I think he is adjusting well.

Ryan and I are still working on adjusting to no sleep, but hopefully soon we will get back to a normal amount of sleep.

All in all I would say that I am in love with my little sweetheart!

Here is to hoping time doesn't go by too fast...

Elsie

This beautiful girl came into the world this last Wednesday. I was scheduled to go into the hospital Wednesday morning to be induced, but around midnight I started having contraction and about 3 am we decided to go to the hospital. The staff found it pretty funny that I was scheduled for induction a few hours later.

By the time they got me checked in I thought I was in the worst pain of my life (I thought for sure I had to be dilated to at least a 7). Turns out I don't think I could ever have natural child birth I was only dilated to a 2 1/2. Needless to say that I was very surprised.

My labor with Wilson lasted 23 1/2 hours and because of that Ryan and I had packed tons of stuff to keep ourselves entertained.

Our plan was to get some sleep after my epidural and then let the fun begin.

The anesthesiologist came and gave me my epidural. I felt soooo much better! Then they broke my water.

Ryan and I relaxed and were able to sleep a good hour and a half or so.

Once the nurse came back in I mentioned that I felt like I might want to push (thinking in my head there is no way so something might be wrong). The doctor checked me and somehow magically I was at an 8 1/2. I was almost in shock. She then told me that it would probably about an hour before we could start pushing.

20 minutes later I felt even more strongly I needed to push. They checked me again and I was at a 10. Ryan and I were in shock.

After pushing through 3 contractions she was here!

Unfortunately there was maconium in my water so when she was born the NICU had to take her right away and make sure she didn't inhale anything. Which she didn't! But the meant it was a little while before Ryan and I could hold her.

It was amazing to give birth another time. I decided to use a mirror this time. It was honestly so cool to be able to see her born.

I am so happy Elsie has joined our family. Wilson is absolutely in love with her! Ryan is mesmerized by her! And I couldn't be happier!

To my Elsie

To my darling Daughter the night before her birth.

My life is going to change for the better tomorrow because you will be here. The thought of holding you in my arms brings happy tears to my eyes. Oh how long I have waited for you and now here you come. I wish so much many things for you, but here are the things that I dearly hope you will always know:

That I love you unconditionally. You have my whole heart and there is nothing in this world that will ever change that.

That you have a father in heaven who knows and loves you unconditionally as well. Who will always be there for you.

That I know that the church is true. The we have a loving father in Heaven and a brother who gave his life so that we can return to live with him. Elsie the church is true and I hope so much that you will learn that from me and your father and hold closely to it for the rest of your life.

Words can't express the love that your family feels for you. I hope you come into the world tomorrow knowing and feeling that. And that you will never ever forget it.

I love you my darling Daughter,

Mommy

Phoenix

Okay so I know that I have been terrible at posting and haven't done it in two months. I have lots of pictures and things to post, but not the patience to do it. Still no baby, but I am hoping she comes anytime. Maybe then I will be more dedicated to posting.

This past week a friend from my ward asked me to do some maternity photos for her since this is her last child. I have never done maternity photos before so of course I jumped at the chance. I am still working on the right editing, but really wanted to post what I have done. So here are my favs.

Happy 3rd Birthday

Better later than never right?

Wilson turned 3 on November 18th! I honestly can't believe that my little baby is three years old. It was a fun day!

We had been asking Wilson what he wanted for a birthday for a while and he always told us he wanted Balloons. So we got him balloons the night before the surprise him in the morning.

He honestly loved it!





I'm not sure what I did with the pictures, but we went downtown and had lunch with Ryan!

Then after Ryan got home from work we opened presents!



Then we had some cake!



Saturday we took Wilson to Jungle Jim's. He had never been there before but as soon as we walked in the door he was so excited.

Of course most of the rides he didn't want to go on by himself and because I am pregnant I wasn't allowed, so Ryan being the trooper he is went on them with him!







This is us headed home. Aren't they adorable?


The next day we celebrated his birthday with Ryan's family.

This was his first and favorite gift of the day. A tape measure!


Next was cake and ice cream. And no nothing is wrong with the computer this fire engine turned out pink. Not enough food coloring and no desire to start over so he got a pink one (which by the way he didn't mind at all).




Wilson had another birthday party with my family, but of course I forgot to take any pictures. This was the first birthday that he really understood what was going on and that made it so fun! Happy Birthday my big boy!

Thoughts on pregnancy

Wilson's birthday post is coming I just need to upload the picture.

Pregnancy I must admit is one of the hardest and longest 9 months of my life and because of everything that happened last year this pregnancy feels like it has lasted a year and nine months.

Lately I have been thinking about this a lot. Maybe it is because for the last month and a half someone in my house has been sick and inevitably I get sick as well which makes pregnancy harder. Or maybe it is that I am now 27 weeks and my body is tired and achy and ready to be done. Whatever the reason I find myself thinking about how I can't wait until February.

I have been trying to not only think of the hard things but also about the great things about pregnancy so here you have it.

1. I will get a baby out of all of this! I honestly can not wait to go through labor and see my sweet little girl. To get to hold her in my arms. I can't wait for Ryan to hold her and for Wilson to finally understand what we are talking about.
2. I love when Ryan comes home and puts his hands on my belly and gives me a kiss. And when he asks how all three of us are doing.
3. Feeling the baby move around. I love the reassurance it gives me that she is doing okay.

Now the hard stuff.

1. That people just don't understand how terrible I feel. I know that a lot of people have been pregnant and felt miserable, but honestly I think every pregnancy is different and different for every person. No one really knows how I feel.
2. I get so frustrated by people who are not sick during pregnancy. I know life has its challenges, but wow this isn't easy. Even worse is when people love pregnancy and openly tell you. It makes me feel terrible for feeling so terrible.
3. I hate that none of my clothes fit or are comfortable and that means maternity too. I honestly have never been more comfortable in a dress. I just want to be comfortable.
4. Honestly worrying that something might go wrong between now and delivery. I don't really have any reason to worry. Things went really smoothly with Wilson, but because of all the trouble we had last year I can't help but worry that there might be something waiting to happen.
5. I think worst of all I really hate that people are judging me for the things that I can't do. I had tried really hard to figure out my limits and the limits for my family and do what is best for all of us. Which inevitably means I have to give up some of the things I could do before. I wish people wouldn't pass judgement.

I must admit I really struggled if I should write this post, but it really was therapeutic. Even if no one reads it at least I understand a little more about how I feel.

I really am excited to welcome this new little spirit into our family and lives. I love her unconditionally already. I can't wait for February to get here, but I know it isn't my timeline so I will just keep plugging along and doing my best to take come of my body and hers as well.

Serving in the Young Women in my ward I had the opportunity to work really closely with the Bishop over the past year and his wife who was one of my teachers and my visiting teaching partner. I can truly say that I love both of them and their family! I was honored when they asked me to take their family pictures. We went up a canyon just in time to catch some of the colors of fall. One of my favorite photo shoots! Thanks to the Perkins for their amazing family and service to everyone around them!