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Welcome to our blog! We hope you enjoy reading about our family adventures and all the cute things are awesome kids do!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Pain in the..


...wrist, that is. A day at the YMCA daycare seemed to be a bit more than we had anticipated. Alan came back, after dropping Livie off at the YMCA daycare, to find Alivia holding her wrist and crying. He could not figure out what was wrong with her, so he brought her home. After telling me that she refused to move and get out the car, we made the decision to take her to urgent care. After waiting there for a few hours and pushing Alivia around in a wheelchair (because apparently a hurt wrist means you can't walk) we got some x rays done. It turns out it was nothing more than a sprain. She was fitted with a sling and we were sent home. Once home, Alivia still refused to walk anywhere and we had to cater to her every need. We felt really bad for her, but after a while we encouraged her to do more things and she eventually forgot all about her wrist. After a couple of days Alan finally convinced her to take her sling off, she wasn't using it the right way anyways. I think it was just the comfort of knowing that the sling was there that helped.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Weston is finally here!

Weston David is finally here! After 41 weeks of pregnancy, I could not be any happier that he finally decided to come out. I was scheduled for an induction on Sunday January 24th at 7:30am. I was supposed to arrive at the hospital first thing in the morning and they were going to break my water and hope the baby would come on his own and without medication to help the labor progress.


Anticipating that we would be having a baby on Sunday, Alan and I decided to attend an "Ugly Sweater and Mustache" party that Saturday night. We put on the ugliest sweaters we could find from the thrift store and Alan sported a pretty gross mustache, although he thought it was pretty awesome
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After leaving the party we decided to make a quick stop at Target so we could get an extra battery for our camera. We had Alivia with us, so I decided to run in all by myself. The batteries were locked up, so after getting an employee to unlock it for me I had to follow him to the register to purchase it. The guy must have been oblivious to the fact that I was really pregnant and I was not able to move very fast, because it seemed as if he was running to the registers and I had to try to keep up.


We got home around 10:00pm and not more than 15 minutes after being home I had a pretty intense contraction. I thought it seemed weird to have such a strong one so suddenly. I was under the impression that they would start at a manageable pain level and then eventually progress. A few minutes passed and I had another one! They kept coming every 4-5 minutes. I waited about 20 minutes before texting my mother-in-law to forewarn her of the possibility that we would need her to come over to watch Alivia. I decided that we needed her to come over and as soon as she arrived we were off to the hospital arriving there around 11:30pm. As soon as I walked off the elevator I approached the nurses station and demanded my epidural. The nurses had a good giggle, as I am sure they hear that all the time, and I made sure that they knew I meant business! Everything was happening very quickly and I was very much in denial that this was the real thing. I entered into the triage room and set me up with an IV and checked my cervix. I went from 4cm to 8cm just for being in labor for an hour. They rushed me to a delivery room before getting all of my information into the computer and much to my delight, the anesthesiologist was right behind us! I got hooked up to what I like to call the "wonder drug" and everything was A Okay! They broke my water and around 2:30am they gave me the go ahead to push. I was all set up to push and just waiting for my next contraction when someone came running into the room saying "Don't push yet! Dr. Myles just went into the O.R.!". My nurse asked if there was another Dr and there was, but she was delivering another baby just down the hall. My nurse told me I had to wait until my Dr was done preforming the c-section before I could start pushing. Around 3:30am the Dr came running into my room completely out of breath and very frazzled looking. He quickly started prepping himself for the delivery of our baby.



I was finally able to start pushing! After the quickest 4 minutes of my life, baby Weston David was born! He came with total ease and very fast. My cousin Jessica, who witnessed the whole birth, said that I made having babies look easy. I take pride in that, but I know I have to give most of the credit to the epidural.


Weston weighed in at 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 22 inches long. After some neurological and physical tests, the Dr determined that Weston was born at 42 weeks gestation instead of 41 weeks that we originally thought.





















We came home the following day and had a pretty rough first night, he cried for several hours. I'm not exactly sure what was wrong, but it could have been the fact that he was circumcised that day or because he had a really stuffy nose. Either way it has worked itself out, because he is sleeping and nursing like a champ now. He's awake more in the late night, but I am a night owl so it doesn't bother me all too much. Probably a whole different story once Alan returns to work in two weeks!

Monday, September 7, 2009

A little update

"Well" (followed by a big sigh) and "I got something to tell you" are just a couple of the sentences that frequent Alivia's conversations. Don't let the cuteness fool you, because she also has a mean side to her! She has started to be aggressive towards playmates and I can't help to think that we are in for it when her new sibling arrives. (It's a boy!)

A lot of redirection and pep talks are in order for this two year old.

I am making a point to keep her as busy and social as I can now that the cooler weather is upon us. I have her signed up for two classes this fall and they will go thru January, when her brother is born. One of the classes is an art and music class. Its meant to help us parents to provide the right tools and creativity for our children. I think Alivia will really enjoy this class! The other one is an age specific class where she will learn how to interact with kids her age including arts and crafts, music, dance, puzzles, and a ton of other creative things. The parents leave the kids with special teachers for part of the time in which we will discuss common complaints and share our advice on how to get through them. I am looking forward to this class.
We also have our weekly play group and I babysit one day a week as well. It should be pretty busy for us, just the way I like it.

Livie is currently into the Land Before Time movies and just got her first dinosaur toy, which she loves! I'm wondering if she will ever turn into a girly girl or if she will just end up like me and be a tom boy. Time will tell.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Summer is coming to an end...

Well, I have not updated this blog all summer! I guess that is because we have been super busy, especially the month of August and its not even over yet. We have anniversaries, birthdays, appointments, and Alan has a boundary waters camping trip planned for next week. Busy, busy, busy!

Today Alan and I celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary. I can truly say that the past 10 years that we have been together have been a major blessing to me and I am truly grateful to have such a loving, caring husband and a beautiful daughter.

This summer has also been filled with play dates and babysitting. Alivia has had a lot of friends to play with, but sometimes I think she would like more, only because she asks me almost everyday to play with a friend. Its a good thing that she will have a little brother or sister to keep her company in a few months!

Speaking of little brother or sister, Alan and I will hopefully find out the baby's gender on August 28th. We are very excited to learn what we are having, no matter the gender. It will be nice to put a gender to our day dreams and be able to start preparing for the new bundle of joy.


We have been trying to get to the pool as much as possible, but this abnormally cool summer has prevented that from happening often. When we do get to go, she enjoys it a lot! She keeps trying to talk me into letting her go down the 200+ foot tall waterslide... I think not! She is such a brave little girl!
We have not been able to make it to the Baertschi's lake house a whole lot with Alan's work schedule, but Alivia loves going on the boat and playing on the beach.
Liv has also learned to peddal on her trike, although she prefers it more when we push her.
Among the many things that she has picked up this summer, she has been able to carry on conversations with adults pretty well these days. She is quite the story teller and has to be the center of attention when in a group of adults. Alivia has been enjoying going on carnival rides now that she is tall enough. She surprised us when she insisted on going on the kiddie coaster. I have no idea what led me to think that it was a good idea to let a little 2 year old on a roller coaster, but I am all about making my spoiled girl happy. She really enjoyed it and has become a carnival ride junky at the ripe age of two.
Liv also got to enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks for the first time! It was way past her bedtime, but after the intial shock of how loud it was, I think she enjoyed herself.

I know I say it all the time, but she gets more and more fun as the days go by. I am so excited to see her interact with her new sibling, she is going to make a great big sister!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Birthdays, Drs appointments, and just plain fun

Alivia's birthday landed on a Monday, so we decided to have a special day just for her on her actual birthday. Alan, Alivia, and I all went to see the Clifford exhibit at the Children's Museum. Alivia got to see a huge Clifford statue and play in Cliffords neighborhood, along with all the other fun things at the museum. I am pretty sure her all time favorite is the water area. She can play in the water tables, make bubbles, and race boats down the ramps.


The following day we both had a Drs appointment. She had her two year check up and is checking in very good! She weighs 32 lbs and is 36 inches tall. Making her real close to the 95 percentile of both categories. The Dr was looking for 2 word sentences, but Alivia surprised her with 5 word sentences. She is definitley a talker!
My appointment was a rather long one, so we left Alivia with Grandma Sally. I had to get briefed on what I am in for as far as having a baby (as if I didn't already know everything they were telling me) and then I had a lot, and I mean A LOT of blood drawn for all the tests that they run when first becoming pregnant. After a long wait, I was also granted an ultrasound. The baby was one week further than what we had thought, which is nice for me! We got to see a little spec on the screen with a rapidly beating heart. Everything looks good, so far! As of today, I am 10 weeks pregnant and VERY happy to say that I have avoided morning sickness completley! I have no idea how I got so lucky! I tire easily, but I will take that anyday. My next appointment is on June 30th where we will get to hear the heartbeat over a doppler.

Later that week we had a party for Alivia's birthday. We invited close family and friends. We had planned on having it outside so we could play some yard games, but rain and 50 degree weather enticed us to stay inside! We ordered pizza and pasta and just hung out. It was a lot of fun!

We joined a play group that our friend has started. We meet every Friday for a couple hours to play with some good friends. We look forward to going every week. We also got a pool pass for the summer, but have yet to find a good day to go. We are hoping to go this Tuesday as long as the weather stays nice.

Other than that we have just been playing outside, seeing Grandparents, and having lots of fun!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day Weekend



We had a rather uneventful Memorial Day weekend, which is fine with me. We visited with grandparents and went to a bbq at my cousin's house.

We are in the daily countdown to Alivia's second birthday! I have not done much to prepare for it. A complete opposite attitude than last year! This year I just want spoil her. Alan, Alivia and I will be taking a trip to the Children's museum to see the "Clifford, the Big Red Dog" display. I just know she is going to love it! She will be showered with lots of hugs and kisses from mommy and daddy (nothing different there!) and we will let her know over and over that it is her special day. The following weekend we will be holding a medium size birthday party for her, but mainly for Alan and I. We need some adult interaction and with her only turning two, I am thinking this is the last time that we can get away with having it be an adult based gathering. I think the cake and ice cream will make up for it though :)

If you have not heard, Alivia is going to be a big sister! I am due at the end of January. We are really excited, but nervous at the same time!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Git er done

So I posted awhile back that I had plans to accomplish a lot of things in the coming months. So far I have finished painting Alivia's room, prepared my garden, did some much needed landscaping, and the rest is yet to come.

I didnt realize how big of a task most of these things were. Alivia's room took me a whole 8 months to finally finish, mainly because I was unsure of how I wanted to do the stripes. I just decided to wing it! I think it came out pretty great! I get a lot of compliments on it, I can tell Alivia likes it too!

The garden was a big pain in the booty to prepare! Luckily, I had my dad helping me otherwise I think I would have given up on it. The food prices these days has gotten me motivated to grow my own veggies and do it all organically. The only problem is, I dont have the slightest clue as to what I am doing! I may not even end up with a veggie garden this year. I have a feeling it will be trial and error. How else will I learn though? I am preparing to plant the seeds now that (I think) it will stay above freezing from here on out... at least I hope so, it's almost June for goodness sake! I have sugar snap peas, green beans, carrots, onions, broccoli, tomatoes, and my dad is growing red and white radishes. Sweet!

We are trying so desperatley to get rid of the weeds in our yard. Seems like our yard is the only one with a dandelion problem. I cant help to think that its because the previous owners just let it go for way too long. I bet it will take years before we get our lush green grass! At least we have grass this year! Last year it was all dead and you could not even walk in the yard without shoes on. So, we layed some weed and feed, are keeping up with the mowing, and will be plating grass seed in the spots that need it. Now only if I could get rid of that pesky gopher that has taken post in our yard! We have tried poisoning him, but he is still around. Cute lil bugger, but I want him gone. I finally got around to planting some flowers around the mailbox. I like it, it looks so much better than what it was. Next, I have to finish digging a trench around the trees that are along the road so I can lay some plastic, edging, and some mulch. Once I get that done (and my garden) then I think I will be satisfied for now... until fall.