A Lot of Changes

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Well maybe not A LOT of things, but some significant things. First off, Scott was sworn in as a member of the California Bar. We couldn't be prouder of him. He worked so hard through all of law school and for the Bar. Now on to finding the job. Maybe this isn't super significant as much as cute. Ada enjoys supporting Ivy through tummy time. In fact, Ada usually tells me to take a picture during this special sister time.

POTTY TRAINING!
I wasn't going to start yet, but during Thanksgiving, Ada's two year old cousin was here and is totally potty trained. Well, Ada's aunt asked her if she wanted to go potty on the toilet...and she said, "Yes." I decided to just go for it. I don't think Ada realized how much she was going to be hounded by me once we made the decision to go for it. There have been a couple of accidents, one major one today (loose stools will sneak up on anyone). :) She is hilarious with the whole potty training. Last night she woke up around 11 and was sobbing ( I think she had a nightmare). She told me she had to "Poop" so I stripped her down and on the way to the bathroom she told me she needed to show the bad guys how she goes to the bathroom. The bad guys are the "Stabbington Brothers" from Tangled. I had to get her excited to "Do her duty" and somehow talking about the bad guys from Tangled have helped.
I bought her Minnie Mouse underwear and she calls it, "Minnie Mouse Clubhouse" underwear. It is size 2T/3T, but is a little small. She is a big girl.



Ivy is just growing up so fast. We are so in love with our newest addition the family. When she is happy, she is a sweety pie, when she is angry, everyone knows it. She is really starting to smile, and coo lately and it just melts my heart.

These two are going to be best friends I think.

Oh, this picture is out of order but it is too late to change things around. Sometimes when Ada can't go right when she sits down she wants to get down so I have to convince her to stay on the toilet. Ada's Grandma Foley gave her a Tangled Book with all sorts of fun stickers (just after Ivy was born) and she has practically destroyed the book from reading it so much and having it in the bathroom keeps her on the toilet longer.

My little underwear wearing girl. I just love her

I still need to post Thanksgiving, but that will have to wait until I have a little bit more time.

And the Humor Continues in the Early AM

This morning at around 5:45 as I was feeding Ivy (or just before), I lifted something off of the ground and a huge spider scurried across the floor! No, I didn't scream but came pretty close. You see, just last night, we were visiting in the Living Room and there was a huge spider on the wall. My brother tried to kill it and thought it was in his tissue, but discovered that it was not! A few minutes later, Scott felt a little tickle on his leg, lifted the pant leg, and there was the spider! He kicked his leg...towards me I might add, and I did the spider dance.

Okay, so as you can see, spiders were already on my mind. So, back to this morning, as I watched in horror as the spider sprinted off, I looked for anything to smash it with. I could find nothing since my room was so clean (or I couldn't find anything hard enough to get it with). I was pretty sure it made a home in my sweatshirt that I so lovingly left on the floor and since by then I was already feeding the baby, I decided to wake up Scott. Here is where the humor comes in.

He is just as (or maybe more) afraid of spiders than me. When I told him there was a spider that needed to be killed, he shot up! Now, this guy has nightmares about spiders so you can only imagine his terror when I woke him up from almost a dead sleep (Ivy had just been screaming in his ear minutes before so he was not fully back asleep). Anyway, I told him where I thought it was. He gave my jacket a little shake and nothing. He looked around for it and there was nothing. Since I woke him up 20 minutes before his alarm went off, he climbed back into bed defeated. He checked again when he got up 20 minutes later. It WAS in the track jacket. He gave it a good shake and even though I wasn't watching I could picture his stance as it dropped out of the clothing. Then there was the pouncing, with the shoe. Then when that didn't work, the book light came on for better lighting. So shoe in one hand, light in the other and Scott trying to kill the spider. I was afraid the pounding of the shoe would wake Ada up, but luckily it did not. After several attempts of trying to coax the spider out of the carpet lining, Scott gave up.

Phew...long funny story. Maybe not so much funny as disgusting! The spider has probably burrowed itself in my laundry and I will find it today and say a bad word!

I think I will address Scott as Spiderman

The End

Oh and I corrected a mistake on my previous post. I used the word "Clothes" when what I meant was "Close." Yeah, embarrassing!

Nothin Like a Little Humor at 5:30AM

So, I feel like Ada has been sick a TON this last year. She usually is so full of energy that it makes me sad to see her moping around. Anyway, these past few days, she has had a nasty chest cold. I feel pain when she coughs that's how bad it sounds. Early this morning just as I was crawling back in bed after putting Ivy back down, I heard Ada's hoarse cry (she sounds like a little man right now). She rarely wakes up during the night so I went in to check on her. She was sitting up and said:

Ada: Mom, I want to lay down

Me: Okay, let me help you

I help her lay down and start to tickle her face

Ada: Mom, close your eyes and go back to bed

Me (holding back a laugh): Okay

Scott went back in 20 min later and she told him to tuck her back in to give her two dolls and to leave the door open a crack (she is big onto trying to get us to keep the door open)

He came back in and a few minutes later she was crying. By this time (30 min had passed by) we decided to bring her in bed with us (which we have never done before). I thought she would like that. I laid her in between us and told her to close her eyes. She just stared at me. I thought this would be a real treat for her, but no. In her cracked voice she said, "Mom, bring me back to my own bed."

Me: Okay

And then I made Scott bring her back.

I thought it was pretty funny (but sad at the same time). I can't wait until she is healthy again!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was so much fun. My good friend Jenny (she has been in many of my posts since moving to CA), decided to host a little Halloween party, so I helped and the party did not disappoint. She invited 4 couple over (with all the kids). All in all, I believe there were 10 adults and 13 kids (correct me if I am wrong, Jenny).

We had soup and bread bowls, homemade bread, fruit kabobs and some cupcakes (made by yours truly) for dessert. The kids had their own dinner (I mean, what kid really likes soup? Not mine). They got pigs in a blanket and bagel bites. Prettttty healthy.Ada loves going over to Jenny's. She has 4 girls and Ada is best friends with all of them (well, not the baby so much. In fact, the baby is still terrified of me and Ada). Ada enjoyed eating her chocolate cupcake. Actually, she at the candies off of it and licked some of the frosting, then handed it to me (dropped it on my lap while I was picking Ivy up) .

Trick-Or-Treating was too much fun. Imagine the neighbors surprise when they opened their doors to 10+ kids, rather than the 1 or 2 they were expecting. Pretty funny.
I had to get a picture of Jenny's little Pea. Poor Charlotte couldn't crawl when on the ground cause her feet were trapped in her pea costume. It was quite the site.

My little Butterfly and Cupcake.

Ada holding hands with one of Jenny's girls. Poor Lydia wore dress up shoes on the trek and got blisters. By the end of our night, Jenny picked Lydia up while saying. "My kids are never to big to be held." It was funny...guess you had to be there.

Ada was hilarious. At each house she would say "Trick or Treat," then "Thank-you." then as she was jumping off of their porch would yell, "I'm a butterfly, Happy Halloween."

Scott kept Ivy warm

We had such a fun night and have decided (Jenny and I) that next year the adults will dress up too! Thanks Jenny for hosting.

On a side note...Ada has probably had 1 or 2 pieces of her candy from Trunk-or-treating/Trick or treating and I have had about 10. Scott told me I have to pay her every time I take some...

A little of our new life

No, Ada isn't the crazy sister, just happened to get her with her eyes half closed (or shall I say, half open?). She loves holding and kissing baby Ivy. Cuddle time with Daddy.

Everyone has been a little wiped out.

Now only if she let us put her down more often!

Ada got a scooter and helmet for her birthday. She is getting quite good at riding it.

Too cute!

Her clothes are either shrinking or she is just growing up.

We went to the pumpkin patch with some of Ada's favorite people. She had a great time.

Ivy came along for the ride but slept the whole time.

For some reason Ada was afraid of the tractor ride, but I made her go on it anyway. Horrible I know. She did find a cool pumpkin out in the patch, though.

Ada seems SO huge to us now. She is starting to play more on her own now, rather than needing all of our attention, so that has been helpful with the whole transition.

We are loving our crazy life and couldn't be happier with our two beautiful little girls!

(I think Ivy wanted some of Ada's fruit snacks)

Trunk-Or-Treating

Tonight we went to our ward Trunk-or-treating and had a great time. The only complaint was there wasn't enough food for everyone (or maybe there was, and some people stuffed their faces!). The whole drive to the church Ada told us she would not be wearing her costume because it was going to be itchy (uh oh...sounds just like her mommy). How is it possible for felt to be itchy!? I assured her she would be just fine. She agreed to try her Butterfly costume on once we got to the church...and she kept it on. What a cute little Butterfly (I got the costumes at Old Navy for $5. Can't beat that) Pippi Longstalking and her little Cupcake
Muno with his Butterfly

Our little family! I wanted to do something all coordinating, but when all was said and done, I just didn't have the time, energy or money to make it happen. Oh well, I was pleased that we even made it to the party.

Ada was so wound up from the fun night, it took her over an hour to fall asleep. She was just hanging out in her crib just chit chatting.

Fun times tonight

Injury

So Ada has some really cute footsie PJ's and my parents have some really unforgiving tile in their kitchen. I am sure you can imagine what I am going to talk about next...

Ada was excited about getting some cereal so she was running in the kitchen (full speed) when she turned the corner, and all hell broke loose. Scott heard the smack of her face to the tile in the other room and I not only heard it, I saw it. She started crying right away, and I rushed over to her to once again, to check if she had all of her teeth (I posted about another accident she had during the summer). I couldn't tell if all of her teeth were in tact because of all of the blood gushing out. Luckily, it was just her tongue and not broken/missing teeth. HOWEVER, this was a very gross and painful bite into her tongue. I have never seen a hole so big. Poor thing could hardly eat anything and when nap time came around, she discovered that sucking on her binky was painful so I told her to just hold it in her hand. She sadly said, "Okay mom, I will just hold it cause it hurts my mouth." Maybe this is the time to ween her off of the bink??

Anyway, she is doing much better today and is even eating more, but sucking still hurts. SO no sippy cups or binkies until further notice.

And a side not, today she was in her footsie PJ's again (different one's cause the other one's have blood on them) and I told her no running in the kitchen. Just before we were headed to her room to change...SMACK! I look over and Ada was on the ground crying, only this time, no blood, just a swollen and red cheek. Yeah, I think we will be holding off on the footsie PJ's for a little while.

Watch this video at your own risk...it is quite disgusting!

The Story

I can't tell my labor story without telling about my birthday (the day before). They go a little hand in hand...sort of. This whole pregnancy I was hoping so badly to have a birthday baby. I must admit...I even prayed and told Heavenly Father that I would love to have a birthday baby, but would understand if it didn't happen when I wanted. Late Sunday night and early into Monday morning, I was having labor pains so I thought for sure baby would be here for my birthday. BUT, labor pains stopped mid morning and I was not happy. I woke up Tuesday morning (my birthday) feeling GREAT! At the very end of pregnancy...you don't want to feel great, you want to go into labor. Ha. But, as I laid in bed, I decided that I was going to have a great day. And I did. Scott got up early and made me crepes, so we enjoyed breakfast as a family and I was happy and okay that labor wasn't making it's beautiful (and yet ugly) appearance this day!

No one actually gets ready before they eat breakfast, do they?

I also got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with this little clown most of the day!

My sister wanted to do something for baby girl #2, but since I already have pretty much all we need, she decided to treat me to some well needed pampering and sent me away to get a pedicure. It was even more perfect because it just happened to be my birthday the day I did it. Don't my toes look lovely? The Pedicure did not disappoint either. I decided that if we ever have the extra money to do stuff like this, I might have to take advantage of it. Not cause I have to have my toes painted, but because it feels so nice!

On Monday, a few of my SIL's and I happened to be online at the same time for a bit. I was expressing my frustrations of having had labor pains the night before but was feeling fine that day. One of the SIL's asked me if I had ever heard of the Prego Pizza

which I hadn't. She mentioned that they were in CA, and we happened to just have the very pizza place nearby that made the Prego Pizza. So, on my birthday (more for fun than anything), we decided to go to Skipolini's. So much fun.

Love this picture of my brother and Dad

Not the greatest picture, but had to get a family picture

The Prego Pizza.

I had to put this picture of my dad because I thought it was awesome

This was really tasty pizza! It has just about every topping and I did not cut any corners. I made no changes whatsoever because I wanted this pizza to work its magic! Funny story while at the restaurant. I had to use the restroom, and while I was gone, the waiter, not on purpose I'm sure, spilled soda on my chair. I sat down and and noticed right away I was wet. I said that something had spilled on my seat and Scott asked if my water broke.

After dinner, we put Ada to bed, Scott made a cake, and while it was cooling down, my dad sent us to a movie. I was still feeling pretty good, so we headed out and saw "MoneyBall"

When we got back, it was just the two of us, Scott frosted the cake, put my candles on, I made a wish (which came true), and we stuffed our faces. I broke one of the candles so no one would really know my age (or maybe Scott accidentally broke it when he pulled it out of the package).

No one was awake to take our picture, so this will do.

Next Morning (5AM)

This was a very familiar routine for me. Off and on for the past couple of weeks, I will wake up usually really early in the morning and have contractions pretty regularly, and then they stop. By 7AM, they were still consistent, not too painful yet, just consistent. By 9AM they were def 4-5 min apart and getting more painful. I walked the treadmill off and on for an hour and was still experiencing contractions. I called my doctor, told them what was happening, and they sent me to the hospital. Maybe it is hindsight, but deep down, I had a feeling that it might be too early, but we still went. When we got there, the nurse checked me and I was dilated to 3cm. She told me to go walk around the hospital for an hour and she would check for progress (which any progress would mean that I stay at the hospital). SO, Scott and I walked, and walked, and walked. Contractions were getting more painful and were still consistent. I thought for sure we would be admitted. NOPE. The nurse checked again and NOTHING. Talk about discouraging. She told me that all of the nurses really liked me and were routing for me to stay. Since it was slow, she told me we could go for another walk, which we did. Another 45 min walk happened...and I had nothing to show for it. No progress. So with tears in my eyes, I was sent home with a light sedative to help me sleep and a prayer in my heart that I would be coming back soon. With Ada it was so easy to know when to go to the hospital because my water broke at home...and there were no contractions.

Once home, I took a long shower, then laid down. I was able to sleep for an hour, but the contractions were still coming and were getting stronger. I decided to walk the treadmill to keep them coming. So walked I did. I am sure I was a pathetic site. I was wearing a skirt and flip flops, my hair was a mess and I am sure I was getting sweaty armpits from the contractions and walking. The nurse told me that I needed to go back to the hospital if I experienced any of the following: Contractions that took my breath away, that I could not speak through, water breaking, or decreased movement of the baby. By 7:00, the contractions were not only causing me to break out in a sweat, I was having a hard time talking, let alone focusing on anything being said to me. By 7:30, we were on our way back. I was praying SO HARD that I would be able to stay. This time rather than walking to the L & D floor, Scott pushed me in a wheelchair. And I forgot to tell Scott this, but while he was getting the chair for me, the security guard started talking to me about how I looked familiar, yadda, yadda...Did he not realize I was in labor? Not to be a jerk or anything, but come on guy, don't talk to me in my condition.

Only one nurse gave me attitude when we got upstairs. She looked at me like I was stupid when I said I was in labor. She sent me to the check up room and there I was told that YES, I had progressed from 3cm to 4 or 5. As soon as the nurse told me I would be staying, I asked if I could have my epidural.

I have decided I will never be one to brave through a delivery without drugs. Just not in my system. Now for those who are not familiar with the epidural process, this is how it works. BEFORE getting the wonderful drug, they have to pump your veins full of fluids to make sure you are hydrated. Well, that HUGE bag of fluid could not empty into my veins fast enough. I tried not to look at it because I didn't want to be disappointed when it hadn't moved. I think I only took 1 thing back with me from a birthing class I went to back in September. During my contractions, I started chanting because I realized that when I was only thinking, "I can't do this without an epidural, what if I run out of time," that was not helping the situation. So, under my breath, every time a contraction came, I would chant, "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this..." Of course I only said it loud enough for me to hear, but Scott could see i was saying something. It helped...a little. FINALLY, the fluids were in my veins and the anesthesiologists arrived. He started telling me about all of the risks involved and I just wanted to tell him I don't care and to give me that pen to sign the paper. Needles don't bother me too bad and I just kept thinking that in no time, the pain would be gone.

Within 2o minutes of getting the epidural, each contraction pain was weakening until it came to the point where I could relax. Heaven. I had been in pain since about 5 that morning, so the sweet relief of the epidural was amazing!
Exhaustion

I was so exhausted and when the nursed checked me right after the numbness kicked in I was already at an 8. I remember thinking, "No need to rush this," but within the hour and a half, I was ready to push. My doctor wasn't there yet and I told the RN that I felt totally comfortable with her delivering my baby. She did too, but told me I could do some practice pushes but if the doc wasn't there yet, I would need to stop. Well, good thing doc showed up shortly after I started pushing because about 15 minutes after, baby Ivy was here! The only true pain I felt after the epidural was during the pushing. Yes, during that time I could almost see everything happening and it wasn't pretty in my mind gaging how it felt. I remember the pure joy I felt when Ivy was born. They set her on me but took her right away to clean her (then I got skin to skin time). She was just like her big sister and started eating right away. The nurse gave me a pain pill right away to help me sleep since I was exhausted and needed to rest. But I realized I was STARVING. So she found me a tray of food and while I was falling asleep, I was stuffing my face. I am sure I was quite the site. On a normal day, I am sure the food I ate probably wasn't all that great, but at the time, It was the most delicious meal I had ever consumed.
Baby Ivy, 8lbs 10 1/2 oz.

20inches

She has a great head of hair

At first, I thought that she had a great pair of lungs but we have decided it isn't the loudness of her cry, but the quickness of the intensity of the cry. She gives no warning and will be screaming bloody murder within seconds of starting

Love her to pieces

My dad, proud grandpa. He was a lifesaver, among some of our friends. He watched Ada for most of the time while we were in the hospital (My mom couldn't be there for any of it because she was in a bad accident at my sister's house in the bay area and broke her hip. She is still in the bay area at a nursing facility and will be there for a few more days. So sad). When we got home, my dad told me that she had just finished off TWO bags of popcorn. That girl loves her popcorn.

Ada met her little sister and I won't say there was an instant bond, but I think they will be good buddies. It was such a strange feeling (but good) seeing my two daughters together.

So I had this big plan, that next time I had a baby, I was going to look cute at the hospital. Every day before I went into labor, I made sure to shower and put make up on, so I wouldn't look like death in my pictures. That all went out the window once the true labor kicked in. I could care less how I looked and by the time I had Ivy, I was too tired to care. So, once again, my hospital pictures are what I truly look like after having a baby.

I do love this picture of my little girls though.

Comparing the two birth stories, this one was way more painful and harder. I am so glad it is over, however, I am so grateful to have my little baby. I know the transition is going to be difficult and trying, but I can do it. I actually always love the hospital stay and am never in a rush to get home because of the round-the-clock care. I am not going to lie and say that I wasn't afraid to come home. Scott goes back to his internship tomorrow and I am nervous. Especially because I still can't really lift Ada up without pain. But, I will figure it out!! Anyway, for those persistent readers...as Ada would say, "Good Job!" You made it to the end of this post. For those that just came on the site to see pictures, that is okay too!

A few weeks ago, Scott and I took a road trip to San Francisco to return his Bar books so we could get our deposit back (and besides, who really wants a huge stack of books taking up extra space?). My parents were so kind and said they would watch Ada for us, so we took the day and had a great time. I think one of my favorite things of the day was when we accidentally drove past Lombard street and I made Scott take us down it. The scary part was trying to drive back up the ridiculously steep street with Scott's stick shift little car. The clutch was BURNING as we reached the top of the street.Beautiful

Funny story. Scott and I were walking along Pier 39 and there was this couple TOTALLY making out. He "took" a few pictures of me then I took a real one of him and "accidentally" got the couple. So we are a little immature...so sue me.

One can't go to Pier 39 and not go check out the smelly Sea Lions. Scott had never seen them before (Sea Lions at Pier 39) so it was fun taking him there.

After Pier 39, we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf to check out some restaurants but settled on Boudin's back at Pier 39.

It was really fun spending the day in San Fran. I loved just driving around and seeing the city.