One Week Old

This picture is from my cell phone, so it's not the best quality...but it's still cute! Here she is one week old today! I can't believe it's already been a week! It's gone by sooooo fast. My mother-in-law went back to Colorado on Saturday. It was so nice to have her here! Michael is back to work and back to Kenpo, so life is back to normal. She's been sleeping really well at night so far. I've been getting 5 or 6 hours every night! She hardly ever cries, it's just little squeaks when she's hungry or poopy. And she falls right back asleep when I'm done feeding her so I'm not feeling like a zombie. Hopefully it sticks! She is just such a sweet little baby, we love her so much!

Special Delivery!

She's here!!! They induced me on Tuesday morning and everything went very well! We had to be at the hospital at 4 a.m., which I thought was a joke at first...but she was serious. So, we got there at 4 and they started the pitocin around 5 a.m. The contractions started sometime around 6:30, and around 8:30 I decided it was time to try an epidural. I hadn't gotten one with Whitney or Aaron, so I was pretty nervous. Turns out, it was one of the BEST things I've ever done!!! I didn't feel anything, not even the numbing shot! Then, an hour and a half later it was time to push. I pushed for about 10 minutes and she was here, just as cute as can be! Seriously, it was like, the best labor EVER! I can't believe I just had a baby...I feel great! (We'll see if I'm singing a different tune in a few days when the zombie stage hits.)


Baby Kate was born at 10:37 a.m. She is a tiny little 5 lb. 14 ouncer, 18 inches long, and has a great set of lungs. She's absolutely precious and we just love her! I can't believe how tiny she is, every time I pick her up I'm just amazed. She has to wear preemie diapers and clothes! The take home outfit I brought her was about twice her size, it was hilarious!


Michael absolutely adores her and has nicknamed her Nano-Kate and Microbaby. Which, if you can remember my previous post about his list of baby names, are quite tame. He's such a great dad, it's so cute to see him with her, it make me just melt! :)


My mother in law is here to help out and I don't know what I'd have done without her! The kids absolutely adore her and it is just such a blessng to have her here! Speaking of the kids, they seem to be adjusting well. Aaron was kind of weirded out yesterday and it took him a little while to let me hold him or hug him, but he seems to have bounced back to his good old crazy self. Whitney is my big helper and she loves Kate to peices! So, things are going very well and we are so happy to have Kate here. Speaking of....sounds like my time is up. :)

P.S. Once again, the amazingly talented and wonderful Mandy took all the adorable pictures! Thanks, Manders!!!!

Mandy the Magician

Okay...no newborn pictures yet...but close! Mandy did a belly photo shoot with me since I'm just about to pop, and I just HAVE to put the pictures up because they are sooooooo amazing! Would you believe these were taken in my garage!?! Seriously, she's AMAZING!!! I tease her that she turned an elephant into a swan. And she sighs and rolls her eyes at me...and that's why I love her! Thanks again, Mandy! You really are the BEST!!! I love you! :)

the nothings of happenings

Wow, this is my 100th post!!! I should have some sort of animated streamers or fireworks or something going...wish I knew how to do that...oh well!

Well, I have three more weeks until my due date! Yaaaaay! Things are going really well. I had an awesome baby shower a few weeks ago, thrown by my Visiting Teachers and my Beehive Advisor and my bestest friend Mandy. I wish I had pictures, but I sort of forgot my camera...as I always do for anything important.

I'm feeling pretty good! I'm the proud owner of a 43 inch waist, how exciting! My feet are finally starting to swell. In fact, just a few days ago Whitney was having fun leaving indents in my feet and said, "Wow, Mom, your feet are like playdough!" it was hilarious! Atleast she enjoys it. I'm having an ultrasound next week to make sure she's the right size so that will be nice to get to see her again before she's here.

Other than that...really...not much going on. Hopefully my next post will include pictures of a newborn. :)

Well, after much prayer and years of stressing and going back and fourth between choices, I have decided to homeschool Whitney! I finally feel at peace about it and know it's the best choice for us and I'm actually really excited about it! It's going to be so neat to get to be her teacher and get to be in that part of her life. I've been doing home pre-school with her and it has worked so well and we've had so much fun with it. I love being able to teach her the things SHE'S interested in and being able to take as much time as we want to teach it. That girl absolutely loves to learn and read and explore...so I know we'll have a lot of fun.

We're still trying to decide on a curriculum. There are soooo many great resources and programs out there! It feels sort of like being a kid in a candy shop. I'm looking into some online acadamy programs that have attendance guildelines so I can't slack off. They also do progress reports each week so I can make sure she's grasping everything she needs to. Annnnd, they send you the supplies you'll need like science kits and health kits for when you're doing those units. They have lots of fun educational games online and workbooks and then I can just supplement whatever else I want to add in to the program.

I know it will be a lot of work and dedication, but I know that it will bring some wonderful rewards and blessings! I'll get to be the one to see the excitement in her eyes when she accomplishes something, or finally grasps something. I can't wait to get started!

Rub My Belly For Good Luck!

Happy St. Patricks Day! It was seriously SUCH a great day today! Mandy got me this hilarious shirt and everyone has gotten a good kick out of it! Then, on top of that she came over and took pictures for me. :) So, my friends, here you go! 8 months along. Woo-hoo! Thanks Mandy! You're the best!

Third Trimester Trouble!

See this picture? The gorgeous woman in the green dress...Angelina Jolie, pregnant with TWINS shortly before she gave birth. See the panda in the background? That's me pregnant with one baby at 7 1/2 months along. Seriously. Okay, well, actually, the only difference between me and the panda is the panda's preggo boobs aren't three cup sizes bigger than they were 7 1/2 months ago! And I can't do kung fu....

It's been really hard to watch my body change this past month. New stretch marks are appearing alongside the previous two sets of stretchmarks. Spider veins are showing up on my tree trunk legs (crossing my fingers that they don't turn into varicose veins by the end of this pregnancy). As previously mentioned...my boobs no longer fit in the NURSING bras from when Aaron was born...and if anyone remembers how humongous they were then...yeah...and I haven't even started nursing yet! Aaaaaaah!!! I don't even recognize my own rear end with these wide hips! My hips feel like they are breaking, my sciatic nerve is on the fritz, Kate keeps kicking my bladder, my shoes don't fit, and my maternity shirts are getting too short!

I saw some pictures of me from a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe what I saw! My face is huuuuuge! (Yet again, resembling Po the panda...) I always seem to forget how hard the third trimester is....the swelling, the not being able to breath, the not being able to roll over in bed, the heartburn and it seems like every week drags on forrrrever!

So, the reason for this post is to ask for all your help and advice on how you got through your third trimester. How did you keep from getting depressed? How did you pass the time? What did you do to keep yourself excited about the pregnancy instead of having panic attacks that the baby would never come?