Two Birthdays!

Last Friday was Gary's 31st birthday. He thought it would be awesome to have the baby on his birthday. I had told a friend that the 4th or the 10th was when I expected the little boy to come, just due to my history of having babies 5 days early... so depending if we went off the due date or the latest ultrasound due date is where the 4th or 10th came from.

Friday I woke up with a plan since I knew I was going to have the baby soon there were a few things I wanted done, such as making bread and making dinner for Gary so he wouldn't have to cook on his birthday. So when he called at 5:30 and was slow leaving work and still had some shopping to do I was bummed. I had also been on my feet for the majority of the day and all though the bread and the dinner was made, when he suggested picking up Papa Johns on the way home I didn't protest. Saurkraut Soup is always better the next day anyway.

So knowing we had more time I got a bit more adventurous with the kids and took them down to the studio to let them make cards for Gary. In the process I broke my C plate for my Cuttlebug, trying to hurry things along before Nev started ripping all the hearts in half. Zurich was very excited for the "cake" part of the birthday and kept talking about the "ghost cake" as he made his card.

We brought up the cards and set the table. I had finally found the photos I had printed out for Gary's new wallet and included them. Once again, I was giving him an IOU card. I owed him skiing for his birthday.

About 6:30 my water leaked, but I wasn't having any contractions that were consistent or concerning so I kept that information to myself and figured we'd go ahead with the birthday celebrations. Gary got home and we ate and then he and the kids played together while we waited for his parents to arrive. I sat back and watched and kept a quiet eye on the contractions.


When Gary's parents arrived I warned his Mom, "I'm pretty sure we're having the baby this weekend."
We ate Gary's carrot cake... Zurich wasn't as excited about that kind of cake, for the record.

About halfway through my cake I leaned over to Gary and said, "After this we better go to the hospital."
"What?"
"I had a water leak."
"Really?"
"Ya pretty sure."
"You're serious? When?"
"A while ago, like 6:30 or something."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't relevant at the time. I wasn't having contractions and I was hungry."

As we gathered stuff up he kept saying, "You bad kid. Why didn't you tell me?"

After he read his card I said, "I did get you something but it isn't here yet speaking of Gideon and what I had ordered from Amazon." Ya, I can be cryptic like that.

We headed to the hospital and Gary, knowing that I would want it later took this pic.

Can I tell you how happy I was to see that little ph strip turn blue? We were checked into a room at midnight. I told Gary to take a nap, I'd let him know when I needed him.

However, contractions weren't doing much even though they had fully ruptured my membranes... so we started oxytocin at 2 am. I took notes of the evening up to that point on my ipod touch and then finished tatting a wreath (after having to untat, because I wasn't paying enough attention during an uncomfortable contraction).

At 2:30 I transitioned to the ball, and contractions started to hurt.

During transition I picked up my tatting again in between contractions. I had a goal to finish a Lucky Shamrock for Gideon before he was born. I did it too. :) Yup kid, you can tell them that your mom was tatting while you were being birthed... er something.

At 3:10 I was ready to have the baby. However, Gideon had a pretty large cranium and even larger shoulders so it took some work and a little time. So Gary didn't get to share his birthday, but pretty darn close!

He is the biggest baby so far. Just out doing his big brother by 1 oz, and 1 inch. Their heads both measured 37 cm. Happy Birthday Gary!

Our midwife was awesome. I love the midwives at the New Beginnings Clinic in Orem.

Gideon after his first bath.

Hospital mug shot

Gideon with his Lucky Shamrock

Gideon was ten days early and measured large for his gestational age and had low blood sugar, which was monitored but by the time we left the hospital it was all good.

Olea skis

Olea loves to ski. She loves to ski with her dad. We put her on skis for the first time when she was about 3 and a half. Since we discovered Alta's Ski free after three, she really looks forward to Saturday ski trips with her dad. She has progressed SO much in the past few years. I don't ski, I don't love it, but I love that they love it, that they have something to share.

She really wanted to go on some un-groomed runs today and did really well. Gary was so proud of her. At one point while they were going through powder a couple of young guys on the lift above them yelled down, "Hey, man, your daughter rocks!" Can you just imagine how Gary was beaming with pride?

Olea is really looking forward to going for a whole day and is working very hard to earn it. It makes me a little sad to think we will be moving away from skiing opportunities here shortly, so I really want the two of them to take full advantage of the opportunity they have here. Tonight I told Gary that we need to make sure when we come back and visit family we make sure they get a few good ski days in every winter. Can you see him complain about that? nope.

So for your viewing pleasure: a video of Olea's skiing today.

You are so Dreamy

Gary went with me yesterday to the Midwife. At one point, she commented, "oh he's a comedian!" Most people don't get to see this side of Gary, or I should say certain people don't get to see that side.

I'm going out on a limb here sharing this... especially since I rarely comment on this here blog about Gary and my relationship. There are a few reasons for this... which I won't go into at the moment, needless to say, I like him a lot, obviously I love him, that should go without saying. He makes me laugh all the time. I seriously chose right when I chose him. Life is soooo good.

Anyway, here is one of the funnies that the midwife was privy to.

The midwife was showing us the orientation of the baby and having Gary feel it on my belly, later she was checking me, and she jokingly asked him if he wanted to feel the baby's head. He said, "No, I'll take care of that when we get home." It might be one of those 'you had to be there' things, but I'm glad you weren't.

Later he confessed he was a little scared and thought she was serious. Maybe she was.

Gary is the kind of person who is not afraid to make fun of himself. I have a few classic pictures of this that make me laugh EVERY TIME I look at them.

For your viewing pleasure (because I ran across them tonight and had a good laugh while trying to make a hard back up of the last two or three years of photos):



Some of them have some pretty great stories or explanations, but I am just going to keep those to myself for now and enjoy my own giggles.
Oh! And lets not forget this!

Little surprises

So after cleaning up breakfast I rounded the corner of the stairs to find Miss Nev, sitting like so... (lucky me I had the camera in hand to bring it upstairs with me cause this was a jem).

She's a nude-ster. Thankfully, I still have my sense of humor. There ain't no pants, panties, pull-ups or diaper on her. Oh, this lil gal is so adept at undressing herself. Mind the shoes however, those are necessary.

The Adventures of Bedrest

I have been on bedrest for 3 weeks now. It's been an interesting thing since I have three children. I've had lots of help, but still there are some days that things just don't work out and somethings that only Mom can do. There have been lots of adventures... call it what you will, things that happen just because I'm not active or whatever.

What follows is a picture collection and maybe some explanation of some of things that have transpired as I have sat back, strike that, laid there and watched.

Zurich and Nev play in the jungle next to my bed.

This time they were taking a "nap in their jungle bed."

The other night as I laid on the couch Zurich started jumping off the other couch... I had the camera and let him have his fun. Olea joined in too. Nev did, but she's not ambitious enough to jump but placed the pillow and then slid down it.

While Olea and I worked on homework, Zurich and Nev drew in and ripped up our brand new set of phone books

While Gary worked at home next to me in bed, Zurich was awfully quiet... when Gary went to check on him I heard the comment, "oh, Zurich, this is the real stuff..." and I started looking up on the internet how to get fingernail polish out of carpet. For the record, in our case alcohol worked best. I didn't get a picture of the carpet because that is one of the things I jumped out of bed to help Gary with. But here is the little boy who tried to paint his FEET with his sister's blue nail polish. For what he was trying to accomplish it is a miracle that there was as little on the carpet as there was. Blessed.

Nev and Zurich are "goin' to school, Mom, Love you bye!"

May I have this Dance?



There have been lots of:

Dragon fights


Rock concerts

Monster truck Rallys


and lots of giggles....here is one:

and she goes back for more.

Follow the Instructions

For Christmas the kids each got a mini set of Lincoln Logs in their stockings (or rather boots, since we embrace that aspect of my German heritage). A few days after Christmas my husband and I realized that our children didn't understand the concept and workings of Lincoln Logs.

For FHE while I laid on the couch re-stacking Nev's Lincoln Logs to keep her from destroying the lesson in process, Gary attempted to teach the older two the importance of following directions and instructions etc. using the Lincoln Logs as an object lesson.

He's always so creative that way. The kids really enjoyed it and quite frankly it made a lot of sense and has been a concept they remember even after the fun. I realized this when Olea and I were talking about being obedient almost a week later and she commented it was like following the instructions, and commandments that Heavenly Father has given us, so we can be happy.
I'll count that one as a successful FHE.