Monday, July 20, 2009

Sushi

Saturday (7/18/09), I went to the new Draper Temple with my good friend, April, and sister-in-law, Kathryn. Turns out, they didn't rent temple clothing, so I didn't get to do a session, but we still did some temple work, which was NICE!! I'm looking into getting a temple dress sometime soon.

Afterwards though, we went out for SUSHI!!!
Now, I was never one to think I would like sushi, let alone CRAVE it, but... I DO!

I was so excited to get more sushi, I couldn't help be count down the moments as we got closer and closer! We had a delicious CATERPILLAR ROLL with eel, cream cheese, gobo, and avocado inside and more avocado on top; the PHILADELPHIA 2 ROLL with salmon, cream cheese, avocado, and then it's deep fried; and my favorite, the OH ROLL with shrimp tempura inside and then topped with crab meat, salmon, lemon, and tobiko (fish eggs). That OH Roll is so sweet and lemony and delicious! YUM! I just can't wait for our next trip!



When I got home, I was greeted by Keith who gave me a hug saying "I missed you, Mommy!" and tiny Mitchell was very glad to see me too! It was so wonderful to have been missed! I was gone from 7:45am until 4:30pm! That's a LONG TIME for me!

Monday, July 6, 2009

She Cut Me Off!

Okay, so a while back, I had an experience that originally made me want to start this journal.

I was driving up Redwood through all the crazy construction. The lanes eventually became defined by orange cones. There were three lanes and because I had chosen the far right one before and ended up in the construction workers area, I chose the middle lane this time. WRONG! One car quickly sped by me as I saw cars coming over the hill straight at me. GREAT! So, I tried to edge back into the correct (far right) lane, but I ended up cutting off the lady behind me. I was, for one, very embarassed! And second, I was a little defensive because I thought that the lady behind me should have also noticed the cars coming straight at me and should have let me back in a little easier. But, that was all because I was so embarassed. I couldn't get it off my mind.

Finally, the construction brought traffic to a complete stop. The lady got out of her van. OH CRAP!! I locked my doors and probably turned beet red and a little scared that the lady was about to yell and scream at me. Why would she do that? I was about to die because I chose the wrong lane and had cars coming at me. I was nervous. *tap, tap, tap* on my window. CRAP! I rolled down the window, fear on my face I'm sure, and prepared for the tongue lashing. "I just wanted to appologize. I shouldn't have honked at you like that! I've chosen the wrong lane before too, and I just shouldn't have reacted that way. I'm so sorry." WHAT?! She was a beautiful, thin, blonde woman. Her voice was very sincere. "I've been hoping that we'd stop so I could appologize. I really shouldn't have reacted so badly. I'm really, really sorry." I'm sure my face must have gone completely blank with shock and amazement. Remember in A Christmas Story when Ralphie's mom tells his dad that he had been in a fight but then she still covers for him, and his thought was that he realized he was not about to be destroyed afterall? THAT is what I thought! She was so sweet! And now my mind could be cleared of that terrible embarassment and instead, my mind was filled with love and compassion and thanksgiving as I realized that I was not about to be destroyed.

I LOVE where I live! Eagle Mountain must be the best place to live for us! Random acts of kindness like this happen frequently. One guy saw that our trashcan had blown over in the wind, so he took it out of the street (I was feeding Mitchell as I noticed all this) and put it up by our garage. He didn't just set it up again, he didn't put it in the driveway, he took it all the way up to where most garbage cans are kept by people's garages. Another day, someone noticed a bike helmet in our yard. Assuming it was ours (we had actually put it there because some kid hid it from another kid in our backyard... odd), he put it on our porch where we could find it. HOW SWEET!

Anyway, I'm so glad we were able to buy this home and that we have such amazing neighbors!

Independence Day 2009

Well, first of all, I'm not sure that my idea on blogging is working out very well. So, I think it's going to turn into just a journal afterall. SORRY!

So, for the 4th of July, we had family over to our place. I LOVE having people over! It's so easy here because we have room for it! Back in the apartments, I get a bit claustrophobic because so many people are squeezing into tiny apartments. Yes, we go back and forth between two apartments, but that too is a bit of a downer because I like for EVERYONE to be together. Also, there isn't really a nice, safe place for the kids to play outside there. In Tooele, I get weird because I don't want Keith to break any of the stuff in Denise's cute little parlor area. Her kids know their rules and play with their toys appropriately. However, Keith is a little slower on that stuff (not to say that he's "Slow" because the boy is reading a bit already at 3 years old, he's smart, but more "book smart" than anything...) and is likely to find a crayon and let the walls have it! So, I get really uptight and cranky. I've learned to be more calm when visiting St. George, though I get a little nervous when the crayons are brought out. So, for me, having a get toether at OUR place is like HEAVEN! We've got things that the kids aren't allowed to touch put away. We've got a toy room that's safe for playing. We've got a fully fenced backyard that's been sprayed for spiders, so I'm cool with them playing outside. And, we're really good at making sure that everyone understands that food stays ONLY in the UNcarpeted areas. So, my sanity is still in tact at the end of the day!

When everyone left, it was so easy to clean up! I still need to vacuum and do a second load of dishes and mop, but other than that, it took about 30 minutes to get the place cleaned up again. Ben is afraid that if I always invite people out here, they'll start to say "no" and then will be so used to saying "no" that no one will ever come out anymore. That's possible, but I am hoping that if I just show enough friendly hospitality while people are here, then it won't be a big deal and people will actually ENJOY coming out.

At any rate, we thoroughly enjoyed the few hours alone with Matthew and Bree. They are such wonderful people! Just as they left, Alex & Denise's family showed up, and then Kathryn, and then Bruce & Jordan's family. We grilled out for both lunch and then again for dinner. We played games. We just had FUN! As it got dark, we even did some little fireworks in the street! I don't think I could have asked for a better 4th of July!






Thursday, June 18, 2009

4 months

So, here I am thinking that Mitchell is SO much bigger than Keith was, and thinking that he'd end up being much bigger than Keith before long. Afterall, Keith is so small for his age, and Mitchell is getting to be such a big boy. Well, I apparently am TERRIBLE at judging such things!

Today, Mitchell's 4 month birthday, the tiny monster is 15 1/2 lbs and 24 1/2 inches. At this same age, Keith was 16 1/2 lbs (one full pound heavier) and 26 1/4 inches (nearly two inches longer/taller). WOW! I have tiny little boys!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

3 months

So, I checked Keith's height and weight. He's 3 years and 3 months old... 36.5" (just a smidgen over 3 feet) and 28.8 lbs. That puts him around the 10th percentile for his height and still under the 5th percentile for weight.

Mitchell is 25" long and about 12.8 lbs. That puts him at about the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th for length.

When Keith was 2 months old, he was 10 lbs 14.75 oz and 22.5" long, putting him between the 10th and 25th for both. At 4 months, he was 16.5 lbs (50-75th percentile) and 26.25" (75-90th percentile). He wasn't measured at 3 months, but it was obviously somewhere in the middle of all this, right?

I am questioning some of Keith's past dates and therefore his percentiles. I don't recally Keith EVER being above the 25th percentile in ANYTHING, but I'll edit this if I need to later!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Births of my Babies

KEITH:
My back started hurting a little around 7pm on Wednesday night (2/8/06). I was very tired, so I soon went to bed. However, I found myself unable to sleep because the pain kept getting worse. It felt like I needed to use the bathroom but I went so many times that there was nothing left in my bladder to empty. Around midnight, Ben finally asked if contractions came with the pain. This was the first I had considered such a thing. I tried to time contractions but it was difficult because the pain never really stopped, which made it hard to figure out when the contraction stopped. The pain just piled on, rather than being present for a time and then going away for a time. By 2am Thursday morning, we were finally at the hospital (University of Utah Hospital). They still had to do an exam and monitor me for an hour before they would admit me. I was at 2cm for 3-4 weeks already. Now I progressed from 4-8cm in a mere 20 minutes!They rushed to get the epidural! That was a lifesaver... the back labor had been so constant and intense that I had been in quiet tears for about half an hour, but had been overly uncomfortable for probably 4 hours already.

Once the epidural took effect, I felt GREAT! I laughed and joked with Beth Tyrell (our Bishop's wife), Penny Johnson (my good friend who lived in our apartment building), Ben, and the nurses. It wasn't long before they told me I was going to start pushing though. My doctor had to be in surgery at 7:30am and they wanted to allow me time to push. They broke my water and I began pushing. The doctor left to go check on some cancer patients but was nearly immediately called back as the baby's head was showing! She said for me to stop pushing until she could get there in 15 minutes. I couldn't believe it! STOP PUSHING?! This baby felt like he was climbing his way out anyway! Dr. Laine arrived in 10 minutes and I pushed just a few more times. Ben held a mirror so I could watch. It was unvelievably amazing! After just less than an hour since I had started pushing, Keith was born at 6:43am and was very hungry. He nursed for around 3 hours, excluding the time he spent getting checked out and bathed. Back labor was harsh, but I would do it again!

MITCHELL:
Wednesday the 18th - 12:30am and I woke up with these crazy gas-like pains in my back. I immediately started timing it, just to be sure. 13 minutes. 9 minutes. 7 minutes. 5 minutes. 3 minutes. 2 minutes. The contractions weren't steady and regular, but increasing quickly. At about 1:15am, I called Briana to come on over. Then I called my friend, Penny, to come over to help with Keith, if he should wake up, or me, if I should need it. Briana was there no later than 1:45am. She said I was doing well dealing with the pain... I rocked back and forth and told her how that epidural with Keith was amazingly wonderful. Then a contraction would end and I would wonder if I was just exaggerating or being overly dramatic. Then another would start, NOPE! Not exaggerating or being dramatic at all, that was real PAIN! I put on some water to boil and made some red raspberry leaf tea after taking some more blue cohosh. I hardly took two drinks of my tea before I finally agreed to let Briana check me to see how far I was progressing. The pain was bad enough that I wanted to know that it was actually doing something. She assured me it would only be a few more hours, to which I thought "HOURS!?!?!!" Anyway, so then she checked and said I was about 6cm. I had been at 2.5 cm since early January, then the last week I went up to 3cm and then 3.5 cm, but stayed there. With Keith, when I hit 4cm, I went pretty fast and was hoping for a repeat. So, once she determined that the contractions were actually doing something useful, I decided to go to the bathroom again. As I sat there, the tub looked appealing. I got in and had the hot water run over my lower back. Eventually, I had Ben and Briana both pouring it over my back as I was on my hands and knees in the tub begging for more and hotter water a little more quickly. Penny got there just as I was crowning and Briana cut off my water supply because a tiny face was showing and ready to take his first breath. The time was 2:16am. Not even two hours after I woke up with contractions. She passed the baby through to me, and he was amazingly slippery so I was a little nervous trying to hold onto him. They helped me flip over into the bathtub, and then brought me a pillow (it had on a nice little water-proofed cover). I held onto the new baby for a while, waiting for the placenta to let go. Briana gave me some Angelica (another herb) to help encourage it to release. It took a while, but finally it was out, too. Once it was, I was helped out of the tub and into my bed. The placenta and cord were still attached to the baby, who had not yet been named.

I laid in bed for a while, just snuggling up with my baby and my sweet husband. After a while, I decided to get up and go shower off, so I passed the baby to Ben. While I showered, Briana asked if it was okay to start on her newborn exam, or if I wanted her to wait for me to get out. I asked her to wait, so she did. I got cleaned up, dressed, and back into bed. By then, the tiny boy was on a towel wrapped heating pad where she examined him and then measured him. Ben held him up in a sling so Briana could get his weight. 8lbs on the dot... ironic since Keith was 7lbs even!

Around now, or maybe it was just before I showered, I honestly don't recall, Keith had awaken and Penny had been watching him in his room for a while. Ben finally went in to let them know he could come in. (He hadn't woken up until after the birth, so he needed to stay out of the way of the 4 of us trying to make our way through a tiny bathroom and hallway.) So, Keith came in, kissed the baby's head and said, "Love you Baby Brother!" as sweetly as he could. He wasn't told what to say or do, he just did it and it was amazingly wonderful! As the three of us looked on at the new member of our family, I knew it was a moment that could have never taken place in a hospital. It was sweet and tender and just perfect. Now, don't get me wrong, it hurt like you would never believe (unless you too have had a natural birth), but I'd do it at home again without thinking about it. I was never rushed to give up my baby. I was never hurried to do anything. I was immediately with my other sweet boy, and the whole family could cuddle together without nurses getting in the way. Plus, it was so nice to be at home, and have a care provider come to ME instead of having to sit in a car through those awful contractions. Since I managed my pain by rocking, sitting would not have allowed me to manage the pain. Plus, that hot water was amazing! Can't get that in a car, and not in all hospital rooms either. Also, the cord and placenta stayed attached until it was done pulsing, that way he could continue to sort out which nutrients he wanted/needed until he had everything necessary. Only then was the cord clamped and cut. This also cuts back on the incidence and severity of jaundice. Interesting, huh?! The pain sucked, but the overall experience was amazing!! I would totally encourage everyone to give a homebirth a try... it's so much more calm and peaceful and at YOUR pace rather than the hospital staff's. It was just perfect.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

First Entry

So, I'm starting this blog because I'm much more computer oriented these days and figure I can keep a blog better than I can keep a journal. I tried to keep a journal for Keith, but it just didn't work out. So here is what I'm going to be doing. I am PLANNING to enter something current for both Mitchell and Keith, and then go back 3 years to talk about what Keith was doing at Mitchell's age. That way, I can get caught up on the past 3 years of journaling that I've missed out on.



As for today, I'm going to get this thing figured out and then I'll start journaling tomorrow!