Progress Report

A little update about Alex. He is now 7 weeks old and is so cute! He is such a big baby. I look at him and can't believe how big he is! He seriously looks like a 3 month old. At his one month appointment, he weighed 12 lbs 10 oz. He gained 4 lbs in a month!!! The battery on our scale needs to be replaced, so I don't know how much he weighs now, but I would guess it's probably 14 lbs, if not more. He's just la little chunk!

He started to smile a week or so ago. It's still sporadic, but so adorable! I love it. He also coos all the time and it's so sweet. I just love my little boy. The best news is he slept through the night last night! Let's hope this is his new pattern. For the past couple of weeks he's only been waking up once a night. So I actually feel like a normal person, don't have to take naps during the day and feel back in the swing of things. It's been nice.

One of my biggest regrets with Anna was her not being able to take a bottle of pumped milk. I tried too late with her and I spent a year being attached to her. I swore with the next baby, it would be different. When Alex was 2 weeks old, we gave him a bottle of pumped milk and he took it no problem. Then, I don't know what happened, but suddenly 3 weeks went by, then 4, and I realized he hadn't had a bottle in a while. We tried and he wouldn't really take it. I could have kicked myself for not being more diligent with that. So today, Dan gave him some pumped milk in a bottle and he didn't really like it, but he ended up eating it all! Woo-hoo! So my goal is to pump every day (even though I hate doing it) and give him a bottle every day, so he gets used to it. The past week we've had some stressful times when I've fed him, then left to run some errands. He apparently was still hungry and would cry. Poor Dan would try and get him back to sleep, comfort him, etc to no avail and would finally have to call me to get my booty home asap. So needless to say, we need to get him used to a bottle NOW.

He also is doing better in his car seat. Before, the instant we put him in it, he would cry. Then we get in the car and unless we're in motion, he would cry. Needless to say, stoplights were my nemesis. There have now been times when I've left him in his car seat and he was okay for like 5 minutes or so. A miracle! :)

We just love our little guy so much!

O Christmas Tree!

It's an exciting time of year! Time to put up the Christmas tree! This is the first time in our almost 4 years of marriage that we'll be having Christmas at our house and hence our very first Christmas tree!

Our very first Christmas together, we were engaged. The Christmas after that we went to Italy. Then the two Christmases after that, we've gone to Utah. Since Alex is so little, we decided to stay home this year. The thought of driving 10+ hours in a car with a 2 month old, who hates his car seat, doesn't sound very appealing. Then, having to stop and nurse, etc. It's just easier to stay home.

I'm actually kind of glad that we'll be home this year. As much fun as it is to go somewhere and be with family, I'm looking forward to being in our own home and starting our own family traditions and kind of doing our own family thing. It will be kind of weird not to have family around on Christmas Day and stuff, but Dan's family is coming out a few days later. We'll have our family fun then.

So the first order of business is to put up the tree. We put it up on Saturday and kept telling Anna that we were going to put up the tree, put lights on it, then add ornaments. It was kind of a busy morning, but we finally got around to putting it up. We have a fake tree this year. This is the first time I've had a fake tree. Growing up we always had a real tree. However, last year in Utah, we found one on clearance after Christmas. We figured after a few years, we would save money in the long run. I used to be opposed to fake trees, but now I'm fine. I really like ours.

Dan and Anna opening the box with the tree.

We got the first part of it set up. This was actually really boring for Anna, because she couldn't really help. And it didn't look like a tree, so it wasn't anything exciting yet.

Last year, I bought a whole bunch of ball ornaments on clearance and at the thrift store. We had a lot to put up. Here, the tree is decorated, mostly. Anna found a little flower in the Christmas decorations and wanted to put it in her hair.

Anna was so cute when we started putting the balls on. She realized she couldn't actually hang the hooks very well, so she just handed the balls to us. Then she figured out how to open the boxes with them and kept saying, "I'm going to open this for you, okay?" And then kept handing us the balls at an exuberant rate. :)

Here is our finished tree!

We still need to add a star. I'm working on it, folks. :)

It's always so hard to take a picture of a tree and make it look good. They always look so much better in real life. The whole decoration is kind of haphazard. I had the balls and the candle sticks (that my mom made a few years ago), and a few days later added the poinsettias. I like it overall, but I think it would be different if I actually had a plan from the beginning. :)

I did make a Christmas tree skirt. I was thinking of buying fabric, when I remembered I still had a lot left from our duvet cover. I used that and it actually doesn't look too bad and is kind of Christmasy. We have some ornament balls that have swirls on them as well, so it all matches. I need to sew a border on it, but that might just have to wait till next year. This was a simple project, but took me forever to actually get it done. Every time I started, I'd have to stop and do something with one of my sweet, cute, children. :)

It will be a lot of fun to see Anna on Christmas morning when there are presents under the tree and she'll get to open them. We're trying to teach her about Jesus and that he's the reason for Christmas. I think she kind of gets it. I think our next family activity will be making Christmas cookies!

Autumn pictures and other things...

Ever since moving into our house, we like to do an Autumn photoshoot with the leaves. This year Anna has truly appreciated the leaves. The first year, she was only 4 months and didn't know what was going on. Last year, she didn't understand how fun they are, but this year she LOVES them!

Dan raked all the leaves around her.

Let's just relax here for a minute.

Where did Anna go?

So cute with just her little face poking out.

We have a new addition this year-Alex!

It's hard to get a good one of him. :)

We tried to get one of both our kids and they all turned out awful! It was kind of funny. This is the best one of the lot.

Here are some more pictures of stuff that's been happening around these parts.

I changed Anna's diaper and lately she's been funny about putting her pants on herself. So I just left her in her room and let her do her own thing. Well, she comes out a minute late and says, "I put on my pants!" I look at her and say good job and am very proud of her. Until I look a little closer and realize they were on backwards and not pulled up all the way! It made me laugh.

Anna loves her little drawing toy. She plays with it constantly. Well, one day I see she drew something that actually looks like something. So I ask her what it is and she says flowers! I wasn't sure if it was a fluke or not, but the next day I'm sitting next to her and I see her draw them herself. She's only 2 and drawing flowers already! Do I have a genius daughter or what? :)

Anna loves being a big sister. She loves her little brother Alex. She always wants to give him kisses or hugs, or hold him, etc. The other morning, I went to get her and the first thing she said was, "I want to see baby Alex!"

My two silly little kids.

Anna also LOVES coloring. She can't get enough of it. She goes through coloring books in no time. Her Grandma Phelan sent us a package and some coloring books for Anna. She wasted no time in grabbing them and starting to color them. When my mom was here, she bought her a ton of coloring books to give to her for Christmas.

So, overall things have been going pretty well. Dan had a week off for Thanksgiving and that was so nice. I got to sleep in a lot and catch up on my sleep. For Thanksgiving, it was just us. I didn't take any pictures (oops). We smoked our turkey and it was so good! I made homemade pumpkin pie. I bought a pumpkin at the store for 45 cents, on clearance after Halloween. I cleaned the pumpkin out, cut it up, and baked it to soften it. Then scraped the stuff out and put it in the food processor and made pumpkin puree. I used that for the pie and it turned out so good. It was delicious! After dinner we watched the Muppets Christmas Carol. WE thought Anna would like it, but after a while she lost interest and we had to keep getting her to try and watch it.

Baby Alex!

I figure I should write about the birth of my second child, Alex! He was due the 28th. That day came and went. I had a doctor's appointment that day and the doctor asked if I wanted to set up an appointment to get induced the following week. I declined because I figured I would have him in the next few days. Well, the next few days came and went and still no baby. At this point, I decided to take up walking in hopes of helping him come out. The first day I took Anna and walked 20 minutes. It wore me out! I camehome and just had to sit the rest of the morning because standing for too long just makes my legs so tired. The next day I did a half hour by myself and the only result was no baby and a tired me. The day after that was Sunday and I didn't walk. Then Monday I did a 45 minute walk with the same results. Tuesday we went to the park. Dan played with Anna and I walked for 40 minutes. The next day the same thing.

On Monday, I realized that maybe I should make an appointment to get induced. Wednesday I went in and they did a stress test, which I passed. I made an appointment for Thursday to get induced. Here, you get put on a waiting list and when a bed opens up at the hospital, they call you and you come in. So I didn't know what time they would call on Thursday, but I was 4th on the list, so I figured it wouldn't be too early. Well, at 8 am they called! We hurried and got ready and dropped Anna off at Logan's house.

We got to the hospital. It took a while to get everything set up in the room. They didn't start the pitocin until almost noon. I was having contractions before, but it was just in my stomach and I didn't feel any pain. So then we waited...and waited...and waited. It took a long time for the pitocin to take effect. The really annoying part is you can't eat when you're getting induced. They told me to eat light that day, so I didn't eat much for breakfast. So needless to say, I was starving the whole day! I actually snuck some crackers in, that Dan had with him. I just couldn't take it. I was SO hungry.

After like 4-5 hours of nothing, I was really starting to doubt my decision to get induced. Dan was worried about it in general, but I felt fine about it. Whenever I prayed about it, I felt peace and so that's why I went ahead with it. But when it didn't seem to be working, I was getting worried about having to have a c-section and all that. Around 5 or so, I finally started getting contractions that hurt. They kept getting more intense, so I requested an epidural. When I came in to the hospital at 9 am, I was dilated to 4 cm. After all this time, I was only at a 7. Around 8 pm, my water finally broke. At this point, despite the epidural, I could REALLY feel the contractions. The nurse told me to start pushing a little during contractions to help me get more dilated. I slowly got up to a 10 and the contractions were killing me. I would hold Dan's hand during them. Afterwards, he told me how much his hand hurt each time. Oops. :)

I finally got to the point where I needed to start pushing. I kind of wanted to up the dosage on the epidural, but the nurse pretty much convinced me not too, so that I could be able to push. In hindsight, I should have because I'm not going to lie, it was the most pain I've ever been in. The worst was when he was almost out, but still in there and in between contractions when I wasn't pushing, it was still killing me. But I made it through and out he came after 30-45 min. of pushing! Alex was a big boy. He weighed 8 lbs 12 oz!!! The first thing the doctor said when he came out, was, "That's a big baby." Anna was 8 lbs 2 oz, so I guess in general I have big babies. But that extra week really helped Alex gain a little more.

It's now 1 1/2 weeks after and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm nursing and this little guy is a champion nurser. After he got all cleaned up and we held him, I started to nurse him and he latched on right away! I was so surprised. With Anna, the first time didn't really work. He just loves to eat. I hope he doesn't get huge really fast. I don't know if my back can take carrying around a huge baby.

I've gone to the gym twice now and it felt great. I was able to a lot more sit-ups than I thought I would be able to. So I'm going to get my my six pack back soon! :) Also, I'm pleased to say that I can fit into all my old jeans now! I didn't think it would happen this fast. Sure some of them are a little tight, but I can button them! :) My shirts are another matter. One down side to nursing is that you get bigger and things are just tighter. And a lot of them are not compatible with nursing. Oh well, a small price to pay in the long run.

Me and my little guy at the hospital.

Sweet little Alex.

Not exactly the best picture, but it's so hard to get a good one of a newborn. I should also mention that this little guy has red hair! Just like his sister. I was really, really hoping for a redhead and am so glad I got another one!

Rome Italy Temple

A rare thing has occurred. Anna is down for a nap and Dan is gone for a while, and I haven't had a baby yet, so I have time to myself on a Saturday afternoon! So why not catch up on my blog!

I wanted to blog about the temple in Rome. I served my mission there from the fall of 2003 to the spring of 2005. I love Italy, I absolutely LOVE it! I feel so privileged that I was able to serve my mission there. I learned a lot about myself, the gospel and the Italians. They are such a loving and open people. While I was there, there was talk of a temple and how we were close, but it didn't seem like it would happen for a while.

In the October 2008 general conference, President Monson announced that there would be a temple built in Rome! As soon as I heard that, tears came to my eyes. What a blessing for the Italian people! They currently have to travel to Switzerland to attend the temple. And of all the countries that go to the Switzerland temple, the Italians are the most frequent visitors. For some of these members who live in Southern Italy, it's like a 2 day trip. Members who live on the island of Sardegna, have to take a ferry to the mainland, which is a 16 hour trip. They they travel a day or two to get to Switzerland. There's a lot of sacrifice involved for them to go to the temple. Now to think that they will have one in their own country is so awesome and wonderful! There are so many faithful saints in Italy.

The church has actually had the land for a temple for a long time. When I arrived in Italy, we were taken to the site, which is an old farm land, complete with an olive grove. We were able to walk around and imagine the day when Italy would have a temple! And now it's here.

The groundbreaking for the temple was today. President Monson flew to Italy to preside over it. Here is a video of what the temple will look like. There will also be a stake center, a visitor's center and an arrival center (a place to stay, for those coming long distances). It just makes me so happy that I was able to play a small part in helping to get a temple in Italy. Italy, of all places! I watched this video this morning and just started crying. :)

2 more weeks

I'm still alive! I can't believe how little I blog now. I should be better about it, but I guess I do have an excuse, being pregnant and all. :)

Well, I'm in the final countdown. 2 weeks from today is my due date. It's pretty crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone. Seems just like yesterday, I was just starting to show. My first pregnancy was definitely easier than this one, but so many factors have changed as well. With the first, I was working and basically sitting all day. We lived in an apartment, so there was less to clean and take care of. Now, I have a 2 year old to take care of. I'm home all day, so I feel like I'm constantly trying to keep the house clean. It's hard with Anna because she likes to take her toys everywhere-our room, the bathroom, the kitchen, the family room. I have to try and be sneaky when I put them away during the day, because the second she sees me with her toy, she wants it.

Ever since Dan went back to work, I have to water our garden every morning. While, it's now just a few tomato plants, we put some grass in our backyard, so I have to water that as well. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for our hose. We bought a nicer/thicker hose, the kind that maybe workers would use. While it's more durable and better quality, it's not as malleable as the green ones and it's a pain in the neck to try and move around and put away.

And of course, I have just little discomforts that I never had with Anna. But it's all worth it, right? :)

I'm going to miss my one-on-one time with Anna. As many of you know, it's obviously easier with just one. And nice to have that time with just one child. I hope she adjusts well to having a baby. The last few months she's become more attached to me. She'll only want me to do something, not Dan. And lately, during the day, I'll go to a different room than her and hear her say, "Mommy? Where are you?" "Mommy?" She's not frantic or anything, she just wants to know where I am and be with me. It's cute and makes me smile.

I am looking forward to having a little baby again, though! I'm excited to see Anna as a big sister and to expand our family. I can't wait to hold my little baby and take care of him.

It's still kind of surreal to me that potentially anytime I could go into labor and have a baby. I think I definitely nested this time. Last time, I never felt like I did. But the last week or so, I've been cleaning, getting things organized and just wanting things to be in order. It could also be the fact that I've been putting stuff off, so now it's starting to bug me and I just want to get it done.

The next time I blog will most likely be about our little guy. :)

A trip to the fire station...

Last week, Anna and I went to visit the fire station with some of her friends and their moms. Anna had a lot of fun. We first toured the fire station and obviously that wasn't very interesting to Anna. She kept wanting to go outside. So we finally did go outside to see the firetrucks! All the kids liked this part. They took turns sitting in the fire truck, trying on the firemen's boots, etc. It was a short little visit, but fun for Anna. She got a fireman badge sticker and for a day or two kept telling me, "fireman gave it you!" She hasn't gotten the concept of me, so she always says you, because that's what I say to her.

Here are some pictures of our little trip.

Here, they were touching the BIG tire.

Group shot!

I love this one, it's such a classic kid picture. Anna is picking her nose, Logan is making sure his sticker is staying on, and Brittany and Michael aren't looking at the camera.

Anna got to try on the fireman's hat. It was really big and heavy.

Anna got to try on the fireman's boots! She loves wearing other people's shoes, so this was extra fun for her.

I love this one, even though her eyes are closed.

I think Anna's favorite part was sitting in the firetruck.

Anna and Logan. Best buds. :)

Overall, it was a lot of fun for the kids. At the end, they were given 2 coloring books. The second we got home, Anna wanted to color and did so for a half hour. I couldn't even get her to stop to eat lunch! Every day, she colors in them and just loves it.

*and it's a good thing the other moms brought cameras, because I didn't. Luckily, they were kind enough to send me the pictures. :)