Here He Is!

Holding Skylar for the first time.

So, once at the hospital we repeated the same senario of a month ago when I first had the unusual bleeding to again discover everything was okay, but since we had planned to induce the next day the doctor gave us the option of just staying and we took her up on it.

It's a good thing we were in the hospital during labor (they started me on the pitocin around 7pm) because that really brought on the bleeding -even a "record size clot" according to the nurse.
They gave me the epidural as early as I wanted it (I was only at 2cm) and that was the worst part. I was amazed that afterwards I found I could even sleep through the contractions. This birth was in stark contrast from the last time with Micaela when I never did get the epidural (it became too late), so I was a happy camper.

There was some concern about his heart rate dropping with the contractions, so I had to wear an oxygen mask the whole time. And the source of the bleeding was never exactly pinpointed whether it was just the cervix softening or a slight tear in the placenta that they couldn't find. The good news was that it didn't hurt the baby.

It seems that once I hit a "five" things go pretty darn fast and they hurried to get the Dr. to the hospital just in time, but Mom missed everything by 10 minutes. It was only 3 easy pushes and Skylar arrived at 1:10 am on March 19th after all (Dad's birthday) weighing just 6 lbs. 5 oz. (my smallest) and was 20 in. long. He initially swallowed some blood that they hurried to suction out. Of course Steve was too busy delivering to do any video recording. Yes, we had previously asked the Dr. if Steve could deliver which she was happy to agree to. Steve was excited about it for weeks. He also sutured me up and cercumsized our little guy.

His two big sisters are SO in love!
Lexi, instantly became the "other" mom. She can be quite posessive and protective of Skylar.
She just can't get enough of him. You should hear her cooing over him saying things like, "OOOooo, he is SOOOOooo CUTE!"
She is certainly proud of her new little bro. and loves to show him to people.


-Our sweet little Sky!-
Loving our new addition (Lexi's upset she's not holding him).

Precious son, we're so happy you're here safe and sound!

We're Goin' In!

So, I've had a couple spotting scares over this last month, but this morning I had the biggest one and the Dr. is sending me into Labor & Delivery right away, so I'm off to pack! I'm not too panicked though because I'm still feeling him move. Steve who is at work has a replacement coming in and will meet me at the hospital.

-3 hours later...
Okay, Mom just got here (nice timing) and NOW I am leaving for the hospital. Not sure what will happen. Maybe I'll end up back home tonight and go in tomorrow as was planned to induce or maybe we'll just induce tonight. Whichever, wish us luck!

Art Lessons

In Feb. and March I taught a couple art lessons in Lexi's kindergarten class. The first time I created a nifty color wheel and copied it off for each of the kids which we painted in during the lesson. We also talked about warm and cool colors and discussed some artworks that applied.

The second lesson we practiced drawing using certain lines, shapes and shading.

Micaela sat right with Lexi at her desk and participated. It was a blast to get to know Lexi's classmates and be a superstar teacher in my daughters eyes. Of course she excelled in the lessons :D.

Micaela has the school thing down.

~Alexis' masterpiece!~

Blessed with Friends

Wonderful neighbors and friends are a blessing we are deeply grateful for. This past Saturday our friends the Schmidts, Hulls and Binghams threw a shower open house for Baby Skylar and I. There was great food, fun and gifts. This kid is set!

Cute washing machine card.

~ The spread~

Candace and little Morgan

~ The spoils~

Sweets to the Sweet!

We hope your Valentine's Day was fun! We enjoyed being together and saying "I love you" in little ways. Steve and I swapped babysitting with some friends in the ward watching theirs the night before so we were able to get out for a movie and dinner that evening. Ah, love that rare treat! By the way the girls thoroughly relished the wonderful Valentine surprises sent by Grandmas and Grandpas!

"Hair Cuts for the Lot!"

Name that movie!
We were all in need of a hair cut. I cut Steve's last week and finally (it's been over 6 months) got my own trimmed. Then I hesitated over what to do about the girls. I debated doing it myself a few days then finally decided that at least this time it was worth going to a salon. The girls were excited to get their hair cut -especially Lexi who had decided she wanted a short "do" like Mom's.

This place (called Cookie Cutters) specializes in children. They got to pick a movie to watch, sit in a way cool plane or car of their choice and after they were all done they got a balloon with a sucker and snowman cookie cutter attached. A very pleasant experience.

The end results... both look darling with much healthier tresses :).

Valentine Cookie Fun?

So,... I have discovered that when choosing to double a recipie one must be extra catious while doling out the ingredients -especially when one has "prego brain". Otherwise you just might end up putting in 4 times the amount of sugar thinking of the amount of flour called for. Then so it's not a complete waste and so you don't feel like too big an idiot you end up quadrupelling the whole recipie, an insane amount of sugar cookie dough and half your day shot! On top of that when you finally do get around to baking the cookies -if you tried a new recipie be prepared for the first two batches to be a melted together disaster.
Optional lessons to be learned:
1. New recipies are only to be tried in very minimal quantities.

2. Baking is an increadible waste of time /energy and should at least be cheated at with premade dough (especially when prego).

3. Just because a friend may say a recipie is good doesn't make it so.

4. The old addage "Measure twice, cut once" can /should apply to recipies as "Read twice, measure once" or whatever you want it to translate to.

Despite the madness, the girls thoroughly enjoyed playing little bakers with plenty of sampling of course, and since that was the point I guess the event was a succuss after all :).