Christmas recap

This year was a crazy Christmas-Thursday was the first day in about two weeks where we had the day to ourselves. On December 15th Peter’s brother Sean and his family arrived from Florida (Sean, Amy, Kirk-3yrs, and Heidi-5 mos.). We spent nearly every day with them. We had many fun adventures and really enjoyed spending time with them. Amy took a lot of fun pictures of the kids with her really cool camera. We’ll post when we get them. For being three months older than Connor, Heidi is a real moose! Heidi was roughly the same weight as Connor, so we’ll see if he turns into a moose in the next three months too.

Chris and Mary and their girls Camille-7, Ellie-5 and Claire-3 also came for the festivities. We had a great time playing games with everyone.
Christmas Eve was spent with Peter’s family. Peter made peppermint fudge and peanut brittle-yummy! We had appetizers and socialized with family. There was also the telling and acting out of Jesus’ birth with Connor being baby Jesus, Ellie was the angel, Claire was Joseph, Camille was Mary, Mary who was holding Connor became the manger, Sean was a sheep and Amy was the shepherd. Peter and Laurel were two of the wise men and the rest of us chimed in as well. Oh yes and Kirk was the crocodile. It turned out pretty well-we had a lot of fun! The evening also consisted of reading the first chapter of a biography Peter’s grandma wrote-Chris added quite a bit of commentary to the story, making it absolutely hilarious. Chris also read a letter written by David’s dad-which was the first Christmas letter in a very long time and it described past Christmas and life explorations-it was really neat to hear.
Christmas morning we received the best gift ever-Connor slept 7 hours!!!! It was amazing! I fed him around 11pm, he was asleep at midnight and then didn’t wake up until 7am-that’s a first for us! I woke up at 5 expecting my little alarm clock to wake up too and he didn’t so I went back to sleep, well sort of. I kept anticipating him waking up so I didn’t really want to go back to bed. At 6 I got up for breakfast and then went back to bed. At 7 my little guy started stirring and then was awake. I fed him and then he got to see what Santa left for him. He got a couple outfits, Cookie Monster and Elmo socks, some Dr. Seuss board books and a couple Winnie the Pooh bottles that he’ll be able to use in a couple of months. After we were dressed and ready we headed to Peter’s parents again for presents. Around 9:30 Chris and Mary arrived as well.
Peter and Connor gave me a Cricut Expression, my mom, sister and Chris gave me several cartridges for the Cricut which of course I’ve had fun using. I’ve started putting together some fun pieces for Connor’s scrapbook. I also got Apples to Apples the Disney version. Peter and I also received a Lion House cook book, Tell me the stories of Jesus, The Christmas Oranges DVD, a biography about Peter’s grandma, a car emergency kit, a Chinese decoration, a nativity set, and a nativity stacking doll.
Peter also got a super duper cordless drill, two Chuck Norris t-shirts that are super funny, a sweatshirt, and a train set.
Connor got some clothes, toys, more board books, pacifiers, and a turtle nightlight that projects stars all over the ceiling.

At noon we headed over to my parents house. Joshua-9 and Bubba-5 were anxiously awaiting our arrival so they could open presents. We opened presents and then ate lunch/dinner around 1:30. Santa also left Peter and I stockings at my parents house-which was pretty cool. After dinner we all took a nap. When we woke up we headed back to Peter’s parents house for our second dinner followed by an amusing game of “Apples to Apples Disney Edition” with the nieces followed by “The Game of Things” once the children had been put to bed.
Sunday the 26th Connor was blessed in church since we had family in town. After church Connor and I headed to my parents house to have Christmas again now that Abbie and Rafe were in town. My aunt and uncle arrived late on the 24th and left around 4 on the 26th to head back home. Connor and I got to visit with them a little bit before they left. Then Sunday evening we played another amusing game of “The Game of Things” as we also gave that game to Abbie and Rafe. Seriously a fun game to play with a group of people!

Monday the 27th we got a late start to the day, visited with Abbie and Rafe for almost two hours and then left to go get family pictures taken with Peter’s family in Old Poway Park. We were the first family to arrive so the photographer took our little family photos first. Connor wasn’t very happy in many of our pictures. Sean arrived to save the day with a pacifier and would wait until the photographer was about to take the picture and then pull the pacifier out of Connor’s mouth-this technique worked pretty well. When our pictures were done then the rest of the gang had arrived and we took the big family picture. Now trying to get six children ages of 7, 5, 3, 3, 5mos and 7 weeks to all look good at the same time is down right near impossible. I’m curious to see if everyone looked good in at least one picture. Connor was the best behaved as he was asleep for the whole thing. Camille then comes in second with probably Heidi in third, after that it was a toss up to who was constantly complaining, crying, making funny faces, or picking their nose.
Tuesday the 28th we spent with my family. The 29th we said goodbye to Sean, Amy and the kids then went home to relax-our first day home in a long time!

Today is New Year’s Eve-Now normally I don’t bother with new year’s resolutions as I can never keep them. Like for instance I don’t bother with saying that I’ll stop biting my nails, because yeah that won’t happen, at least not for long. Though I did come up with an idea-I will try to update the blog more often. So there you have it. Happy New Year everyone!

6 weeks

Here are some more fun pictures of our little man
Big yawn (5 wks)

Yes I am mad
Another big yawn
This one is from his first week-I had to include it
Grandma B bought me this super cute bear outfit to keep me warm and happy in my car seat.
Aren't I adorable?!
Yesterday we went to the model train museum in Balboa Park with Chris, Mary, their girls, Sean, Amy and their kids. We arrived first and Connor wasn't too happy in the stroller so we headed back to the car and put him in the ergo baby-which I love by the way! Connor slept soundly through the whole museum.

This is in the Lego room

Here's another fun room-this was probably my favorite room, there was so much to look at. This was my second time going to that museum so I really didn't take many pictures. I liked this train as it had the smurfs on it. They had a lot of very creative trains decorated just for the holidays. There was a sponge bob one too.

Here's Connor in a holiday outfit Grandma O gave him. Our neighbors gave us the socks, we also have green, blue and black ones. I love how they look like shoes.

3 1/2 weeks

My how time flies, our baby is almost a month old and we haven't posted nearly enough pictures of him yet...so here are a few. Do you see a running theme? He does have eyes, and he does open them occasionally...generally between midnight and 3am.

Sleeping with Daddy

Sleeping with Grandpa

Connor and I went to the Zoo today with Kira, her boys and her mom. We got to meet this little guy. He's a pengalin (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). He's one of only two that the Zoo has and they are the only Zoo to have them in captivity. They don't usually live very long in captivity. He has a super long tongue, it was fun to watch him.

When Peter got home from work he found Connor and I like this.
We had a great time-Thanks for inviting us to go with you!

10 days old

Ever wonder what a baby looks like on the inside? I assume it's a bit like this, just flip him upside down. This is one of Connor's favorite sleeping positions.

This is another favorite position
Taken at the hospital...one of the many faces he dazzles us with
Want a kiss?

Thinking

Will you please turn the flash off?
Staring at daddy

Look at the size of those feet! Now imagine those kicking you in the ribs constantly.

I'm ready for my first Doctor's appointment!
We have decided that Little Squirt was a very appropriate nickname for him. This was the outfit he went to his doctor's appointment in. He came home in a second outfit and before long he was in his third outfit of the day. After a couple days of constantly wetting his clothes and mine, and the bed and basically anywhere he was we were given advice on how to solve that problem. Now he generally stays in one outfit for the day...unless he decides to be a little squirt. :)

Our Family of Three

It all started at 10 o'clock last night. Mandy and I had just returned home from a very tasty dinner at a Casa De Pico's for my Mom's birthday. Mandy hadn't taken a nap in the afternoon, so she was more tired than usual. That's when the pains started.
These pains were much stronger and more regular than she had ever had before. Of course, we wanted to make sure this was the real thing and not the fake labor, since we really didn't want to head over to La Jolla just to be sent home. So she endured them until 1 AM or so. We tried to cope with them by changing positions, having me massage her back, taking a warm shower, etc. By 1 AM, the contractions were coming 3-5 minutes apart, and were fairly regular. At this point we realized it certainly wasn't fake, and headed to the hospital.
When we got there, they hooked Mandy up to the contraction monitoring machine and observed her for 1 hour. It turns out she was in labor, but it was very, very early. Mandy and I were shocked because how intense the pain was, even at this stage. Mandy could hardly walk. They gave us a choice: go home and come back later, or walk around and see if it progressed farther. We chose the latter--I think both of us would have been pretty shook up if we ended up back at home. Poor Mandy wasn't going to get any sleep or rest where ever she was.
Lucky for us, after walking around for an hour, with every 5 steps or so followed by massive contraction, they decided that Mandy was in enough pain to go ahead and admit us. This was about 4:30 or5 in morning. Both of us were exhausted. Within an hour, they administered her epidural--and it was a miraculous thing. How on Earth did they ever have babies before they came up with this stuff? Mandy felt TONS better and was able to rest at that point, although she wasn't really able to sleep much since she had her blood pressure being monitored every 5 min and nurses had to keep doing tests, setting things up, etc.
Anyway, after a few more hours of contractions and some pushing in the final hour, little baby Connor was born at 12:02 on Saturday, Nov 6. Our handsome little mini-man weighed 8 lbs and 7 oz, and was 21 inches long. And then there were three of us.

Any day now...

Well today marks 39 weeks and no Squirt yet. The doctors at the hospital said I should deliver before 39 weeks, but my doctor at the clinic said I could possibly go a day or two over 40 weeks…I’m thinking I’m done being pregnant and just want him out now. With the lovely diet that I’m on, I haven’t gained any weight the last two months, however, Squirt has. His kicks are extremely noticeable and often painful, especially when he stretches from both ends. I’m exhausted all of the time-afternoon naps are not a luxury, they’re a necessity and I still go to bed at a decent time….which is followed up with 3-4 midnight trips to the bathroom (nature is just doing it’s job to prepare me for midnight feedings).

Friday was my last day of work for a couple months. After my wonderful (loads of sarcasm here) day on Thursday, my co-workers and I decided that Friday would be it for me. This week will be an easy week for them no new lessons just let the kids get caught up on work. Then Thursday and Friday are parent teacher conferences. My reports are all turned in, so I’m off the hook.

A little while back as we were buying the necessities for Squirt, Peter made the comment that kids sure cost a lot. I responded with yeah, just the first one, then the others can use the same stuff. Well then on Tuesday there was a knock on the door. Peter was busy so I got up off the couch to get the door. Getting up can be an ordeal now as I can’t always see where my feet are…and I managed to kick over an entire glass of crystal light that was sitting on the floor. I answered the door-it was the missionaries, the conversation was quick and brief. “Oh you live here, how are you doing, can we do anything for you? Well see you around.” That was basically it. I shut the door and then get a rag to clean up the mess I had just made. While soaking up the floor I see my laptop under the couch has a pile of liquid on top of it. Peter grabs me another towel and I wipe down the computer as liquid is dripping out of it (mind you it was closed). I opened it up and the keyboard and screen were all wet. We unplug it, take the battery out and do our best to dry it out and then leave it opened for a day or two to dry. We have since tried several times to turn it on and nothing happens. I think I killed my computer. On Wednesday evening Peter suggests we buy me a new computer. Mine had been acting up for awhile now, but I could live with the little quirks it had- (a cd got stuck and made an awful noise every time I opened it, then the k button got stuck and would randomly type k’s while I typed) I learned to deal with the little quirks and kept pushing the idea to the back burner. And now the computer is truly dead. I just hope that we can pull the information off of the hard drive and put it on the new computer (when we get one). Which leads me to yesterday-we went to Fashion Valley mall. Did we have to go that far? No, but that mall has a Disney store, so of course we went there. We walked past the Apple store and decided since there were about 500 people in the store that I could live without a computer for awhile longer. We went in the Disney Store and then quickly out. It was crowded too and was geared for 3-8 year olds. We went to Bath and Body Works and bought some smelly soaps (I had a giftcard), and then I was tired so we headed back to the car. On the way back I stopped at Macy’s and told Peter to go get the car and pick me up there. I couldn’t walk anymore. A combination of massive pressure down there along with contractions was making me quite miserable.

He picked me up and we headed home, with one last stop at Costco to get some Halloween candy. Last night was our ward and another ward’s combined Halloween carnival and trunk or treat. We originally thought we would have a baby by now so we weren’t going to the trunk or treat, but since we didn’t we needed to pick up some cheap candy to pass out to approximately 200-300 kids. The carnival was pretty awesome, they had some really fun games set out-mini put put, toilet toss(toss a roll of toilet paper into a toilet), throw a ball in a bucket while it is spinning, pick Frankenstein’s nose, a cake walk where they won lollipops, decorate a cookie, get a balloon, cotton candy, face painting, you name it they had a lot of fun games and activities for the kids and of course it was all free. Probably the best carnival I’ve seen in a long time. Then at 7pm the trunk or treat began. The cars were all lined up many decorated their trunks with scary webs, pumpkins, music and such. We met up with Peter’s family and passed out candy next to their cars. Most kids went around once, though several we saw two or three times. They each got one piece until we ran out. Chris and Mary’s kids returned with a good stash of candy.

So that brings us to today…39 weeks and still hanging in. With each contraction Peter leans over-“Are you in labor yet? Is it time?” He has to give a talk today and he’s not even remotely looking forward to it. :) Can you tell?

Another ultrasound

Okay I swear these ultrasound pictures get harder and harder to understand. It was so easy when Squirt was so small, all the parts were easily identifiable. Now it's hard to figure out what you're looking at. Today the lady doing the ultrasound had to point to everything for us to understand what we were looking at. The only things that were obvious were the heart and the head/brain. In one image we could see Squirt taking practice breaths, that was pretty cool. For the most part he was asleep, she couldn't get him to move around much and he had a good and steady heart rate. She had a really hard time of getting a good picture of the face, the umbilical cord was floating in front of his face. She tried doing a 3D scan and all we could identify were the lips, oh well, he'll be here soon enough. So this picture it looks like he's pushed up against a glass window. You can see the nose and nostrils, the lips and the chin. The bubble like stuff around to the right is the cord. The second picture is more of a profile picture, the mouth is open and his tongue is sticking out a little. (She had to point this out to us as we couldn't see it.)
So the stats that we were told are he's growing-his head measures in around 39 weeks, the rest of his body measures around 38 weeks and he weighs approximately 7 lbs and 9 oz.

After the ultrasound we went to the labor and delivery department for the non stress test. Squirt's heart rate was steady...he was sleeping. He wiggled a bit in the beginning and then again in the end as they were taking the monitors off of me. I also had a contraction and didn't feel a thing. As they were hooking me up to the monitors the first thing to show up was a contraction so they told me to push on the top of my belly to see how hard it was. When the contraction was over the belly was soft again. That was pretty cool.

Another funny story-Yesterday at work we had a snake man come and give a presentation to our students. He raises harmless snakes and sells them. He came to our school last year and the kids loved it, so we asked him to come again this year. While he was in our class he brought an egg as he had several eggs hatch recently. One of the students asked the guy how he knew the snake was pregnant. The guy's reply: "Well it's just like how you know a human is pregnant, they get fat, move slower and eat more." The kids were laughing and someone made the comment of that's just like my teacher. Then the guy saw me in the back and he got all red in the face and was just stumbling over his words. He apologized profusely. At the end he came up to me and asked if I forgave him, I told him everything he said was true and I didn't take offense to it, I found it funny too.

"Did I really want to know that?" - Peter

Friday Peter came with me to my doctor appointment. Peter had the day off of work and I had told him that they are doing different things now. I guess I got him excited so he really wanted to come with me. We went into the ultrasound room where the doctor checked the fluid levels around the baby. She made the comment that there was a lot of fluid around the baby which was part amniotic and part baby pee. She went on to say that when I'm well hydrated, the baby is well hydrated and pees a lot. This got Peter's curiosity going. He asks, "Where does the pee go?" At this point I'm like, "You don't want to know the answer to that question." The doctor then says, "Well the baby eats it." This is followed by Peter pulling a sour face. The doctor then goes on to explain the whole process, meanwhile Peter is beside himself totally grossing out. I then had to add my two cents, "Well you know the baby poops too don't you?" I was trying hard not to laugh. My doctor sure did get a good laugh though. Then Peter says, "It's okay to tell me lies, I really don't need to know the truth." I explain to the doctor that my hubby is just a tad squeamish.

From here we went into the next room. I got to relax in a lazy boy with monitors strapped to my belly for a good 20-30 minutes. Every time I go in now I get to relax with monitors strapped to me. Basically the monitors check the baby's heart rate as well as contractions. I have a little button I push whenever I feel any movement.

This Friday I have an appointment at the hospital for the last detailed ultrasound to determine the weight and such. From there I expect they'll set up a date to induce if I don't go into labor on my own....I'm 37 weeks now...our little squirt is almost here.

Surprise Baby Shower!

Today my co-workers threw me a surprise baby shower and boy it sure was a surprise to me! My boss nearly ruined it earlier in the day, but luckily I was so oblivious that I didn’t notice a thing. All morning long everyone did their best to hide presents in the little office. They got to work before me and conveniently took their gifts to the office and I never saw a thing. Then people went out and got a cake and balloons and again I didn’t see a thing. Then I had a meeting with my boss today at 12:30. There was someone in her office so she took me to the little office and was surprised that the door was locked. She unlocked the door and told me to go in. It was dark in there so I didn’t see anything. She told me to take a seat and then turned on the light. At that moment she saw all the gifts behind me (which I of course didn’t notice) and told me “oh shoot there’s financial stuff all out, we have to go somewhere else.” I get up and walk out and was completely oblivious to the whole thing. We had our meeting in her office and then I went back to class. After school on Wednesdays we always have staff meetings, so I went and got my snack from my classroom and was the last one into the meeting. When I got to the door it was shut, which was weird because the last person always shuts the door and I guess I was the last one today. I opened the door and they all shout “SURPRISE!!!!” I was shocked! There were blue and green balloons everywhere. All of the white boards said, “Congrats Mandy, or It’s a Boy!” Hanging from the ceiling on yarn were several diapers held up with clothespins. It was super cute. There was food on the table and a large stack of presents in a corner next to a special comfy chair with a ribbon and balloons on it for me. It was pretty awesome! I’ve never been surprised like that before!

We ate turkey roll things from Costco, veggies and dip. Then I opened presents and then we had this super yummy cake. I was just a tad naughty and had a really tiny piece of the cake, but I didn’t eat the marzipan on top, since that is basically pure sugar. It was really good.

The running theme was Winnie the Pooh (my co-workers know me well). One girl gave me this giant pooh trick or treat bag with a pooh plush and a bunch of clothes inside it. Everyone said I’ll have to take a picture of the baby inside the pooh bag propped up so he sticks out. When he’s older he’ll have the biggest trick or treat bag ever.

One of the funniest gifts I received is called “Pee-pee Teepee for the sprinkling wee-wee.” I had never heard of these before but seriously is probably a super smart invention for baby boys.

Some books

And here's a bump picture for those that really wanted to see it.

Baby shower/Nesting

Last Saturday Ellen, Gretchen and Mary threw me a baby shower. Here are some of the cute gifts I received...can you tell who this stroller is? Notice the ears on top :)

Some really cute toys

Diapers and books

Some cute clothes and blankets

I got these from a couple parents at work. The little bear at the bottom was made by one parent and the outfits and blankets came from another parent.

My mom made this for us-it's yellow gingham with bumble bees in the middle to go with the crib bedding.

My mom also made this nursing shawl, and I have been working on crocheting a blanket for some time now. I originally made it for my first nephew who is now in fourth grade, when I didn't finish it in time I decided to make it for my second nephew who is in kindergarten now...again I didn't finish it on time...so now it belongs to Squirt. I think I'm almost done.
Now Peter is enjoying the little things that I keep doing to prepare for the arrival of our little one. Yesterday he told me that I was definitely nesting....I was doing an inventory of our clothes to see how much of each size we have, to determine if we had enough. I have also gone shopping a few times and spent....well I had fun shopping :) I bought some necessities as well as some fun things that I just HAD to have. I got three cases of newborn diapers (the kind with the bellybutton part cut out) Now with babies needing to be changed 8-10 times a day I figured three cases was a good start. Plus they are good for babies up to 10 pounds, so hopefully this moose is smaller than that. (Oh yes I got all the diapers with coupons, so I saved money too.) Then I needed a diaper bag, so I picked up the one I liked the most. All nurseries need a diaper genie too, so I ordered one online and got a great deal. We picked up some cute bibs and some diapering/bathing lotion/powder etc. All with coupons or on sale. I also convinced Peter that we needed the pack and play that has the bassinet in the top for when the baby is really young and I don't want to get out of bed to go get him (I told Peter he could go to the nursery and get him numerous times during the night if he wanted....he decided buying the pack and play was a good idea.) And while we were there they had one swing left, so we got it.
I have also done a bit of online shopping. I'm still expecting a few packages in the mail, but these arrived last week and I have had a great time reading them.
So there you have it....apparently I am nesting...though I like to say I'm getting ready, and I can't help it if I really enjoy buying baby things. Anyone who has had a baby and knows me well has benefited from my enjoyment to buying baby things....things jump into my cart.

I would've included a baby bump picture, but the pictures we took yesterday looked pretty awful....I have also tried many times to video tape the party that takes place in my belly several times every day. When I push record the party seems to end and the second I push stop, the party begins again. I think he is camera shy. So instead I leave you a picture of the crib all set up. Today I'm 35 weeks!
I leave you with one more thing...a link to Ellen's blog to see more stuff from the baby shower. It was a ton of fun. I lost terribly on one of the games too, and well the other game involved guessing how big my belly was using ribbon, so I of course couldn't play that. My mother-in-law was within an inch of the correct length it was fun. Most people were way off...I didn't realize how small I was.