My latest and greatest

At Ellen's bridal shower one of my cousings, Tiffany, had a great carseat cover. So being a crafty girl I made my own, and I have to say I love the way it turned out. The nifty thing about these are that they attach under the carseat arm with ribbons so that the blanket doesn't fall off or end up in the baby's face. Also you can carry the carseat without fighting a blanket that is inevitably either too big or too small.

I made this rag-style quilt in a couple of hours out of some clearance courderoy and my wearing out maternity jeans!

While I was at the store today I had a lady stop me and ask where I'd gotten it. I told her I'd made it and gave her my name and number, I think I may have sold one already. So if anyone' interested, they'd make great new baby gifts, let me know if you want me to make you one. But they're so easy everyone will probably just make their own:)

The girls like to occassionally help me fold the laundry, it's still a novelty, I'm sure this phase will pass. I really like it when they do because Laura is a great folder! The stack in front of her are washclothes she's done all by herself. I think she makes them straighter than I do. This is one chore that's definitley going to be hers when she gets older. These pictures remind me of seemingly endless hours of folding towels with my own sisters, listening for when Mom would drive up to signal our last minute mad dash to get it done!

And of course, what fun would helping be if it didn't dissolve into silliness:)

Ryan is four weeks old today!

Washin' the cars and bikes

On Monday the girls helped me wash the car and then of course decided their bikes needed a little soap and water. They'd been 'painting' the sidewalk with water earlier so they're using their paintbrushes to scrub them down. If you look closely at the middle picture I caught Laura accidentally spraying Eden with the hose, a classic moment.

Our new ride: the Baby Trend sit n' stand stroller. I'm so excited, I've been wanting one of these strollers for a long time and finally managed to convince Brent that it would be great for our little family. It just got here yesterday, but so far there's a great novelty about who gets to sit in the back seat, but I'm sure that'll wear off soon. The features I like the best on this model are the front extender bar that makes it possible for the person in the back seat still able to sit down even with the car seat attached, and how light it is. We've already taken it on a walk around the neighborhood and to the store and I really like it, I think it's going to be great for places like the zoo and going on longer walks when someone with short legs is bound to get tired.

Snuggled up on a Rainy Morning

Ryan 3 weeks

Laura's first flower arrangement

For the bounty of the earth

Our garden has had it's ups and downs this year. It's definitely been a learning experience. note to self: only plant one zuchini bush next year, and we need more sand added to our extra clayish soil. But a few wonderful things have grown: lots of zuchini, carrots, squash, beans, a lot more strawberries than expected, and two little gardeners. Eden and Laura love to raid the berry patch any chance they get, and always manage to finda few more even after I've told them we got them all.

'Hike' is definitely a relative term, especially when it involves a preschooler, a toddler, a three week old baby, one week post surgery mommy and a very patient daddy. So it was really more like a 20 minute meander in the forest on a sunday afternoon. But it was so beautiful up by Snow Basin ski resort. The trees are starting to change colors and it was definitely a lot cooler than we expected, the girls got chilly quickly.

Favorite things: the rocks, flowers, and sticks to pick up; beautiful scenery, fresh air, and my baby wrap that let Ryan be all snuggly and warm.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Growing up I had no idea how lucky I was to have my Dad. Like most good things, and most good people, I could just take him for granted, knowing he was always there. Fixing my tires on my bike and then my car, spending his free time finishing the basement while we 'helped', buying us contraband candy when we went with him on vet calls, and of course filling up the boat with gas who knows how many times so we could spend the day on the lake.

Now that I'm a mother I know how important it is to have a good Daddy for my little family and I now appreciate my own Dad so much more. I hope his grandson, will not only have his grandpa's name, but many of his qualities.

A new year of Preschool

Where: Imagination Station Preschool

Who: Laura, 12 new friends, and Teachers Brittney and Jamie

When: Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9:00 to 11:30am

Why: Laura is completely ready for a structured preschool. Almost every day she refers to when she'll be able to go to kindergarten. Plus with a new little brother and a two year old sister, going to preschool and learning and playing is just what she needs. Oh, and me too:)

End of Summer

Beautiful weather with lots of sunshine:

Enjoy it while you can!

An unpleasant surprise

Yesterday morning at about 5:00am I woke up hemoraging. I won't go into details here, but let me just say that it was one of the most terrifying experiences both Brent and I have ever had. We quickly called our absolutely wonderful neighbor Melissa, Laura's sunbeam teacher, to come over, and we were on our way to the hospital within 5 minutes. On the way to the hospital, with Brent driving just a little over the speed limit, I called my mom and she was at my house by 9:30am. What would I have done without wonderful Christ-like women?

At the ER the staff wasn't as concerned about my bleeding to death as I was, which really helped calm our nerves, and I was set up on an IV with pitocin to make my uterus contract and morphine for the pain. And like most ER visits we spent the next few hours watching 'Pet Star' and 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' while we waited for an ultrasound.

The ultrasound confirmed what my doctor suspected: I had a retained piece of placenta still inside my uterus, making the uterus unable to contract. So at about 11:30am I went under general anesthesia and had a D&C performed to remove the lingering piece.

Everything went well and I was back in a maternity recovery room within the hour. I spent the rest of the afternoon recouperating and was able to come home at about 5:30pm. 12 hours in the hospital, I feel so lucky for modern medicine. I'll be under the weather for a couple of weeks, but I'm already feeling better this morning. The girls have been amazingly resilient and have loved having Grandma here again. Also Ryan did wonderfully with a bottle while I was gone, although when I got home he wasn't thrilled with having to nurse until this morning. Poor Brent was up most of the night with him.

So long story short, I'm glad I'm not a pioneer, and I want all of my friends to be aware that this complication can happen. So either call me and ask about my symptoms, get informed on the web, and talk to your doctor if you're pregnant. Here's a link that talks a little bit more about it.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/labourandbirth/labourcomplications/retainedplacenta/

Ryan is already a week and a half old. He's still in that adorable, snuggly newborn stage, and sleeping 80% of the time. He's a very mellow, sweet baby who loves to be cuddled.

Brent got accepted today to Arizona State's online MBA program!

He'll be starting classes in January.

Way to go, sweetie!

Boy diapers are harder than girls'

I have no idea how many diapers I've changed. Millions it sometimes feels like. And no, it's not fun, but at least girl diapers aren't complicated. I've been peed on at least once a day for the last week. I almost got whammoed by number 2 tonight. And it's not because I don't have a system. I do! I got some excellent advice on how to quickly let a little air in and then wait. But Ryan doesn't understand the rules. He waits until I'm almost done to fire. So for all of you mothers of girls out there:

Boy daipers are harder to change than girls'.

If you have a little boy and haven't had any mishaps today, I salute you.

And please, will you share your secret? We could use the help!

Billi update...

So here we are on day three of the billi lights and great news: his levels have come down to 15.3! hurray! So he's off of his lights! We'll take him in tomorrow to double check his levels, but now we get to hold him more. Too bad he had to be on it this whole weekend when my parents were here to see him. I'm so glad they were able to come.

Otherwise my recovery has been up and down each day, today I can't hardly get up without getting dizzy. But I'm also feeling good otherwise. Thank goodness I have Brent and our moms to come help us. Honestly I'm terrified of Brent going back to work tomorrow and when Rosemary goes back to Rexburg.