"Happy Days" and Father's Day

Wow! What a crazy week this last week has been...where to start?!? Um, let's see, the Halle babe is 6 weeks old as of last Saturday, which means my maternity leave is half over with...Aaaagh! She is so sweet, and as Cooper would say, "Halle sooooo cute, Mom, she sooooo cu-ute!" Kylie and Cooper love on her a lot. Cooper likes to ask if he can have "a hug of Halle," or "a kiss of Halle." He'll give her a kiss on her head, hug her, and pat her on the head. He's so good with her. I haven't had any jealousy issues with him, except for when it comes to "his" bouncy chair.After a week of crazy, pounding rain, we finally got some sunshine, yeah! Cooper woke up one morning, looked outside and said, "Is it happy outside today, Mom?" He has this thing about being happy. He likes to ask everybody if they are happy..."Are you happy, Mom? I'm happy! Are you happy, Mom?" And seriously, if I'm a little moody, which I am most mornings (thank you postpartum hormones), I can't stay that way for too long. I mean, how can you look at this sweet boy's face and NOT be happy?So, anyway, with sunshine, comes the kids' desire to spend almost their entire day outside playing. And with that comes accidents and "owies..."
Cooper likes to drop things down our window wells and I am constantly yelling at him to stay away from them. Well, he learned his lesson last week...he FELL, head first, down one of our window wells. I saw him go down and immediately went into panic mode. I jumped down the well without my shoes on and landed on the rocks. It really hurt, but I didn't have time to think about that. I picked him up, checked him for broken bones and cuts. Amazingly, he escaped with only bumps and scrapes on his head. He cried for awhile, while I held him and tried to figure out how I was going to get him and me out. Unfortunately, this window well was the only one of our wells that didn't have a ladder in it. I was able to get him out without any problems, but I had to use some serious arm and leg muscles to climb out. After I got out, I sat down with Cooper and we talked about why we don't play by the window wells. I think he knows now, but I'm wondering if we should just buy some window well covers. What do you think?On Saturday, I took the kids to Gardner Village to take some pics of them in some of their Daddy's shoes. I made a card for him with a picture of them in his shoes and this poem:
These shoes are too big for me as you can plainly see.
But even when I'm grown up, they will be big on me.
The reason is quite simple, I'm sure you will agree...
No one can fill these shoes like my Daddy!The kids played by the water and fed the ducks.Before we left, we bought Daddy some jalepeno fudge from Sweet Afton's candy shop.
For Father's Day, we gave Daddy his cards and candy and the keys to the Durango, so he could go see his Father's Day present...(Yeah, he had to put together his own Father's Day present. He said he didn't mind, though.)
For Father's Day dinner, I made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, melon salad, potato/onion/mushroom foil packs cooked on the grill, and homemade Rocky Road ice cream! Yum! It was all so good! I think we took pretty good care of our Daddy, don'tcha think?

Labor and Delivery Story

Okay, I know I'm a blog slacker, but I plan on getting caught up eventually. Anyhow, in my last post I mentioned that I would tell you my labor and delivery story...
Most of you know that I had been dead set against having an induction; I really wanted to feel what it was like to go into labor. Well, I got my wish; however, it was not what I had expected...I spent most of Saturday wondering if I was truly in labor or not. My contractions started at 6:00 a.m. and were pretty mild and about 12-14 minutes apart. Then they stopped. I had planned on planting our garden and went to Wal-Mart to get tomato plants and some gardening tools. While I was there they started up again; I told Scott when I got home that we were probably going to have a baby that night, but I was still having doubts of whether or not I was truly in labor (I was just telling everybody that I was and HOPING that I was!) We went to Kylie's soccer game at 2:00. Then we came home; it was on the way home that I suddenly felt like I needed to get the kids ready to go over to our sitter's house. I packed up the kids' bag, finished my packing my hospital bag, and even tried to clean a little. We went to Winger's for Kylie's late birthday dinner--something I realize now we probably shouldn't have done. My contractions before we went into the restaurant were 5-6 minutes apart, but totally bearable. I talked to my L&D nurse/friend who told me I should be on my way to the hospital and not eating at Winger's, but I went anyway, against her advice and my better judgment. While we were in Winger's my contractions were still 5 minutes apart but starting to really hurt. We got our bill right after we got our food, paid, and put the kids' food in to-go boxes. We dropped the kids off and we were on our way to the hospital...
We finally got to the hospital and I signed in at 7:00 p.m. On the way there I had decided that I was DEFINITELY getting an epidural. I was NOT in the mood to go through the pains of labor and delivery. I got dressed in the hospital gown, got in bed, put the monitors on, got my IV, and waited PATIENTLY for my epidural. Ha! It didn't happen. I was calmly talking to my husband about what we should name our baby girl and in the meantime, handling my contractions pretty well. (I think my nurse didn't actually think I was in hard labor, until she checked me. I was at a '7'. She was like "Oh, I guess we'll be keeping you here; you're having a baby tonight." NO DUH!) During one really strong contraction, my water broke. I remember thinking that the next contraction was really going to hurt and that they better hurry up and put in my epidural. After a couple of really hard contractions I knew I wasn't going to get an epidural...I felt like I needed to push; I knew baby girl was coming out whether I was ready or not.
My mom always told me she could never understand why women had to scream and yell while they were in labor. She said she was a "silent birther." Well, Mom, I don't know how you kept quiet when it felt like your insides were being ripped out and you're pushing what feels like a 15-pound watermelon out your hoo-ha! Yeah, so I was one of those screaming women...I screamed like the world was coming to an end. I think I scared some people, including my poor husband, who never got to use his labor coaching skills. It was embarrassing, but I couldn't help it. It flippin' hurt! Luckily, it was all over with within 10-15 minutes. (Notice I walked in at 7:00; I had her at 7:42).
The thing that made this labor and delivery experience so difficult for me was the fact that my adorable OB doc was out of town! The doc on-call wasn't even from his practice, AND she wasn't one I was particularly fond of. But get this, she didn't even make it to my delivery. The "doc-in-the-box" (at St. Mark's, there is always an OB who stays in the hospital at all times) was in my room, but he stood there gowned up waiting for the on-call doc to arrive. He never stepped in to help me deliver until the head was practically out. In a futile effort to "slow" my delivery and wait for the doc to get there, my feet were not put in the stirrups; I wasn't coached through my contractions; nobody told me when to push or for how long...it was brutal. I felt so alone in the most physically painful experience of my life.
On a positive note, my recovery was awesome. There is some kind of high you get after having a baby the natural way. Less than an hour after I delivered, it truly didn't even feel like I had had a baby. I felt really, really good. Would I do it again? Nope. Whoever came up with epidural anesthesia is a genious. When, and if, I ever have another baby, I will make sure I have plenty of time to get an epidural. Lesson learned.

New Arrival

Halle Brynn Wilson arrived Saturday, May 9th at 7:42 p.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 6ounces and was 19 inches long. I got to bathe my sweet baby girl because I was able to walk to the nursery--didn't get an epidural. (Labor and delivery story to be posted later.)Daddy is smitten over his new baby girl. He is so in love...I'm okay that I'm not the love of his life any more...Big sis, Kylie and Big Bro, Cooper came to visit...Kylie immediately wanted to hold her baby sister; Cooper seemed indifferent. He did seem to get that this was the "baby in Mommy's tummy" and that she had finally come out.We came home Monday morning. Here's sweet baby Halle all ready to go in her carseat...Baby Halle gets a "Welcome Home" from her siblings...Here is our crazy family of 5! I can't believe we have three kids! I'm loving it, though. I love my growing, adorable family!

39-Week Check-up

Okay, I went in for my 39 week check-up and I'm now dilated to a '5'! OH, COME ON! Why can't I just go the whole way? None of this put-putting along. Geez, Louise! Talk about a trial of patience! (*Deep breath*) So, anyway, my OB gave me some options: 1) Wait another week and see if I go on my own. 2) Go in sometime this week and break my water and see if contractions start. 3)Go in sometime this week and break my water and start pitocin.
At this point, I'm thinking I'm going to wait another week. I really, really do not want to be induced...in any way. I always clown on the girls that come in for elective inductions when they still have a few weeks to go. I'm like..."Sooo, you couldn't handle being pregnant for 2 more weeks?"
My OB, however, was concerned that with me being "half way" dilated if my water were to break at home, I wouldn't have much time to get to the hospital before having the baby. That does scare me and that would be the only reason why I would be induced.
But, for now, I'm going to hang in there and see if I can do this on my own. I'll keep you posted!

Baby Update

Okay, so I know I'm the lamest blogger ever. I'm so behind; there are things I need to blog about including Scott's parents' visit to us back in March, Scott's birthday, Kylie's birthday, my birthday, our little trip down to St. George WITHOUT the kids for an early 10th wedding anniversary get-away, Easter, etc., etc. But...I'm not going to blog about any of those things today. I'm just too excited about Baby Girl's impending arrival, which I hope will happen sometime next week. I went to the doctor yesterday and I'm dilated to a 4 and she has come down, which explains the pressure and back pain I've been feeling lately. My OB said she could very well come this week or the next. I'm hoping she'll hang out in my uterus for at least another week because I'M NOT READY! I have a massive list of things I need and want to do before she gets here. One of the things on my list requiring the utmost priority was getting a carseat, which I finally went out and bought yesterday after I realized she could be coming any day now. Cooper and I had a blast trying out the strollers while we were in Babies 'R' Us. He would ride around in a stroller and check out all the things he could open and close on it. Then he would point to another stroller and say, "Try that one, Mom; that one for the bee-bee, okay? Try that one for the bee-bee, okay?" (I really need to blog about Cooper's entertainingly advanced verbal skills.) I ended up buying the kid one of those classic Fisher-Price cash registers because he's so gosh dang cute. (Does anybody else ever do that? Just buy their kids toys because they're being so good and cute? And yes, I buy things for Kylie for the same reasons.)
Anyway, that is our family update for now. I'll try to catch up on everything else in the next couple of weeks.

Diaper Cake Anyone?

So, I decided to make a diaper cake for my friend, Jennie (who's going to be having her little girl sometime this week or the next), and I just thought I would post a picture of the end result. I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. It was lots of fun to make, though, not so much fun finding all of the stuff for it. Now that I've done it once, the next one I do should be pretty easy. There are 15+ pregnant girls in our ward and I have a pregnant sister-in-law and three pregnant cousins, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of practice!

It's A...

I've been meaning to post something like this for the last 2 and 1/2 months, but I really wanted to announce the gender of our baby with a cute picture like this...and I kept putting it off. So, here it is, finally! This is for those of you that STILL don't know what we're having. Well, now you know!

Cooper Turns 2!

I can't believe it; my baby is 2! We celebrated his birthday the day after his real birthday on January 31st with family. I decided to go with a train theme because one of the big presents we got him was a Thomas train set. (It was actually one of the gifts we got him for Christmas, but he never opened it because he was so into his Dirt Devil vacuum.) So, I dressed the kids up in train conductor garb. Cooper is actually wearing his Daddy's overalls that are like 28+ years old. Awesome, isn't it!?! Don't they look adorable!Jill and Elizabeth came dressed appropriately as well...The first party activity we did was make trains out of gum and different pieces of candy. Cooper managed to eat 4 or 5 Hershey kisses before starting to make his...Here's Cooper's cousin, Amber, making her train...And here's conductor Kylie working on her train...And ever the kids at heart, here are Jill and Elizabeth with their finished candy trains...Here's Cooper with his train. (Note: Whenever I point the camera at Cooper, he says "cheeeeeeese" with no prompting, which explains why all of his pictures look like he's saying...well, "cheeeeeese!")We then played pin the #1 on Thomas, which I didn't get any really good pictures of. (Sorry.) Next, Cooper opened his presents.He got a cute wooden train with individual magnetic pieces that spelled out his name.He also got new puzzles, lots of clothes, a mini Cooper car, a cute dog named "Jazzy" dressed in Jazz uniform from Build-A-Bear Workshop, a real Elmo CD player, 4 new CDs, his Thomas train set, and a tool set.Cake time! Happy birthday to you; happy birthday to you...After lots of encouragement, Cooper blew out his candles all by himself.Cooper eating his cake...The kids played with Cooper's new toys...Momma and the kiddos in their train conductor clothes...Cooper all pooped out after his party...