Cosby and Going Private

I'm very excited, Tyler and I are going to watch Bill Cosby live on Friday. We are "Cosby Show" diehards, owning all 8 seasons, and couldn't believe that Bill Cosby would actually come close enough where we could see him in person. I'll let you know how it goes after Friday... Also, I finally figured out how to go private, so now I'm going to. I plan on doing it in the next week or so, so if you are interested in still checking out my blog, please send me an email at christian_tlcm@yahoo.com. That's all for now.

Christmas Crafts

So I took advantage of Ella sleeping more than 30 minutes at a time and finally finished her Christmas stocking. Naturally, when I work on a project, especially sewing, I always forget a step or do something wrong. Even when I double and triple check before I do something...it always happens. And I end up unpicking for a while...a skill my mom taught me to get used to. I'm just glad to have it done, and it looks cuter than I first thought, so that's a plus. So now I'm done...until the next kid comes along, or until my kids get married and I do one for their spouse. : ) We have a tradition, well we are starting a family tradition, that when Santa comes to our house, he only brings toys and surprises that will fit into the stocking. So I made them bigger so Santa can bring things that will be fun without such a space constraint. I want to keep the magic alive, but we have decided that Santa will not be responsible for everything grand at Christmas.

Warm Summers

We have had a lot of fun out in the sun this summer. I've learned how to ride a bike with the kids in a trailer. The kids had fun, and I got a great workout...a big workout!

Ella learned to play in the water with her daddy, and loved it! She's a fish in the water, just like Tyler.

We celebrated the 4th of July with Tyler's family. It is such a blessing to live close to family!

William gets a kick out of all Ella's new "tricks". He eggs her on, and does the same things she does to encourage her. She's learning to sit up on her own, but whenever she falls, William laughs hysterically. He laughs so hard, it makes us laugh too. Ella is fascinated with her big brother and loves to interact with him. These kids of mine are teaching me a lot.

Crazy to think Ella is now 6 months. We are starting to feed her baby food, since she's been eying our food for a while now. When William's friend was over, she put a crown on Ella. Our little Princess Ella Marie. Cute.

And to wrap up a fun summer, we went to the Oregon Coast with all of Tyler's family. We got a shot of all the grandkids, there's 14 now. Carson, William, and Colton make for an entertaining 3 stooges. It will be fun to see what kind of trouble they come up with as they get older.

Tyler and I celebrated 5 years on this trip too. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be with. He's my best friend, eternal companion, and all around amazing husband! What a handsome guy!

OH WAIT...that's not Tyler! Ha ha, this is better...

Well, we've had a blast this summer. I learned how to kneeboard on the river, and successfully landed 3 jumps. Tyler is amazing on anything he does on the water, no surprise! We love being able to walk everywhere, and look forward to a few more months of that. Tyler and I are both back in school in September. I'm getting my bachelor's degree in Business Management online from BYUI! Woot woot, I'm fantabulously excited to be finishing my degree. Tyler is gearing up for a computer programming degree.

Beautiful April!

April has really been a fun month for us. We celebrated William's 3rd birthday and Ella's 2 month birthday! We thoroughly love the warm weather and playing outside. William has really come back to life and is much more polite and delightful when he can play outside and get good and dirty.

My sweet mother was able to visit the first weekend of March, and will be back again next week for a longer stay. I love this picture of Ella with my mom and William. She was only a week and a half. She has been a smiley girl from the beginning, but difficult at times to catch on film. So you'll have to take our word for it. : )



So Ella has been so much fun and darling since day one. I realize I am enjoying the time I spend with her maybe more than I did with William, because I know what to expect, and am grateful that she stays put where I lay her, she doesn't talk back, and I understand and can fulfill everything she wants (she doesn't get bored). She will share a room with William eventually, but I really like having her sleep in our room, which is strange. William was in his own room at 3 weeks, but he prefered being in his own space. Ella is also growing like a weed, and was 11 lb 4 oz at 6 weeks. I can't get enough of how cute she looks in purple, I have a feeling it will be her color too. And yes, Ella has been read Ella Enchanted already. I even got a response from Gail Carson Levine when I posted a comment about my Ella on Gail's website. Totally awesome!!!



Facts about Ella:
She sleeps 8-9 hours every night (started that when she was 4 weeks)
She loves her Daddy the most
She smiles a lot, especially when Daddy is around
She makes great eye contact and likes to watch her brother play
She prefers to be held upright when she's awake
She loves to look at our picture of the SLC temple, and can find it from anywhere in the room
She looks beautiful in purple
She has a lot of dark brown hair that likes to stick straight up
She can't get enough of her pacifier (it's her favorite)
She must have her hands held when she tries to sleep during the day (I was the same way when I was a baby)

She is a darling daughter of God!



William had a great birthday. We had an Easter/birthday party for him, since his birthday was the Tuesday after Easter. We did an Easter egg hunt with cousins and made personal pizzas. His new favorite movie is Puss in Boots, which he got and watched for his birthday. So now he likes to dress up as Puss in Boots, with his snow boots, Daddy's WWII helmet, and toy sword. When he wears a jacket without buttoning/zipping it up, it automatically becomes a cape or in his words a "hero".

Facts about William:
His funny phrases- "Ohhhh, I see" "Oh boy" "Wookit me wookit me" (look at me)
He likes his baby sister, hates to hear her cry, and is great to keep her safe. He will talk to her and give her kisses and say "it's okay baby"
He was made to be outside ALL the time
He is very polite, when he wants to be
He will eat whatever he has to (usually) so he can ride the 4-wheeler with Grandpa
He will eat vegetables when he's with Aunt Carina
He loves to be a hero, Puss in Boots, Monster, Dinosaur, and William
When asked how old he is, William responds "I'm William"
He likes to help make treats with mom, and play with flour on the floor
He is learning to use the potty on occasion!

He is an awesome little guy that is growing to be not so little anymore!

April is my favorite month of the year, and it's been a great one! It's been wonderful being in a place where spring really occurs in April. And my favorite day, April 13, was on a Friday, even better!

I'm doing great, recovered quickly, and now just working off the remaining 10-15 pesky baby pounds. Tyler started school again for Computer Science/Technology, where he can program. This time around he is actually enjoying it, which is a relief. I am an adviser in YW Mia Maids, and Tyler is the Cub Scout Committee Chairman. So we are kept very busy, but I love the social interaction. We are coming into our own, which is nice. We are blessed with wonderful family, and we are blessed by the Lord every single day! Although some days are longer and harder than others, I'm finding it very easy to count more blessings in my day than hardships. So that says something about a loving Heavenly Father if you ask me.

She's Here!!!

Our sweet Ella Marie arrived on Wednesday, February 22, two days after her due date. She made her first debut at 5:56am after only 5 hours of labor, start to finish. She weighs 8 lb. 9 oz. and is 21 inches long.

I didn't realize that I was in labor because the pain was so different from when I had William, and it was only about a third of the intensity. I started timing the "contractions" at 1am, they were every 5-7 minutes, but not much pain. I could talk through them. At 4am, they were 3-4 minutes apart, so I called the hospital and was told to go in. We finally left at 4:45am, I was sure I wasn't dilated very far, and almost waited a while longer. We checked in, and I found out I was dilated to 9cm, and my doctor, who would be there at 7am, wasn't going to make it. I was so surprised. The dr. on call barely made it for my water to break and for me to push. She was born shortly after that.



So, no pain meds, or any medical intervention. I had an episiotomy without anesthetic, luckily it blended in with the rest of the pain of delivery! : )
I've now experienced a completely medical involved birth, and one without. Very interesting difference, I must say if I can avoid it, I will never be induced again. I really didn't mind this labor, and could easily do it again in a heartbeat. Yes, I know I'm weird, but it was so much easier and much less painful than William's delivery, and I loved that I didn't have complications of my own!

Unfortunately, little Ella swallowed some of her meconium, had the cord wrapped around her neck and thigh, and had a plummeting heart rate. She ended up with hypoglycemia, so they had to work on her very quickly. I didn't get to hold her for almost an hour after she was born. I'm happy to report, she is doing beautifully now, and was able to come back to our room from the special care nursery by 8:30pm the night she was born.

William is excited to have a baby sister around, but is still learning lots of new things about babies. He wants to hold her, but still to shy to carry out that desire. He likes to look at her and wants to know where she's at. Last night when we went to pick William up from Grandma Christian's house, he didn't like the idea of Ella coming home with us. He said, "No, I want baby sister to stay here." Kinda funny, but his whole world has been flipped upside down. He hates it when she cries, it really bothers him. He will make a great older brother!

February...

Okay, I don't have a picture this time, just a quick update. Our family had a great holiday vacation in Idaho visiting my family. Then, we celebrated my birthday, and moved into our own place in Washington. It has been quite an adjustment for William to be in a new place where the rules are different, he doesn't have Grandma and Grandpa to run away to and get spoiled, and has much less space to run around in. I'm glad we had the full month of January to get adjusted, because my energy levels are about nill at this point.

Only 2 weeks until my baby is due. And I'm fairly confident that she will wait that long, I went to the doctor today, and haven't dilated. A bummer, but she is easier to take care of right now, so I'll enjoy the last few days I have with William before I rock his world again. It will be fun to have a little girl around that I can dress up for no reason and increase some of the girly aspects of the home now that we'll be even 2 for 2.

I'm loving having my own space again. And I'm very excited to use my things, and get to decorate our own little home, making it our own. We are close to a bus stop, which will be nice since we only have Tyler's car, and William thinks the bus is awesome. We are within short walking distance to some in-laws, church and temple, and parks, so when the weather is always lovely (meaning spring and summer) we will definitely get some great exercise. It's strange to have so many great weather days during January and February where all we need is a light jacket and we are good to go. I love it, we've only had one snow storm where the snow stayed for about 4 days. We got a good hour in sledding at Grandma and Grandpa's house, so I got my very small snow fix in, and now I'm good for the rest of the year. I suppose living most of your life with lots of snow for 8 months out of the year will do that to you.

I will post sometime after I have the baby and won't forget pictures. : )