Random Bits

Over the 24th we went up to Bear Lake with my family for a little R&R. For anyone who thinks it is crazy to go on vacation this soon after giving birth I just have one thing to say: "Ten very willing people that want to watch your children while you rest and relax at the beach." Needless to say it was just what we all needed. Abbie was adored by her cousins (She is their only cousin and has the privilege of being a novelty and therefore the center of attention). She loved the beach - mostly pushing around the tube in 5 inches of water. Savannah slept, Russ wake-boarded (check out that farmer tan!) and jet-skied while I sat on the beach and visited with family. If we had only put in the memory card when we brought our camera we would have some fantastic pictures of our own. ( Thanks Allie! for sending some pictures to put on the blog!)

Today was my first full day home alone with the two girls and we are all breathing and alive and not much worse for wear. All of us are definitely getting used to two kids, Savannah is learning to love having Abbie in her face every few minutes commenting on how cute she is, Abbie is realizing that when mom is feeding Savannah she can not play Ring Around the Rosies, and I am realizing that one child was a piece of cake.

Super Cool Website

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http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

(If you don't see anything run your mouse over the screen
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Savannah Gray is here!!!

Savannah Gray was born Monday, July 14 2008 at 3:51 p.m and she is the spitting image of her sister. I was induced about 11:00 in the morning and things progressed quite normally until just before 3:00. At three they came into give me an epidural, which was perfect because things were starting to get quite painful. Unfortunately, two epidurals , one almost passing out, six more centimeters and one hour later - Savannah was ready and the epidurals weren't doing their jobs. Thankfully she came out pretty fast and she is now the latest joy in our lives. (For the record - any of you who have chosen to not get an epidural and want that pain are -in my mind - completely nuts.) Despite the crazy labor both myself and Savannah are doing wonderfully well and glad to be home with our family.


Russ giving Savannah her first bath!

Abbie thinks she is a "cute baby" and loves to look at her fingers and toes for about 10 seconds - after which she is off playing with more engaging toys. This is the only pictures of the Gray girls where I don't have my eyes half closed or am looking wall-eyed (hey I'd just given birth!). Sorry it isn't better!

Two Abbie-isms

As we were driving in the car yesterday Abbie started counting the motorcycles she saw along the way.."One, two, three.........Pretty Motorcycles!" I don't know really what constitutes a pretty motorcycle as opposed to an ugly one (I didn't see any pink bows or streamers) but apparently I just don't have the eye.


In the same car ride Abbie started singing, "Happy to you, happy to you, happy birthday to Grandma, happy birthday to grandpa, happy birthday to Britton!" She sang over and over until we got to our destination.


PS - No Savannah yet, but I'm going to be induced on Monday.

4th of July

First, no Savannah yet. We keep hoping she'll come but obviously we are much more excited to see her than she is to see us (Not that I blame her.)

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! We woke up early on the 4th (as we always do with a two year-old with a 7 a.m. alarm brain.) and we went to breakfast at a fantastic restaurant in Sugarhouse - Finns. After breakfast we went to Russ's dad's house -just missing what looked like a fantastic neighborhood parade.We spent the morning visiting but thanks to some amazing water guns provided by Stewart (Russ's brother) a water fight quickly broke out soaking nearly everyone. Abbie love the excitement, but as she hates water in her face she quickly ran to the sidelines to avoid the fray. However when the water fight turned into wash grandpa's car she was definitely on board.
After some quick naps at home we went up to Lisa (Russ's sister) to swim in their clubhouse pool. Abbie loved the kiddie pool and Russ loved starting up another water fight with the kids - only to soak a complete stranger in the face. (He received his comeuppance soon enough getting drenched in the face multiple times.) With a fantastic BBQ at the end it was a perfect 4th of July. Saturday we went up the canyon and threw rocks in the river - a highly under appreciated pastime for anyone over the age of eight - and played in the kiddie pool later. Once again a perfect day. Just a few "Abbie-isms" now ...

During Sacrament meeting, somebody had a baby blessing, and as they held up the child to show her to the congregation, the binky popped out of his mouth, and the congregation chuckled a little. At this, Abbie burst into a loud laugh and called out "binky!!!" for all to hear, causing even more laughter.

Abbie loves to make animal sounds, especially bears, lions, and other animals that say "Raar!" At church Sunday, we had been talking to her about using her "quiet voice" in Sacrament Meeting, and she had been doing a pretty good job. She sat, silently playing with her little quiet book which featured bears of various colors. Suddenly, in the midst of a rather slow testimony meeting, she calls out at the top of her lungs, and before we had time to react, "bear say RAAAAR!!!!!" interrupted by an almost instantaneous hand-to-the-mouth from her mom. She was so startled by the abrupt mouth covering that she immediately burst into tears, so we had to run her out into the hall. Of course, she assumed she was in Time Out, just for doing something we normally encourage her to do with our laughter. Out in the hall, between her sobs, she choked out the words, with quivering lips, "bear (sniff) say (sob) raaar?" Tears and laughter almost flowed simultaneously from both her parents as well. "Yes, Abbie, bear DOES say roar."

"Why yes. I would love some cheese with my whine.."

Does it seem like to anyone else that the last few weeks of pregnancy last longer than the whole nine months? I realize that once the baby comes I will be even more sleep deprived and crave these days that although I'm awake for hours at night seeking to find a comfortable position - at least I get to lie in bed and do nothing. I realize that the relative discomfort I'm facing now with the almost 100 degree temperatures, constant pressure and large cumbersome belly, are nothing compared to labor, starting nursing, or recovery. That all said I am SO ready for this baby to come. Not only do I have the joyous excitement of welcoming a new member into our family, anticipation to see Abbie greet her new sister, and becoming a mommy all over again - I am sick of waiting.

It seems like during the last month or so every minor contraction or change brings to mind the question, " Is this it?" "Could this actually be something that will start labor?" For days, weeks, this has been going on in my brain. At night I wonder, "Will tonight be the night?" I hear and know of children that come early - will this one....please.....please? (It is looking like no.) I hear of women who go to their doctor's visits and are told they are in labor go to the hospital now. This is my not so secret prayer with every doctor's visit. It is enough to make a sane person crazy - so for someone with my mental state we are talking serious problems here.

Thank you all who have listened to my rant. It shows incredible patience, bordum or (for some) the ability to commiserate on some level with this insane waiting game.

Hiking in the Mountains

On Friday Abbie and I wanted to escape the heat so we decided to go hiking up at Silver Lake. The less than one mile flat loop around the lake seemed perfect for a two-year old and pregnant woman who wouldn't be too disappointed if the hike induced labor. (MAJOR UNDERSTATEMENT).

We started around the North side of the lake and Abbie quickly became enthralled with gathering rocks and throwing them in the lake. That combined with a traditional two-year old pace of stopping and looking at everything along the way made the journey long but quite enjoyable.

Until we got to the South end - about 3/4 of the way around. At the South end of the lake there were large patches of snow on the trail that hadn't yet melted. Also by this point Abbie had decided that she was too tired to continue. I knew that at this stage in my pregnancy unless I wanted to deliver a baby at Brighton ski resort, I couldn't carry Abbie back the way we came. So with Abbie in one arm, snacks, diapers etc, in the other and flip flops on my feet we plunged into the snow banks. Thankfully we did not slip (which I guess really would have started labor) and we made it home safe and sound.

Abbie still talks about the fun "hiking in the mountains."

Breathing Easy...

Well I am feeling like a terrible mom today. About two months ago Abbie got a cough/cold. The fever and runny nose went away and the cough tamed from the croupy bark to dry coughing at night occasionally. I had been told by several people that sometimes coughs just take awhile to disappear in kids so I wasn't worried.

Unfortunately though over the last couple of weeks the barking seal returned in the evenings and this week it joined us during the daytime. By this week, I didn't worry too much because we had Abbie's two-year check up on Friday so I thought I'd wait until then. Well immediately the doctor told me she was wheezing and needed a breathing treatment.(This is where they put something like an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth and she breathes in some medication to open her lungs.) Abbie has reactive airway disorder(RAD) (basically the technical name for wheezing (What? Wheezing isn't good enough for a medical dictionary?). If it becomes chronic it will be asthma but not yet - thankfully. By the end of the visit we were fitted to buy the nebulizer (the machine that vaporizes the medication), a mask, additional medication, liquid medication, (and the new epi-pens just to add to the bill) and told that she needed the breathing treatments every 4-6 hours and had to take the most disgusting medication known to children twice a day. Needless to say it has been a longer than normal night.

After the peanut incident this is not nearly as worrisome - it just makes me feel guilty I didn't take her in sooner and feel bad at how she is feeling (although she is acting fine, unless we try to give her the medication).

Birthday Pics and other Misc

So I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of Abbie's birthday. We had two small parties, one with Russ's family and one with mine. Unfortunately we only have pictures of the party with Russ's family. Abbie had a blast at both parties and by the end got the hang of opening presents and blowing out candles. All of the presents were bit hits and she has been enjoying playing with them since.

I also included some pictures from our recent family trip to the zoo for members night. You can probably tell that by the time we made it to the tigers she was pretty beat.

Oh...operation "Bye Bye Binki" is officially a success. Within one weeks time she has stopped asking for the binki and goes to bed and naps without a fuss.

Bye-bye Ginky

Well now that Abbie is two -pictures from her birthday pending - we decided that it was time to say good-bye to the binki - or "Ginky" as you prefer. I wanted to move past this event before I become excessively sleep deprived with night feedings from a new baby here soon. Now I know there are some who are appalled that we've let her use one for this long - albeit only for bed and nap time - and others that think why stop a good thing but for better or worse (this weekend - worse) this is where we are.

This is the most traumatic thing to happen to young Abbie (and considering that, she is a pretty lucky kid). Every night, and every nap time she asks for it and we have to remind her it is lost (conveniently done by herself last Friday.) She get such a sad expression on her face it nearly breaks my heart. Poor kid. Unfortunately this has made falling asleep more difficult and nap times considerably shorter. So we are not only dealing with a disappointed child, but a sad and very sleep deprived one as well. Poor me.

I've been told by friends that this adjustment phase lasts anywhere from a couple of days to a week so hopefully we will see the light soon and she can catch up on some sleep - and I can too.

Nice People in the World

I am so grateful for two nice old red neck men. Today I was driving on the freeway when a large truck started flagging me to pull over. I wasn't too worried about the 50 somethings in the truck but more confused than anything. I pulled over, made sure my doors were locked, grabbed my cell phone and rolled down the window a little bit. The two guys, in hunting tee-shirts told me I had a flat and they would fix it for me. They seemed harmless and when I got out to look, indeed my rear tire was almost gone.

There is only a slight possibility I could have figured out how to change the flat on my own, but about zero at eight months pregnant. The did it in 15 minutes and I was on my way. From the looks of the old tire I was minutes away from blowing it - I hadn't heard a thing.

As much fun as it is to spend money unexpectedly on tires, drive 40 mph on the freeway for 180 blocks on my spare, and waste my morning it is much better than blowing a tire, or trying to change it myself or having all this happen with a newborn. All in all I'm very grateful.

It is nice to know there are good people in the world.

The Diaper Pouch Returns

I've told you about Abbie's use of her diaper for storing hair clips and elastics but yesterday she found an entirely new and innovative use for this convenient storage area. We were at the park when I noticed that she was taking handfuls of sand and sticking them down the front of her shirt. I called her over so I could brush the sand out and explain that we don't put sand down the front of our shirts. (An important life lesson for all.) She walked, somewhat awkwardly, to me.

When I looked down the front of her shirt I saw into the front of her diaper and there sat a rock, roughly the size of a matchbox car! When I pulled it out I noticed a handful of other tiny pebbles along with the sand. She had filled her diaper with rocks and sand!

The thing I don't understand is what exactly is appealing about rocks in the diaper? Why do you even start such an experiment? And once you've started feel the discomfort, why do you continue with larger and larger rocks? Do you think it will become more comfortable if you get enough in there? Is the discovery of untapped storage capacity so appealing that the discomfort is worth it? Are these rocks special or would any old rock be worth storing? Have I stunted scientific experimentation by asking Abbie not to put rocks in her diaper?

I - not being of a scientific turn- will probably never know....