Oh, right.

I love how people keep telling me to "rest" and "take it easy" and "sleep when the baby sleeps" and blah blah blah. I have one question for people who say those things: have you met my toddler?

Fathers Day- In Pictures

Here is a look at our Father's Day 2012 in pictures. Hope you're all having (or had) a great day celebrating with or remembering your dads!

It may be Father's Day but Sophie got a treat
(yesterday afternoon) from daddy- a doll bed. 

Overnight french toast, homemade fruit
 & yogurt parfaits, fresh apples, nanas &
peaches, milk and orange juice

Sophie is getting pretty
good at cooking. 

Sophie and Olivia made a "#1 Daddy" banner out of
paper ties. Maybe when their hands are a little bigger
next year the ties will be a little more proportional
to the mantle they're being hung on. 

Sophie tried helping daddy tie his tie
before church this morning.

Deflated balloons. They weren;t supposed to be.
Notice the "innocent' kitten? She popped one before
Craig and Sophie got home from church.

Oatmeal cream pie balloon weights. Sophie & Olivia
wrote reasons they love their daddy on each of the
cookie weights that led up to our room...

...Where a wrapped present and basket of
odds & ends, mostly picked out by Sophie, waited.

Zebra cakes, more cream pies, money ("lego budget"),
a new digital meat thermometer, Crazy 8s, Old Maid,
some bath toy grow capsules and a special
"gift certificate"

Following the trail... Sophie trying to get the
 cookies off. She is such a good helper. 

He found the basket! Way to follow that
trail of deflated balloons, daddy! 

The gift certificate/coupon, a picture of Sophie and Olivia
at the hospital to add to his collection of Sophie pictures at work
and a brand new "DAD" frame of his two girls. Each girl has a
picture with a D and the middle one of them has an A.
It was quite the adventure trying to get those taken by myself on Friday! 

Enjoy this video link to Sophie with daddy and baby Olivia

"Are We Really Having a Baby? Tonight?"

So, here is the "birth story" I've been working on for a week. Yes, it's long. Feel free to just scroll through and look at the pictures- there are a lot of them! :) 

...

Are we really having a baby tonight?
Who else do we need to call or email?!

What just happened? Oh, we had a baby. We are now the parents of TWO little girls. One extra little. Olivia Ruth Peterson joined our family, unexpectedly, on Sunday night, 10 June, at 10:49. She was barely 6 pounds, 17 inches long and has dark hair. (When we get a little time to get her newborn pictures done with my sister, we'll post the official baby announcement).

Early labor

Olivia wasn't due until July 7th but it seems she was ready to come. Thankfully, I'm a nut and perhaps take after my mom a bit with my desire to get things done early. The nursery has been put together and stocked for weeks, I've been doing my best to get the whole house cleaned, organized and kept that way and about a week ago, I had a strange sudden desire to get my bag and an overnight bag for Sophie packed and put in the car. Just in case. At my 35 week appointment I was prescribed some medicine to help stop the contractions. I was going to be kept on those until 37 weeks (yesterday) so I was sort of planning on things happening this coming weekend. Here's what actually happened.

About an hour before she was born

Sunday morning I woke up feeling extra sore- like I had been doing the splits without stretching and as if my hips had been tugged on a little too roughly. We got ready for church, went and despite the cramps and contractions, stayed so Sophie could go to nursery. I'd been dealing with those for a long while, after all. As soon as we got home, we all ate a nice, big lunch, Craig and Sophie went right to sleep. I wasn't overly tired at that point so I read, sent some emails and then decided to take a nap right about the time Craig was waking up. That nap lasted about 2 hours. Craig came up stairs to wake me up a while later so we could do dinner (supposed to be frozen pizza and veggies) and I was not a happy camper. Sunday Rule #1: do NOT wake me up if I'm napping. Craig broke rule #1. He was kind enough, at least, to come back in the room and help me sit up (when you're 36 weeks pregnant, sitting up on your own can be tough.) At that point, I knew we had a problem. I was suddenly wet. I went to the bathroom. I was still wet. And upset. I called my sister who told me to calm down (she had her little guy between 35 & 36 weeks) and go to the hospital to be sure. I was even crazy enough to ask Craig to take a sniff to see if I hadn't just wet my pants. (When there is that much pressure on your bladder, it's not unusual.) I called my mom. More upset. She had bought her tickets the day before for July 2nd. Once again, my mom wasn't going to be able to be there when I was having a baby. Then it was Craig's turn to make a phone call. David & Jamie have had Sophie over several times and they were happy to have her again.

Ready for the baby

After those arrangements had been made, Craig ran around like a mildly crazy person getting shoes, helping me dress, loading Sophie in the car and who knows what else. By about 5:30, we were on our way. We dropped Sophie off with David & Jamie in Orem- Sophie was happy to get out and go until she realized we weren't staying. Last I saw of her as we were leaving was her crying and trying to run back out the door. Yes, I cried. A lot. Craig might have been hit pretty hard when he started making fun.

This is surprisingly easy this time! 

Once we got to the hospital, things happened really fast. We were in triage for a grand total of 5 minutes (changed clothes, checked and checked the fluid to be sure it was amnionic) before being moved to a delivery room. I really couldn't believe this was happening. I was 36 weeks and 1 day, had been at my doctors office just a couple days before and I was still only dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced like I had been for a week prior. Here we were now, at a 3 or 4 (I don't remember), water broken and almost completely effaced. Uh... what is going on? I had felt like for a while she was going to be born early. I even thought she was going to be born on a Sunday but I really thought it was going to be Fathers Day- a whole week later than when she came.

Olivia

From there we made a ton of phone calls, sent text messages and generally tried to get things arranged for work, Sophie accommodations with my sister and her family, process the fact that I was actually going to have a baby right then whether I wanted to or not and so on. It was a lot pretty fast.

Right after she was born! 

We had a great nurse and the floor was very quiet that evening, unlike when Sophie was born. (It was really busy when she came.) After being watched for half an hour, an IV with fluid and pitocin was started since my contractions had stopped. Go figure. Regular, strong contractions for a long time and then nothing once we need them. Once the pitocin started, the contractions were barely noticeable to me. It was upped every half hour. Since I was induced with Sophie, I had gotten an epidural pretty early in the process. Call me crazy but I wanted to see how long I could go before I wanted a little help. I was very surprised with myself- I went quite a long time with a LOT of pitocin at that point (16 units per minute) and dilated to a 4 or 5 when I decided to get the epidural around 9:30. The whole "don't come in until you can't talk through your contractions" thing probably won't be an indicator for me if we ever have more kids. At an hour before she was born, I was still okay. Go figure.

Brand new baby girl

Anyway, it wasn't very long after (about 10:00 according to my text messages with my mom) that I was completely effaced and dilated between a 5 & 6. When the nurse came in to check me 15 minutes or so later, I was pretty much ready to go. We called my sister to come -who we had told a few minutes before to wait to come until 11:00- as the rest of the medical team got ready. The neonatal respiratory team was called to be there for the birth since she was coming so early and there was a risk of her lungs not being ready to take care of her. Everyone was moving pretty quickly and I was trying to come up with a way to slow things down a bit so my sister could be there to take pictures of Olivia and hold the iPad we were facetiming on with my mom. She got there JUST in time.

Daddy and his newest little lady

Once the doctor got there- Dr. Haskett who has been on-call every single time we've been in L&D and when we called when I was sick in Hawaii- we were set to go. It took a grand total of two full contractions and a half, which I could feel but weren't painful thanks to the epidural, until she was born and on my chest. About 3 minutes. Works for us!

She was not impressed with
her first bath

She did look a little blue when she was born and took a second to cry but she was okay! We were able to hold her while I had a little repair work done and show her to my mom. A few minutes later, maybe 10?, the whole room was cleaned and empty. It was very nice to spend some time together before she was taken to the nursery for a little respiratory help/testing and her bath. Craig went with her and Erin stayed with me and helped me get things downstairs to our room for the remainder of our stay. Craig and I spent a while with Olivia in the nursery before being taken to the room to get some rest. I think I was finally in bed around 2:00. I don't know what time Craig finally went to bed. Olivia was on a baby CPAP twice during the night but was able to come to us in the morning. She's tiny and darling and perfect and we all love her!

Our tiny girl on the newborn CPAP.
I hope we don't ever have to do this again.
The tiny IV, heel pokes, tubes... We're
SO thankful she's healthy now! 

In a future post, we'll tell you all about Sophie meeting her baby, coming home, adjusting to a sleep/feeding schedule and all of the other fun that has been a part of our blur of a first week! :)

Happy 18 Months, Sophie!

Our Sophie is officially 18 months old!

A few stats for my "number"-lovers...

• Height: above average (something between 60th & 70th percentiles)
• Weight: below average (around the 20th/25th percentile) 
• Fine motor skills are 'advanced' (odd to say and quantify since kids develop differently)
• Language is 'advanced' (see above comment) 

Basically, Sophie is lots of fun and is absolutely learning new things every single day. Not all things that we haven't taught her but she's picking up somewhere! 

She loves to be read to, "reads" stories to her doll and other various toys. 

Dancing is a daily activity- with or without music but it's much more exciting with music, of course. Dancing to music at the grocery store is perfectly acceptable. So is doing forward rolls into furniture as part of your choreography. And hopping and jumping.

Sometimes food just tastes better on a stick. We tried giving her a mixture of steamed broccoli, cauliflower  and carrots with her dinner the other night and she ate everything but refused the carrots. I put the carrots on a skewer and she couldn't get enough of them. 

Potty training can be hard work and confusing. Mom and dad get really excited when you take your diaper off to use the special Sophie potty but aren't as excited when you remove your diaper during nap time and go potty in the corner of your room. Either way, the diaper is dry. Isn't that the goal?  Oh, and apparently it isn't quite the same thing to go potty in your diaper and then put your doll on the potty. (Obviously we still have things to work on.)

Sophie can identify 12+ body parts. This is a good thing most of the time. She has also identified the need to be like mommy. She likes to put "makeup"on her eyes, cheeks and mouth (all parts she knows) and now has her own little kit composed of a Crest White Strips carrier that has a mirror in it and conveniently holds Q-tips, too. She also knows about her feet but more specifically, her toes. She knows that toes can be polished and insists on having her nails done frequently. Occasionally with polish. 

Animals are fun and animal sounds are even better. We have an iPad game Sophie loves to play that has animal cards that self identify and sound when you select them. Current favorites: Kooitty (kitty), Ssss (snake), goggie (doggie) and Nana (monkey, of course!)

She continues to be a little monkey- climbing everything she can. She enjoys summiting the outside of the stairs, the couch back so she can sit in the window sill and make foot art on the glass and anything else that is a "nonono."

Nursery is great fun and play group just keeps getting better and better! Playing WITH friends is lots of fun. 

Sophie can still spot a balloon a mile away, loves pointing to babies and saying "baby!", nanas, saying (and eating) cookies and all things park. Before our next monthly update, Sophie will be a big sister and   probably have a whole lot to say about that!

Weekend Pictures and What We've Been Working On

Craig claims that I am "nesting." I say, call it whatever you want as long as things get done. I have had a nice, long list of things to get done around the house since we moved in. Slowly but surely those things have been getting checked off. The major ones involved getting rid of some seriously horrid colors on walls (who paints something baby poop gold on purpose?) and purchasing our first washer & dryer after the ones that came with the house died. Other things like decorating, organizing and such have followed. This weekend, in addition to having lots of fun together, we made progress on a couple more projects I've wanted attacked. Our closet- which was serving as a catch-all for books, legos, tap shoes, baseball cards, crayons...- has been "slain." SO. NICE. being able to walk in and see everything and find things quickly. Aaaah. The other major project involved installing a countertop/shelf over our washer & dryer. Our front loaders are too large for the designated laundry closet so I've been trying to make it look a little nicer (it's open in the kitchen) AND more functional. A couple of our friends, David and Jamie, came over to help Craig put it in on Saturday since I'm not supposed to be lifting. Making progress makes me happy and helps our home feel much more like a house of order. 

We didn't spend all weekend working, though. We did walk around City Creek for about an hour, met my brother, sister & her family at Seven Peaks (Sophie and I went around the lazy river twice and then sat while the big kids played) and had a nice, restful Sunday- complete with Sophie in nursery. Enjoy the mashup of pictures! 

After a year of living here, the closet is FINALLY
organized and neat like I have wanted it since
I saw it the first time we walked through the house.

Sophie sitting on the stool programming something.
She ended up on Github somehow.

Laundry closet BEFORE
(Lies. This is obviously a progress picture.)

Laundry closet AFTER.
(More lies. This is a progress picture, too.)
I still need to add some molding to the front of the new shelf since
there is a lot of space  between the units and the shelf, thanks to the
 water shut off height and two cabinets above the white shelf to hide "all of the stuff" inside. But it's better, I can fold at that height, our w/d are (better) protected from scratches and we're getting there!  

Sophie went to her first day in nursery. She
absolutely LOVED it. She ran in after sacrament
meeting and didn't even fully look back for either
of us. We peeked in a few  several times during 2nd
and 3rd hour and she was always happy & smiling! 

Can you tell what Sophie was up to? Well,
the kitten got a drink, was made "cat food soup"
and Baby was potty trained. All in a matter of
about 3 minutes. The fun never stops!

Craig getting ready to head out for his
first day at Ancestry. Look how grown up he is!
...Maybe for day 2 he'll leave the "scruffy looking nerf-herder"
role to Han. Who is on his lunch box. 

What the heck is going on??

I woke up yesterday morning feeling a little ... off. I hadn't slept terribly well, as one might expect being 8 months pregnant. As soon as I got out of bed and started going about the normal morning activities, the contractions started. I've been having them for months so I didn't think much about it. About the time Sophie was finishing her breakfast, the contractions started coming with lower back cramps. Between the actually contracting, there was just sort of a dull back ache. I had a massage scheduled for early in the afternoon so I tried to ignore it and think about how much better it would feel after Nicole-she's pretty much amazing- had a stab at it.

Sophie playing
with Liza & Ansen

Snack time is always fun

Every Thursday morning there is a neighborhood/ward playgroup that meets. Usually we go to one of 3 parks in the area but yesterday the mom in charge suggested we go to the splash pad park in Spanish Fork. I like taking Sophie to play group because I generally get to sit on a bench or one of our blankets while Sophie runs around with her little friends and gets thoroughly worn out. It's great for both of us. It didn't work quite like that yesterday but Sophie did play with one of the other moms, Ali, for a little bit while I sat. Sophie wasn't terribly interested in the water for long but preferred to sit with me and enjoy some snacks- ones that the other families brought- while the other kids enjoyed the ones we brought. Funny how that happens. Every week.

The contractions were getting harder so we left early. Sophie had a light lunch (she had spent the previous half hour filling herself with pretzels, cheese and a few bites of fruit) and took a good nap. I'm not really sure what happened to the afternoon after that. I knew the contractions were very regular but I didn't realize how regular until I started noting them after 2:00. When I had record of them being every 3 minutes for 3 hours, we decided it might be a good idea to go make sure everything was okay. On top of all of this, I hadn't felt a ton of movement from the baby.

We were at the hospital for a couple hours. Sophie was able to go play with her cousins while we were there. Thank you, Uncle Beak, for meeting us at the hospital and Aunt Erin for letting Sophie come play. I hope she didn't "gum up" too many of David's important toys. :) During the time we were there, the monitors showed Olivia was just fine (huge sigh of relief) and that yes, I was, in fact, having some decently strong, regular contractions. {I knew I was having them but sometimes I wonder if anyone else believes me since it's not like you can really see how strong/frequent they are from the outside.} After watching for a while, the nurse came back with a shot of terbutaline to try to stop the contractions. Um, ouch. Right as we were going to be let go (the contractions had calmed down substantially), they started again. In came the nurse with ANOTHER ouchie shot. The first one had made my heart feel like I was running and I felt shaky like I had a sudden blood sugar drop even though I hadn't. She told us before giving me the first that both are side effects of the shot that everyone got. I was hoping to avoid those. It felt REALLY nasty as soon as she gave me the second one. That one seemed to pick up where the other had failed and not long after that , we were allowed to go. I had one awesome signature when we were leaving with those jitters and had an acrobat of a baby who must have gotten the same jolt I had. I just hope she didn't feel the nasty "I'm going to throw up if I move" stuff, too.

It's Friday now and unfortunately, the shots have not kept the contractions away for long. I have been having regular ones since this morning. I was told last night that I need to rest and stay hydrated. Check and check. THANK YOU, Ceci & James, for coming and getting Sophie to play so I can rest! I'm absolutely not interested in going back to the hospital if the conclusions are the same: yes, you're having contractions, yes, you're dilating, effacing and softening, no, there really isn't anything but the shots we can do about it. Like the nerve blocks I got in high school, I'd rather deal with the original issue (in this case, the contractions) the best I can rather than have to put up with the side effects for longer than the treatment is effective. Just a few weeks left. We can do this :D

On days like today, I really just need my mom. And m&m cookies. {Anyone else remember getting a cookie at the grocery store bakery while shopping when you were little? I'm sure they weren't always m&m but that's always the flavor that I think of.}


**Post-post note: I asked my mom about grocery store shopping cookies today. No, they weren't always m&m but I wanted them to be since those were my favorite. Good to know :)