The First 6 Weeks

It was about this time 6 short weeks ago that I went into labor. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. It  has certainly been packed full of activity, what with having Megan here for a few weeks, Chris here for a week, then our trip to Utah.

Now that Isla is six weeks old, she is developing a schedule, and I can safely say that she is such a good baby! She is still sleeping a lot, she can sometimes fall asleep on her own, she will usually sleep 6-6.5 hours for the first stretch at night, and when she's awake during the day, she will sit happily in her bouncer or swing while I make dinner, etc.

Colin still loves her to death, he thinks he needs to kiss her every second of the day, he always wants to hold her on his lap, and my favorite part--the one thing that is guaranteed to make him happy when he first wakes up in the morning (when he tends to be in a cranky mood) is seeing Isla. His whole face lights up and he says, "happy Isla!" Makes me smile every time.

I just love this baby! :) Here are some pictures from the last few weeks for you to enjoy!

Birth-day cake!

First "smile" caught on camera

Matt and Isla after the first sponge bath at home

Sunday nap time

Josh is one of Isla's biggest fans :)

favorite aunt, Megan!

First tub bath would not have been possible without my helper, Colin

Grandma Chris, Isla, and monkey Colin

so cute!

Colin always wanting to pose for pictures with his siter

Colin, Eleece, and Isla!

Colin is learning how to accesorize

our first outing to Sam's Club. We couldn't resist the cherry Icee

Check back soon for pictures and an update on our Utah trip full of family fun and my dad's wedding!

Blessing Day

On June 2, we blessed Isla in our ward. She was only 2 weeks old, but we had Megan and Chris visiting, so we decided to make the most of it! Thanks go to Kimby, who made the most adorable blessing dress. It fit Isla quite well, and I just loved her in it (well, I love her in anything!).

Here are a few pictures we took after sacrament meeting in our front yard. And those dark circles under my eyes? Tell-tale sign of me being a new mom :)

Welcome to the World, Isla!

It's true, our teeny family has gotten a little bigger!

She tried to arrive on her due date, but Isla didn't manage to make her appearance until the morning of May 20th.

Although this second pregnancy was very similar to my first, there were a few differences. My morning sickness started on week 5 (one week earlier than last time), and lasted until week 17 (one week later than last time). It was also at week 17 that I started feeling her move (3 weeks before I felt movement with Colin). This time I had a lot more cravings, mostly during my morning sickness period, which at different times included chicken strips, beef jerky, and lots of cereal. In fact, cereal was the one thing I ate a ton of during my whole pregnancy. I also developed an aversion to skim milk, which I drank my whole life, and started drinking whole.

Now to the birth story!

I had been feeling braxton hicks contractions for the last few weeks of my pregnancy, something I never experienced with Colin. Combine that with being dilated to a three by week 39, and I was just sure that I was going to have this baby any day. I was scheduled to be induced on May 22, but I kept waiting to go into labor on my own. It wasn't until about the 18th or 19th that I had given up hope, and finally admitted to myself that Isla would not be getting here before the 22nd. So the night of Sunday, May 19th, was a surprise when Megan, Matt, and I are watching TV and I started having pains in my stomach. I thought it was indigestion or the way she was positioned in there, so I tried to ignore it for awhile. Matt went to bed, and Megan and I kept watching TV. But by 11:00 I started paying more attention to the pains and timing them...they were pretty consistent and started out about 15 minutes apart. It wasn't until about midnight when I was in our room throwing things into my hospital bag that Matt woke up and I told him I was in labor.

My doctor had told me to go to the hospital if my water broke or I was having strong contractions every 3 minutes. Well, I live about 25 minutes from the hospital, so I figured if I left when they were 4 to 5 minutes apart, it would work out. So by 1:30 am or so, my contractions were becoming pretty painful and were about every 5 minutes, so we left. I finally got back to a bed in labor and delivery by 2:15, but I was still only dilated between a 3 and 4, so the nurse said they would monitor me for 2 hours at which point, if I hadn't progressed, they would send me home. Gasp! I was in so much pain...I wasn't sure what I would do if they sent me home.

So I lay in pain for the next hour having painful contractions every 3-5 minutes. I even threw up at one point. Then when the nurse came to check on me by 3:30ish, I had progressed to 7 cm. Hallelujah! The nurse sprang into action to start my IV and order my epidural. That was the part I was really excited about.  Too bad it wasn't until closer to 5 am that I actually got the epidural. It could NOT come fast enough. I was really short-tempered and was not very nice to Matt during that time :) I also remember saying, "I don't want to do this anymore!" to him a few times. I will never give birth without an epidural--I can tell you that much.

Once I got my epidural, I could still feel the contractions on my right side, so after 45 minutes of that, the anesthesiologist came back to give me a second dose which completely deadened my left leg and finally gave me relief on my right side. The same exact thing happened with Colin's delivery...

Although my doctor was at the hospital, she had told the nurse that once my epidural was working all the way she would come and break my water. Quite awhile later...she showed up. Maybe by 7:15? She broke my water, at which point meconium exploded all over the bed making the doctor jump.

It was at that point that the doctor and nurses jumped into action. They called the nursery to send a respiratory specialist down because of the meconium, and the nurses had me start pushing while the doctor got ready for the delivery. I only pushed once with the nurses before they made me stop and let the doctor finish getting dressed because this baby was ready! It only took another 2 pushes with the doctor before Isla was really here at 7:39 am. Only 9 hours of labor and less than 5 minutes of pushing? So awesome!

And from the minute they suctioned out her nose and mouth, she was screaming. The respiratory specialist took her out into the hall to check her over and we could still hear her screaming from down the hall. The nursery nurse kept commenting to us that she's never heard a newborn baby scream like that. And she screamed so much that day that she was a little hoarse for two days after.

 She's a great eater and super cute! Colin just adores her and loves to help change her diaper, give her baths, and burp her. And he probably gives her 100 kisses a day. These two kids are keeping me busy, and I'm loving almost every minute of it :)

Colin brought this duck to the hospital to give to Isla

Yay for Nana and Papa!

Aunt Megan was awesome to hang out at the hospital with us

Right after we got home from the hospital :)

Christmas 2012 (Week 52/52)

It is my goal to get a picture of Colin with Santa every year, but when I made that goal, I did not account for the unpredictability of toddlers when it comes to 1) taking pictures and 2) their feelings about big, scary Santa Clause. Luckily, we were able to snap at least one good picture during the one time we were able to convince Colin to sit on his lap at a church Christmas party. You will notice by the serious look on his face that he tolerated the experience and nothing more.

Christmas was lots of fun around our house. We had Kristy, Kyle, and Landon travel out from Utah to enjoy it with us. We celebrated Christmas Eve with an awesome dinner of breakfast food, and then we had a birthday cake for baby Jesus.

Christmas morning the three of us opened presents at our house. Colin loved all of his presents, and was pretty good at unwrapping all of them. He was very excited when he walked out into the living room and saw the unwrapped presents that "Ha Ha" (Santa) had brought him. He seems to be so fascinated by the idea of "Ha Ha" that when he tells you about any of his Christmas presents, he will tell you they came from Santa, whether they did or not.

After breakfast we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for more presents and a big Christmas feast. It was fun to relax with family and enjoy a good, very un-white, Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Train (Week 51/52)

Although Colin isn't too interested in the TV show, Thomas the Train, he still is all about trains all the time. This means that any objects he finds laying around will be lined up and made into a "choo choo."

With the many presents that have been lying under our tree this Christmas season, the inevitable happened. A Christmas present train, of course!

At least once a day (and sometimes even twice) all of the packages would be lined up across the living room. Thankfully, there was very minimal damage to any wrapping paper.

It will be a sad day for this little boy when we have to open all those boxes, and they will no longer be sitting around to be played with. Good thing he will have all sorts of new toys to distract him!

Happy/Sad (Week 50/52)

Life with a toddler is never dull. One minute he's running around wild, the next minute...who knows what will happen.

Take for example, this fine day in December when we went outside to rake up and play in the leaves. 

One minute...

And the next...

And he's still adorable even when he's pouting :)

Grandpa Leaves (Week 49/52)

We've had Grandpa Wilkinson living with us for the last year, but he moved out this week to go to St. George.

Colin had a lot of fun playing with Papa, and especially loved when he would take him across the street to play with the dog and go on walks around the neighborhood to explore. Colin's favorite spot was a house a few blocks over where a few cats like to wander around the yard.

Colin also loved playing in Papa's room, pushing all the buttons on his hospital bed, having Papa sing and dance to "Picnic Time for Teddy Bears," and bossing Papa around if he thought he was sitting in the "wrong" spot in the living room.

We wish him luck on his next adventure in Utah!