Sunday, August 22, 2010

Cute Things Britton Says


"Look at me do a sexy sexy." (Sixty, sixty for 360.)

"Daddy you have big nickels." (Nipples. And, don't worry they are normal size.)

"Don't close the garadgerator on my brother." (Garage door opener.)

"Mom, what does Macie eat for breakfast?"
"Milk."
"What does she eat for lunch?"
"Milk."
"What does she eat for dinner?"
"Milk."
"What does she eat for bazert?" (Dessert.)
"Milk."

I love how "bazert" is a meal in my family.

"Mom, look at the weirdos." (Talking about The Beetles he saw on TV.)

Friday, August 20, 2010

Macie's Bedroom

We had so much fun dressing up Macie's room. It was a total group project. Chris made the cornice board and painted all of the furniture white, Linzi painted the wall pink and made the framed graphic art, and I made the bedding. I wanted to hang a chandelier (but we're renting so I don't think we will) and I need to get some more accessories but I am just waiting for the perfect ones.



Linzi made the graphic art and gave it to me as a gift. Cute, huh?
I made the bedding using a mixture of Joel Dewberry's Avery line and an Amy Butler new decor print. Nice and Girly. Do you think I am EXCITED to have a girl?

Random cute picture taken yesterday. She has grown way too fast and her eyes are for sure blue now.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Macie's Spit-up


I took this photo to prove to Macie's doc that she really does spit up too much. It was all over me, her, the blanket, the couch and the pillow. YUCK. Hopefully she can get the same meds Britton got. I couldn't help but post this photo because look at that smile!!

Carter's First Day of School




















Carter's first day of school was a success. He has a great teacher and it sounds like he is starting to make good friends. Although our house is VERY close to the school it is across a busy road so Carter gets to now ride the bus and he is very excited. We walked him to school in the morning but he got to ride the bus home. I was so excited about the bus because it drops him off across from our home. But I may have changed my mind about liking it. Yesterday I had to wait for the bus across the street to be in the shade for Macie. When the bus came to the bus stop I saw about 15 kids hop out but none of them were Carter. When I saw the last few kids come out I got a little nervous and started to walk towards the doors. Then the doors closed and I started to run. With Macie in my arm and my huge boobs bouncing I felt like a blob but I didn't care I needed to save my Carter. The bus just started to drive away when I was able to get the driver's attention. He stopped and Carter was on the bus. I guess that he called his name but Carter did not hear.

I told Chris about this and he told me that when he was a little kid he got on the wrong bus and instead of telling the bus driver he got off in a random neighborhood in Fresno and walked his way home. He said when he got home he was really late and his mom was scared to death. So now I am worried about my little boy getting off just any ol' place in Rio Rancho and some weirdo getting to him before we find him. We talked to him extensively about talking to the driver or a teacher if he is confused. This was our conversation:

Me: "Carter, If you are confused about where you are, talk to your bus driver and he can help you."
Carter: "OK"
Me: "NEVER get off in a place other than your bus stop."
Carter: "OK"
Me: "If you get off in the wrong place a bad person could get you and do bad things to you." (I could see his brain thinking.)
Carter: "You mean like make me drink coffee?"

We're hoping he figures out the bus situation soon.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

A Date With Carter

Carter will be starting school on Tuesday and I was able to take him out on a date to go back-to-school shopping. He got some cool graphic T's, new jeans, and a new pair of Vans. I bought him a slurpee and you would have thought I gave him a $1,000. Sweet boy. I love to see how happy he was just to be with me.

It's Sunday (Sappy Alert)



It's Sunday. Chris is doing dishes Britton and Carter are playing nicely with Dominos and sweet macie is sleeping and I cannot stop feeling blessed. The last two months of our lives have been so filled with blessings that I can't deny the lords hand in our lives.

I am thankful for our move to New Mexico and I am thankful for how easy our transition has been. The boys mention how they miss certain people in WI but continue to tell me how they love it here. We love our home, and our new ward, and just about everything here (except for the lack of grass and the NM licence plates). We have made so many friends here and know we are in the right place.

I feel blessed to have a husband like Chris who continues to support our family in every way he can. About two weeks after we moved here he and the boys slept out on the trampoline and I heard them outside giggling all night long. I am so glad my boys have a dad that loves to play and be with them.

I am thankful we were able to have Macie here in NM so that Chris could be a part of the delivery. The flights we made for him to go to WI were for the 25th of July and we had her on the 24th and with such a quick delivery he would have not made it.

But most of all I am thankful for a healthy family. I know Macie is healthy because of the many people praying and fasting for her and the priesthood blessing she received. It is amazing to me that we were told by the pediatrician and the person who read the cat scan that she had craniosynostosis. We went to the neurosurgeon to talk treatment plans and then he tells us that she is a perfectly heathy baby, doesn't have craniosynostosis and will not need surgery (I could have told him that she was a perfect baby without a CT scan :)) I am just so thankful.

The last three weeks we have had both my mother-in-law and my mother in town to help out. I am thankful for them for all they have done for our little family and it is great to have such wonderful mothers in my life.

I feel so thankful and have been close to tears because of the many miracles in our life.




Wednesday, August 11, 2010

No Craniodysostosis!

Macie was seen by Dr. Marchand today (the neurosurgeon she was referred to) and he said she doesn't have craniodysostosis at all. He showed us CT scan, showed us the open sutures and said he's 100% sure she doesn't have a problem and won't need surgery. Great news! He does about 50 surgeries on kids with this problem per year (about 1 per week) and we feel extremely blessed that Macie will not be one of them. Thank you all for you prayers in our behalf.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

The Birth Story

So many people have been emailing me and asking me about the birth. I have been having so much fun with Macie that I haven't been able to email and call all of my friends and family. So here it is.

4 weeks prior to birth-
As many of you know I was going to have the baby in WI but I spent two very sleepless nights worrying about what would happen if Chris wasn't there or if something happened to the baby during or after the delivery. So we started to make sure we were covered and we were surprisingly able to work things out.

The week before-
I had been having bad contractions off and on for about 8 days before she was born. There were a few times when the contractions were 3-7 min. apart but I knew they didn't hurt enough to go in. On Tuesday I thought for sure she was coming so I made a frantic shopping trip to pick up nursing bras and stretchy pants (must-haves for all women who have just given birth.)

The day before-
I had a scheduled appointment at 1:00 with my nurse midwife. She checked me and I was dilated to a 3, was 80 % effaced and my cervix was softened.
The rest of that day I ran errands, got curtains for the baby's room, went grocery shopping (and for some reason only bought junk food--don't ask me why) and got home at 8:00. Chris called and said that he was going out to dinner with some of the other Comfort dentists. At this point I wasn't feeling good but I thought it was just a stomach bug and wasn't noticing any more contractions than usual. Chris got home at 10:30 and I was watching Cake Boss. We went to sleep.

Macie's B-day-
I woke up about an hour and a half later with a killer stomach ache and threw up and had other stomach issues (I was losing fluids from both ends, if you know what I mean). I decide to sleep on the couch because I did not want to wake up Chris because he had to work early the next day. Between throwing up, doing the "other thing", taking baths to try to calm my tummy down, and lying on the couch I didn't get any sleep at all. Around 6:00 in the morning I still didn't think I was in true labor and woke Chris up to get me some Pepto Bismol. When he got back I realized that my contractions were quite close together but still thought Chris should go into work. About 30 mins later I notice that they we starting to hurt so he decided not to go in. It’s a good thing, too, because we left for the hospital about 15 min later. We got to the hospital at 7:30. The nurse checked me at about 8:30 and I was still at a 3 and 80-- the same as the day before. Because I hadn't changed at all they didn't know if I was in truly in labor yet. The pain wasn't bad but it was getting worse by the minute. At 9:00 the pain became unbearable. I started to cry (which I don't usually do when I am in pain—I gave birth to Britton without an epidural and didn’t shed a single tear) but I was feeling like there was no end in sight and thought I might get sent home.

At around 9:25 (one hour later) the midwife came in to check me and to our surprise I was at 9 cm and almost ready to push. That was when they decided that I would not be going home. Because I dilated so fast the pain was even more intense than with Britton’s delivery but with Britton’s delivery pushing was a relief and with Macie it was not. I didn't push for long--only about ten minutes or so--but her skull bones didn’t give at all like during a normal birth(more about that later). To make things even more difficult she had shoulder dystocia (her head came out but her shoulders got stuck for a bit) and was sunny side up so it was unbearably painful. The nurse midwife was literally pulling her as hard as she could and the nurse was on top of me pushing on my uterus to get her out. The funny thing was I didn't even feel it because I was in so much other pain everything else was nothing. Finally she was delivered and placed on my tummy and we got to see her for the first time. The pain didn't matter and I would have done it 20 times over just to have her. I was in love with her and we grow more and more in love every day. She is truly the princess in our family and feel so blessed to have her in our home. Also, if you’re wondering why I didn't post any photos of me it is because I was butt naked. Don't ask me why but the nurse took off my gown after she was born.

The few days in the hospital-
I heard several at the hospital people say "Oh, I heard about your delivery" but the hospital was very nice and I loved the nurses. The food was very bad but I have a very good husband that snuck me in food on occasions. Chris stayed with me for the whole time we were there. He is SUCH a good dad. I love to see how he interacts with the boys and it has been fun to see him with Macie.

About her skull-
On the last day of our hospital stay the pediatrician came into give Macie her final check. During the exam he noticed that she did not have a soft spot so he had her sent downstairs to get a CAT scan of her head. The preliminary reading of the scan was that the sutures in her skull are prematurely closing. This can be a bad thing if not recognized early because it is the fact that the individual bones aren’t fused yet in a baby’s head that allow the brain room to grow (and that allows the head to pass more easily through the birth canal.) We were able to get her into the doctors the day after we got home from the hospital and we are currently in the process of getting her into a pediatric neurosurgeon to determine what treatment will be necessary. From what the doctors have said, she will most likely need to undergo a surgical procedure between 6-9 months to open up the sutures to allow room for her brain to continue to grow properly. It is a major surgery that only needs to be done once and has very high success rate. It kills me that my perfect baby needs a surgery but I know it will all work out. There have been too many blessings for us in the last few months for us not to believe that Heavenly Father is looking out for us and will continue to do so. Today the family gathered together to join in a fast and I have felt the peace it has brought to us about the situation. I am thankful for Macie and my family and for the faith we all share. I will update you all after we get more info from the neurosurgeon.