Halloween

How was Halloween? Well, if you ask Amelia she had the "best Halloween ever!"

What did they dress up as?

That would be a monkey, in case you were wondering...

Amelia decided she wanted to be a grey mouse for Halloween at the end of August and has anxiously awaited Halloween.

What you say? That doesn't look like a grey mouse? No I'm not THAT lame at costume making, about a week before the long awaited event she decided she wanted to be a white mouse. What it doesn't look like a white mouse either? Once again, not my fault. She finally decided on a grey kitty. Lucky for me her expectations were low.

Amelia wore her kitty outfit every day for a week. Ears, whiskers, pink nose, tail and all. She even slept in all of it more than once. We got rid of the ears and tail, but if you peeked in her room right now you would see faint whiskers from another kitty filled day.

I really need to post more regularly, these get ridiculously long

Family-
We have had some glorious fall days here so on Saturday we decided to make a trip out to a pumpkin patch. Amelia had a blast riding in a tractor out to the field and then following different paths through the pumpkin plants trying to find her perfect pumpkin. Here is what she came away with,

it was "exactly just right", it looks like an orange with a stem. Bryson had fun sleeping for the first half and watching everything wide eyed the second. DJ and I were tired as we forgot to bring the baby carrier and got to take turns lugging Bryson, that kid is heavy (more on that later). We decided it was time to go home about 5 minutes too late when Amelia tripped going up a ladder to a slide (tears) and then was surprised at how fast the slide was and landed flat on her back (more tears).

DJ-
He is now officially a seminary teacher again (that is a church class for high school kids, before school. We are talking 6 am). He was asked to substitute for a few weeks...apparently his loud voice did the trick keeping the kids awake and he is now the permanent teacher. He also had another company he used to work with copy an online life insurance quote thing. But don't be dismayed, they copied it so well they even left his office's contact number. Oops. Someone called for help and lets just say they found the "correct" website. DJ and his dad have considered sending a thank you card.

Me-
Trying to graduate. Taking my final two classes. Hoping a professor that holds may fate in his/her hands honors a substitution that was okayed a few years ago. Also still trying to adjust to having two kids, I don't know how you all do it. And still trying to get a good nights sleep.

Amelia-
This is where it gets interesting. Amelia is...well...Amelia. She is a mini me in many ways, unfortunately it is in the ways my mom would proclaim "I hope you get a child just like you", which is never said about pleasant things. Her voice is often hoarse because the amount and longevity of her tantrums. Sigh. At least I know she will outgrow them eventually. But until then we will have conversations like this-

Me- Okay, be happy at Jessica's and no fits okay?
Amelia- I'll just have little fits
Me- None would be better

or

Me- Did you throw any fits in nursery today?
Amelia- Yes
Me - Big or little?
Amelia- Medium
Me - How many?
Amelia - 2
Me to DJ- at least she knows her sizes

But her needing to control things and have them her way has it's benefits, no matter how small. She was very frustrated for a while because she wanted to write so I decided to practice with her. Which is no fun task. Many a tantrums have been started because her letters are not the same size. Seriously. But once I remembered the wonderful invention of pencils and erasers, life became a little easier. and Voila... Amelia Marguerite all by herself (except for slight help from daddy on R and G).



Bryson-
Sing with me now -I like them big, I like them chunky... His 6 month stats (he is now 7) were 20 lbs 2 oz (80%), 28 5/8 in (93%), and head (80%). To put that in perspective for those who don't follow the percentile charts, he weighs as much as Amelia at a year, and she was no little girl. He is also 4 lbs and 2 in bigger than his cousin 3 weeks younger, and he is as big or bigger than 4 of his cousins who are 6-7 months older. And I would just like to point out that a 6 month old and a 1 year old that weight the same are still vastly different to carry. Try lugging him around a pumpkin patch for 2 hours. He also loves to eat real food but can't quite figure out how to get it in his mouth himself, so he ends up with fist fulls of food yet sucking his thumb. He can sit up, and he rolls all over the place. If he rolls to something but still can't reach it, he will roll away and then roll back at a different angle till he makes it. And at 7 months he has already almost pulled down our floor lamp and opened the fireplace, 2 things Amelia still has never done. I knew it was coming.

The blanket is to hide the not so boy friendly purple bumbo. A product of an older sister, sorry man.

B

When Amelia was born she was just Amelia. Ah-ma-leah to some close family. Lyla when she was learning how to talk. But Bryson already is a baby of many names. We each have our own contribution. Mine - Mr. B, DJ - Iron B and Brysonian, Amelia- Brycie, or Brycie Brysoohh, DJ's family - Bronco. Amelia's name lent itself well to songs, I guess Bryson's lends well to nicknames.

Now for a brief flash back...

How many people does it take to change a newborns diaper? 2 if that baby is a recently circumcised boy who shall remain nameless. And it wasn't just us, the nurses had to buddy up because he was so strong and less than thrilled. He started out in life bigger than newborn diapers, but with the whole umbilical cord thing he was forced to wear them for 8 long days. The 24 hour record was 8 outfit changes for him, 2 for me and 1 for DJ. He seriously peed out the top and you could watch it dribble around to his back. Lovely. DJ suggested we just tie a black trash bag around his waist. Tempting. He also took a while to realize that diaper changing time is not when you are supposed to poop and pee. Can I just say that diapering girls is WAAY easier. As for eating Bryson was a newborn snacker in major way, eating every hour and a half for 3-5 minutes (in contrast Amelia went 3-4 hours and ate for 30 minutes). That was fun.

He makes his daddy proud with his burping, snoring, tooting, and otherwise general raspiness abilities. Although he had colic for a while (screaming with a seriously bubbly tummy, hence his burping and tooting abilities) he has grown out of it. The colic that is. The other stuff is still going strong.

He makes me proud by being an incredibly low maintenance baby at times I think the fact that he is a thumb sucker helps. If he is rested and fed he will lay on the floor for at least a good hour happily playing several times a day. Amelia owes him big time because this gives her more Mommy time which she craves. On the flip side though he is a pretty crappy sleeper. For the first couple months he went to bed between 1 and 3am. And up until last week it was 11-12pm. It is now 10-11pm with wake ups ranging from 5 hours to 2 hours. I try not to think about the fact that Amelia had been sleeping though the night for several months by now. It also doesn't help that with Amelia's night time underwear wearing came night time potty trips which just so happened to be timed to right in the middle of Bryson's long stretch (if he has one). Sleep, glorious sleep, but today is not that day...

So how is B now that he is 5 months old? Big and apparently "all boy" (I have been told that at least 5 times). His 4 month stats were 17 lbs 10 oz (85%), 27 1/8 inches (93%) and 80% for head. At least he is consistent. Although he is more barrel chested than his sister was they both don't have much of a belly, their weight instead resides in their extremities. I guess their fat follows gravity and pools at the ends which makes for some pretty amazing creases. He also got his bottom 2 teeth 2 weeks ago, the same day he got shots (that was a fun couple days), a whopping 4 months earlier than Amelia, so far I am not so fond of them.

newborn

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

5 weeks later

Is he seriously that old?! Sheesh.

Well I guess I will start at the beginning aka the birth story, dun, dun, dun.

Feb. 26 - a week before my due date which was March 4th I mentioned to my doctor that my next appointment was the day after my due date and asked about being induced instead (remember I had been having regular contractions on and off for a week already). His reply gratefully was "How do you feel about it?" ummm, yes please; now would be better. So the date was set for March 5 at 6 am.

March 3 - I was having regular contractions again that didn't feel so good but were not getting worse for 6 hours! I called the doctor and he checked me and NOTHING, still 3 cm. In my head I am screaming that I am going to be induced in 2 days, lets just get this thing over with.

March 5 - D-day (or B-day)
4 am - I woke up with regular contractions yet again. Sweet maybe I won't have to be induced

5:40 am - We were about to leave for the hospital for my induction when they call and say they are too full to do an induction and tell me to call my doctors office when they open and ask if they have a plan. A plan?!? THE plan was to get induced today. That is the only plan!

8:50 am - I had been praying and walking my daylights out trying to go into full labor so they HAVE to take me when I get a phone call saying they can induce me at 11:15. Hallelujah, thank you to who ever had their baby to free up a labor nurse. I then inform DJ that he is not to answer the phone if they call again, no more postponing.

11:15 am - We check into the hospital and get asked a bunch of questions they asked me the day before when I pre -checked in. Hmmm.

12:30 pm - The doctor came in and broke my water and started the pitocin. The contractions I had been having immediately got worse.

3:30 pm - I asked for the epidural, and while I was waiting for the anesthesiologist was trying to figure out why I had waited so long and wishing that I would have asked 15 mins ago. (Every so often my contractions would all of the sudden get worse, this was one of those times.)

4:00 pm - Epidural is in, waiting for it to kick in.

4:20 pm - Dang it, I could still feel my right side. They check me and I was 6 cm, fully effaced. The nurse said it would happen sooner rather than later.

4:40 pm - It's later... 9 3/4 cm. I was VERY grateful that I got the epidural when I did! Although I could feel one side, I could at least handle that, as hard as it was. It was around here also that baby's heart rate started to drop with each contraction.

5:20 pm - This is where I try not to remember. Pushing begins and just like with Amelia the epidural feels like it isn't doing a thing. When we start the nurse says "Now if I tell you to stop you need to stop and wait for the doctor". Uh, no, how about you make sure the doctor gets here; I wait for no one.

5:57 pm - After crowning for what felt like FOREVER (no screaming... just crying), Bryson is out with loads of dark hair and a cord around the neck. Immediate thought was the pain relief isn't nearly enough. Then the doctor asks how big Amelia was (7 lbs 3 oz) then says "I'm guessing 9". You're kidding. I knew he was going to bigger despite the fact I was measure 2 weeks small at my last two appointments (I made it stretch mark free through Amelia's pregnancy, but the last week of Bryson's I got a few, another reason he should have been born earlier) but ! I'm glad you let me be induced today. His 65% head compared to Amelia's 10% didn't help either. Bryson was then a bit (what they termed) stunned for a while afterwards, from his cord being around his neck. Meaning he needed some extra oxygen for a couple minutes and then was really whiny/fussy for a while. He also came out with a hickey on his arm where he had been sucking during labor. Sweet! During this time I was getting drugged up because I hurt, and did for a long time after. But I would do labor, delivery, and recovery every month of a pregnancy instead of being pregnant. That is how glad I am that it is over and how much I hate being sick to my stomach. The End. I am wasting precious sleep time. (Long enough for you? Yes? Well it was more for me than you anyways.)

Where is DJ you ask? He was there... but no evidence of it on my camera.

Finally...

Bryson Quincy
March 5, 2010
5:57pm
9 lbs 1 oz
22 inches

more to come...

Why didn't anyone warn me...

that you can be in and out of what they term "false" labor (which really isn't false at all) for 1 1/2 weeks and still have nothing to show for it but being 3 cm dilated. I'm done already. GET HIM OUT!

And just for fun here is Amelia's quotables for the week:

"Don't touch ANYTHING!" - said very sternly while in the car. Not quite sure what she thought I was going to do.

"Baloo the bear" - this is how it went...

Amelia "Oh no, all the pretty lights are gone!".
Me "Yes Christmas is over, all the lights are gone" (never mind that has been
2 months already, am I going to hear about this for another 10).
A few seconds pass and then...
Amelia "Baloo the bear", ya I'm pretty sure that was meant as an
interjection, i.e. an expletive substitute. Nice, thanks DJ.

I'm a blog slacker and not afraid to admit it

So I think that I have written this blog post in my head a hundred times over the last year and a half. But it never actually made it out of my head. And I don't really have any sort of excuse other than...I never made it that far. I think part of me was waiting for a more convenient time, like that ever happens. So I am currently ignoring my aching back, my exhaustion, the little boy that is literally trying to fight his way out and the many things I want to get done before I go into labor. Oh, did I forget to mention I am 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant! A lot can happen in a year and a half, but at the same time not so much. I have been trying to figure out how to be a mom of a toddler, trying to remember why I got pregnant again (any glimmer of pleasure from my first pregnancy has yet to appear this time around), and trying to finish my BLASTED school so I can once and for all be done with my bachelors! I took a final on Friday...two classes left. Other than that things are pretty much the same.

DJ is still working for his dad selling life insurance. "Do you have life insurance, because if you do you could always use a little more. But I have a feeling you don't have any, am I right, or am I right." No that is not a quote from his sales pitch, it's from Groundhog day. He is also still ward mission leader, two wards and 3 years later. Other than that things are pretty much the same.

As for Amelia she did learn how to walk...and run and jump and talk and throw herself down on the floor in a tantrum that would rival anyone. Everything a 2, soon to be 3, year old needs to know. I plan on doing a more complete update for my own memory soon, but for now I will just give you a glimmer of her personality. Which from what I hear is awfully (meant in both uses) close to my own at her age. To do so I will give you a little list of her most recent one liners.

1. "Calm down mommy, calm down" - finger shaking and all...what is funny is she said it when I wasn't even upset, I had just told her to wait a minute because I needed to finish eating.

2. "Stop crying mommy" - again, was I crying...no.

3. "I just want to be alone" - first heard when I was trying to get her ready to leave the house.

4. "It's been two minutes" - said with exasperation...this was when I told her she could help me cook, a few minutes passed and...

5. "Stop daddy, stop" - all said while talking steps toward him with a Popsicle stick in hand being used as some sort of wand or sword. (to be fair, what he was doing was annoying)

With her, things are never the same. Ah, I have to say in someways I am glad I am having a boy. It could potentially be a nice break from emotional drama. But I am also very nervous about having a hyper little acrobat that gets into everything.


35 weeks


Notice the pumpkin has a hairdo like DJ...


Rare mommy daughter pose