http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naqX9iYE0V0

Baby Blessings

We had such a great weekend with all of the family. My brother Jon returned home from his mission so we had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner while the whole family was in town. It was so great to be with everyone again. I am so grateful for my good family. We had Nellie's blessing on Sunday. Deron always has given the most beautiful blessings to our children. I am so grateful for the love he shows our children. Then after the blessing we had everyone over for a brunch and then we were off to Jon's homecoming. Jon served diligently and he loved the people of Minnesota. Listening to his talk and feeling the Spirit sure brought back some wonderful memories of my mission. And I don't know if it is just that I haven 't been to church in over a month or what, but I sure felt the Spirit often yesterday. I know we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. I have felt His love often. I am grateful for that. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. I have felt the power of His Atonement in my life. I know Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in answer to His prayer about truth and He was called to be a Prophet in our day. The Book of Mormon is true and we have had precious truths restored in our day. I am just so thankful for the countless times I have felt the Spirit testifying of these things to me. And I am thankful for the mission I served where I testified of these truths....and I definitely should be testifying more often...so there you go. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and the many blessings that come from trying to live it!

baby pics

We may have another thumb sucker...I know I should discourage it...but it is so stinkin cute!

Nellie Noelle

birth rundown

October 7
4am-contractions start, six minutes apart for two hours
6am-5pm-contractions continue but aren't consistent, sometimes 10 or 20 minutes apart. I call labor and delivery and they tell me to wait until contractions are consistently 5 minutes apart for two hours or wait for my water to break.
4pm-we go for a drive up the canyon thinking that will make my water break. Start the drive but decide to turn around because the canyon has lots of stopped traffic.
4:30-stop by Lehi Block to see if they have any good cheap pavers for sale.
5pm-have a major breakdown. Yell at the kids and start crying uncontrollably either out of frustration, pain, or crazy. Contractions get very painful and start to be shorter in-between. Call many people to see who can watch our kids...have a hard time finding someone. We end up leaving the kids with our angelic neighbor while my mom and dad make their way through rush hour traffic. Also call labor and delivery and they say go ahead and come in since I have been in labor all day. Thank you so much labor and delivery.
5:30-Deron and I get in the car and head for the U hospital. Contractions are now 5 minutes apart and VERY painful...have to breath crazy pregnant women breath to make it through contractions.
6pm-contractions are now 3-4 minutes apart. Still on the road. I call Labor and Delivery and ask them if there is a closer place to park (other than the garage) because I don't want to walk. L&D say no...just park in the garage.
6:30-some major gush of fluid comes out
6:33-we park illegally, get a wheelchair and Deron runs me up to L&D. Major pain!!!!!
6:33-LD take time checking my cervix and check to see if water has broke. There are now no breaks in-between my contractions. I am dilated at a 6. I beg for the epidural person to come right away and relieve me of pain. I think the L&D personnel think I am exaggerating the pain or something. I then feel the desire to push...and then they quickly put me in a wheelchair and take me to delivery room. Deron in the meantime is checking me in.
6:40ish-6:44-I am put on a bed and Deron is with me. I again say I want to push. Rush of doctors, nurses, interns, come in room. Doctor checks me and I am crowning. She says I can push. Nurse to the side of me is trying to put an IV in as I am pushing. I push. Then push again. Have the most painful experience I will work hard to never let myself go through again and baby is born!!!
6:45-Pure exhaustion! Can barely hold baby up. Somewhat in shock that I just had that very unexpected painful experience. Baby is beautiful! Immediately she reminds me of our little Annie.
She weighed 5lbs 110z and is 20 inches long!
We are enjoying our precious little girl and our two other kids who are in love with her.

Update

I figured since the baby is probably coming this week I should get one more post in before life really changes around here. We have had a fun month. Annie turned four and she had been talking about her tea party for over a month. I think she really enjoyed it. I think the greatest part of the tea party was my mom who came dressed as Glenda the witch and played the role the entire time and was our story teller and entertainer. I sure love that woman. Here is Annie in a nutshell:
A-active. She loves life and will basically do anything and will love doing it. The phrase she says just about every day to me lately is "I am so exciting!"-meaning I am so excited! But she really is an exciting girl.
N-nice to her brother Luke. She is a great sister who loves to play with Luke and comfort him. My favorite is waking up and seeing Luke up in Annie's bed. When he cries at night she often helps him up in her bed and they will cuddle through the night. So cute!
N-okay I just asked Deron what N word I could use to describe Annie and he said naughty. Which is true. She definitely does what she shouldn't on occasion like step on the cat, or get into my makeup, or bonk Luke on the head when he is bugging her, or eat all the cookies when I am resting (and she is supposed to be too). But overall this little girl is a good girl who tries hard to obey her mom and dad.
I-imagination. She loves to pretend and is very easily self entertained. Lately her favorite thing is to role play where I am Annie all day and she is the mom all day. Or I am momma bear, Deron is daddy bear, Luke is baby bear, and Annie is sister bear. If we ever mess up and accidently use actual names instead of pretend names Annie gets irritated.
E-easy to love. I don't know if it is her perfect features, curly gold hair, or her love to communicate with other people, Annie has friends and people her love her everywhere. I love being her mom. She has always brought so much life, laughter, and joy to Deron and I.


We went to the Wee Witch Festival and had a lot of fun there. The pony ride and petting zoo were the kids favorite. The yummy fudge they have was mine and was the main motivation for me to get out being so big with baby.

For the most part the month has been getting ready for the baby. Deep cleaning, yard work, moving furniture, organizing, and insulating the house have taken a lot of our spare time.

One Thing I Said I Would NEVER Do

I don't know how it happened really. First it was just a suggestion by our sweet neighbor, then it was out of pity for the starving creature, then all of a sudden we actually started liking it.
Deron and I are not cat people...but Luke and Annie sure have enjoyed this little kitten.
I asked Annie what she wanted to name her and she said 'Belle'. The next day though, I heard her calling the cat 'Ariel'. And about a week later she was calling the cat 'Sleeping Beauty' which has stuck.
We have found Luke holding the cat in a choke hold and throwing her off the porch. The other day Annie was basically stomping on the cat. My mom keeps reminding me that the cat has 'nine lives', and if she wanted she could get away. For the most part the kids have treated her with kindness.