Nesting and New Addtion

You may be wondering what I am doing here, and why I am doing what I am doing at 8 months pregnant. Weeeell, I decided months ago that I wanted to make and/or buy a toddler bunkbed for K1 and sister.  I could only find a few on the internet and they were at least $600 (which is obscene!).  I started to draw up some plans to make my own, but never fully committed to it.  Well, it wasn't until I was  7 months pregnant that we decided that we were going to buy our condo (save that for another post...) and that I needed to make better use of our space and put all three kids in one room (mostly because they all still get up at night and I want easy access to them).  I stumbled upon this blog via a google image search and loved their knock off of the Ikea Kura bed.  It was then I decided it was now or never.  I crunched a few numbers and contacted a person in my ward to see if they could help me with some woodworking items and then bought the wood.  You should have seem the workers faces at the lumber yard when I showed up.  I have two toddlers in a double stroller and I am very pregnant.  A few asked what I was doing with my lumber and I told them I was building a toddler bed.  It as fun to see their eyebrows go up. :)

I sanded all the pieces while listening to general conference and then painted them.  This project lasted about 2 weeks start to finish.  During that time I think I went to Home Depot about once a day.  I was beginning to make a few friends there ;)  In the middle of this project, PC bought a real desk for his office off of craigslist.  I say real because he has been working off of flimsy card tables from Walmart for our whole marriage.  This new desk didn't fit in the office in the same way the old 'desk' did and therefore threw off the whole furniture configuration for that room.  I decided to move the bookcase that now couldn't fit into the kids room.  This would require me to move everything out from the kids room to make the bookcase fit.  At this point my nesting rational took over and reasoned that since I had to empty the room anyway, ANYWAY.... I might as well paint that room.

Check out my belly.  It looks so funny in this picture.  I spent a day patching holes, sanding, removing face plates and taping everything.  I had mentioned to PC my desire to paint the room but he had no idea I meant business until he got home late that night seeing me cutting all the edges.  Everything was ready for me the next morning to roll on the paint.   I did the first wall pretty fast but slowed down from there.  I think I did the whole room in an hour/ hour and a half.  I was sore by the end.

Sadly, my paint was two shades too dark.   It isn't bad but not what I was envisioning.   It's grown on me now that it's been on the walls two months.  After painting the room, it was time to assemble the bunk bed.  I was so proud of myself.  I really did this whole thing by myself (minus the bit of routing that a guy in my ward did for me-that only took an hour).  I was so nervous to drill the pilot holes because I didn't was to screw it up (HA!! I'm so good at terrible puns).  My right arm and shoulder were very sore by the end.  PC helped me screw in a few of the awkward angled pieces and supported different parts in the final stages.

I'm so corny...I one point I referred to myself as rosie the riveter.  I think I was surprised at my own abilities.

Here's the finished product!  Newly painted room and bed :) and a very pregnant mommy.  Just goes to show nothing is impossible (when a nesting brain is involved)

The next few weeks were comprised of me trying to put my house back together before our little man joined us.  I was selling furniture on craigslist and reorganizing two rooms (the office and the kids room).  Once I finally got those up to snuff I set out to cleaning my whole house and organizing my pantry and recipes my mom would make during her visit.  I should note that my back and hips were really hurting me.  The worst was getting in and out of bed.  I would try to put my feet on the floor and my back would crack.  Not only was it loud, but it hurt like heck.  It was like my bones would settle with the weight of my belly.  Anyhoo, the week of BB's due date I was spent.  He was due Friday, April 26th.  That Monday morning I was in so much pain.  I could hardly walk.  I spent the whole day on the couch.  I only got up to feed the kids.  The next morning I cried getting out of bed.  I finally said enough is enough.  I didn't even consider getting induced before this because I've always gone into labor naturally.  This time however I was afraid labor might really hurt because I was already in so much pain.  The thought of trying to relax my body during each contraction didn't sound appealing.  The clincher was the phone call from my mom.  She thought she bought a plane ticket that could be easily (and cheaply) changed....but it turns out it wasn't.  So she was coming on Friday whether I had a baby or not.  I decided that if my mom was coming, I better well have a baby to make her time here worth it.  I called my doctor and asked to schedule an induction.  We set the date for Thursday the 25th.  

Here I am at the hospital (at 6am!)  My experience this time was sooo different.  I was actually really nervous because of all the wait time.  In the past, I've always been in the thick of contractions that my hospital experience feels like a blur.  This time we slowly filled out papers.  They took their time getting my room and getting me situated and hooked up to machinery.  I opted for an epidural because I knew pitocin induced contractions would be very different from my natural ones.  I was glad I did it.  The epidural worked!  My right leg was like jello.  So weird.  It also makes me feel justified when I tell people I did my first two naturally.  I only mention this because I requested an epidural with Sister, but they didn't give it to me until I was 9.5cm and she was born 20 minutes after they gave it to me.  I felt everything and didn't feel like the epidural did anything.  My anesthesiologist told me that most epidurals don't kick in for at least 30 minutes.  So HA! I really did my first two naturally.  Back to this labor...Thankfully I wasn't so numb that I couldn't feel the pressure of when to push.  I could still feel my body bearing down and could tell he was going to be here quick once that happened.

My doctor was so great.  I go to a practice of OBGYNs and initially I didn't really like this particular doctor.  I felt she was impersonal and treated me like a number in visits, but her demeanor was totally different at the hospital.  She was so nice and really interesting to talk to.  She encouraged me to watch the birth. I'd been offered to do that with K1 but didn't want to.  I wasn't super interested this time either, but she pushed me to to do it and I'm glad.  It really was cool!  I only pushed once and little BB popped out.  Thankfully the bed was broken down and the newborn station was set up, but my doctor still wasn't quite ready.  She had to quickly put on gloves and catch him!

Here he is!!  He was absolutely COVERED in vernix.  I mean he was white.  It looked like he was smeared in Crisco.

It was so sweet.  He was crying at first and then they set him on me.  Right after he stopped crying.  At that moment I thought,"I know you!"  He felt so familiar.  I knew this was a happy reunion.  I'd never gotten that with my other two kids. It was so neat. 

We went to the hospital with the intent of naming him William Day and nicknaming him Liam but his calm demeanor changed all of that.  We knew he wasn't a Liam.  I looked up the meaning of his name which is  The Lord is my God.  When I read that, I became overcome with emotion and I that was my confirmation that that was supposed to be his name.  Once again, our kid named himself.

 I must admit, my nerdy self is quite happy.  He has a science-y name and a math-y birthday.  His initials are EMF or in physics that's Electromotive Force.  His birthday is two squares (4-25) AND the numbers in 25 or 2 and 5, makes up the squares.  COOOOL.  In the end, he'll probably end up an English major and not appreciate all these nerdy facts.  Oh well.

K1 meeting BB for the first time.  He was sooo excited.  K1 is such a great and caring older brother.  He always wants to hold BB.  I should note that BB stands for Baby Brother. :)  I'm so creative....

Me and my babies.  I really put on the water weight at the end of this pregnancy.

Sister didn't really acknowledge BB's presence for the first little while.  As I suspected, she didn't really know what was going on.  It took her a few days to realize we had a new family member.

Uncle Jay surprised us all when he texted me that day and said he was in town for a grant writing-meeting-conference-thing and wanted to come say 'hi'.  He's so dang smart.  We'll leave it at that.  He gave me the beautiful orange carnation that's in the background :)  We owe him and my sister a big thank you for making it possible for my mom to come help me for a week.  Jay went to stay with my Dad and make sure he stayed out of trouble.  For those of you who don't know, my dad has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's (I thought it was dementia...turns out it was worse) and can't be left to his own devices anymore. Anyhoo, it was a big sacrifice for them and I'm so grateful they volunteered to do it.  I could never have asked that big of a favor from them.

Our first family picture!  We are now 5!!!

In the weeks prior to my due date, I put together gift bags for the K1 and Sister that they could open when they came to the hospital.  I knew we'd need a little something for them to get excited about.  K1 still talks about how BB gave him a present at the hospital :)

Here's the little monkey :)  He is so cute.  He's still newborn-squishy in these pictures.

I caught him rooting around in this picture.  Another thing to note is his dark hair!  All of my kids have been born with hair (K1 had the most) but it wasn't as noticeable with the other two because its strawberry blonde when they were born.  This little guy was born with brown hair! PC said to me at the hospital, "Now who may I ask is the father?!"  We both laughed.

He's so little!  This is the first time we've owned a swing and I'm so glad we invested in one!  Granted, I got it for cheap off of craigslist and intend to sell it when I'm done but I now wonder how I did without one with my other kiddos.  It's my second set of hands.  I'm really lucky he likes sitting in it.

Sitting together

K1 thoroughly enjoying it (and still loves holding BB)

Sister holding BB.  Right here she's stroking his face and saying "it's awwight beebee bwudee" (translation, it's alright baby brother)  She's very diligent about finding his binkies and shoving putting them in his mouth.  BB has been very patient with all the bumps and pokes he gets from his well intentioned older siblings.

While my mom was visiting, we decided to take an open top bus tour of DC.  Something has prevented us from seeing the sights each time she's visited.  We thought this might be a good way to get an overview of the city.  It was also nice hearing all the factoids from our tour guide.

I love my mom!  I was so sad when she left.  I loved being able to talk to someone all day long.  She was a little more forgetful in terms of putting things away (I swear she asked me where my laundry room was 15+ times) but the help and cooking she did while here was priceless (we're still eating her cooking a month later).

PC's work sent an edible arrangement, balloons and a monogrammed blanket to celebrate BB's birth.  K1 and Sister LOVED the balloons.  We eventually had to attach more string to the balloon string because we have vaulted ceilings and the kids would continually let go of their balloon in the living room.

Pineapple (or any fruit for that matter) seems to taste better on a stick :)

The squishy cute boy hanging out in his bassinet.  I spent money on a bassinet this time as well.  This one has all the whistles and bells too.  It glides, plays music, makes other noises and it really cute.  This was another craigslist find and totally worth it.  The gliding feature is awesome.  This kid likes it and therefore I like it :)

Posing with Grandma right before we took her to the airport

Trying to take a picture with all the kiddos.  Sister was not a happy camper.

After several shots and lots of bribes, they still wouldn't say cheese.  This is the best we got for posterity.

Whine-y girl.  This whole new sibling thing and taking a back seat is, expectedly and understandably, getting to this girl.

K1 has his moments of being ridiculous as well.  We're all a little more emotional these days but we're pulling through.

This kids are helping me make cupcakes and a cake, which leads me to my final topic for this post: Our five year anniversary!

I'm so happy I married PC.  It's been an eventful 5 years with 3 kids and enduring law school and finishing up our schooling at USU.  We moved across the country where we didn't know anyone and made a life for ourselves. He still makes me laugh, buys me flowers when I most need them and magnanimously does the dishes even though I'm the one who makes the mess.  He's such a great dad and I love him more for it.  He tirelessly works to provide for our family which allows me to stay home with our kids.  He's also made it clear that I could go work if I wanted to, but I don't want to.  Not right now at least.  Point being, I still maintain I married above myself.  I want to be a better person when I'm with him.  I'm a lucky girl.

Oh, and he gives me adorable children :)