Beautiful New Baby Boy!!

Hi Everyone! This is Liz's sister, Sarah. I am blogging for her to let you all know that the baby has arrived! She had a really tough labor and dialated from a 6 to a ten in a matter of minutes. The epidural didn't work and she felt EVERYTHING! But the baby is beautiful and looks just like Graham! Mother and baby are doing great and Dad is extremely tired! What a wonderful day! Baby weighed 8'11 and is healthy as ever. He just needs a name now! Here he is just a couple hours old, happy birthday baby boy!!

Ripe

Can you even imagine what I would look like at 40 weeks?? Here I am on Tuesday, 37 1/2 weeks along. I look and feel ripe and ready to go. :) Thanks to Jay, my brother-in-law, who snapped this picture of me at David's birthday party. Man, I'm excited to get my body back.

Awesome Deal!

Found this Chicco Travel System at a local store, but didn't want to spend the already marked down price for it. Checked out Craigslist and found one that was only a year old for half the price! It's in perfect condition and the exact colors that I wanted. My mom and sister Sarah wanted to buy it for us! Score! Thanks guys. All I have to do now is charge the cameras and pack my hospital bag and we're ready to go!

We Have A Date Set!

Found out yesterday that the baby's head is more engaged.

I'm only dilated to a 1+ cm.

I have tons of fluid.

I am measuring 45 cm!

Doctor set a date for me to be induced!!

The special day??

Sunday, February 28th, 6 AM

Oh yeah and more good news. They lifted the restriction that kids couldn't come into the hospital due to the flu season. As long as the kids are healthy, they can come and see me and the new baby! To me, that news was almost as good as actually having a date set. :)

Recap of David's Special Day

My brother Sam is here helping me this week. He watched the kids all day yesterday so David and I could spend his birthday together. It was really great. He even picked the kids up from school and cleaned my house! While he was slaving the day away, here is a shortened list of what we did:

• doctor's appt. and non-stress test
• lunch at Chaddder's which is exactly like In-n-out burger, though the employee begged to differ
• went shopping for a new pair of pants for David
• went to a movie: Sherlock Holmes (that was hard to sit through being so big, but I made it)
• went to dinner
• walked around the mall
• had a huge surprise party at the house with cake and ice cream (he was so surprised!)

It really was a good day. I feel sad to say that through it all, I forgot to take pictures! Not one!! Thanks so much Sam! This day wouldn't have been possible without you.

Happy 33rd Birthday David!!

To celebrate your special day today, here are just 33 (in no specific order) of the many reasons why I love you:
(this picture was taken last year on David's birthday weekend getaway at my aunt's condo)

1. love me for who I am
2. love the kids and spends a lot of time with them
3. like to have fun
4. like good movies
5. like great music
6. you're fit
7. concerned about eating healthy
8. strong priesthood holder
9. solid testimony
10. great leader and teacher in our ward
11. always sends me sweet text messages throughout the day
12. have a deep concern and love for others
13. enjoy being around family member's (on both sides)
14. spontaneous
15. constantly wanting to improve yourself
16. always filling me with compliments
17. loves to snuggle
18. gives great backrubs (It's gotten to the point where I can just sit by him and he will start to rub my back on command. :))
19. great at communication
20. aren't afraid to speak your mind and share an opinion
21. loves good food
22. strong desire to live a zion life
23. I was your first kiss (wish I could say the same :))
24. I can confide in him
25. great sense of humor
26. cares about preparedness and has gotten us very prepared
27. love to learn
28. enjoys playing and watching a good game of basketball
29. great at memorizing things
30. smart
31. appreciate the little things
32. have great self discipline
33. have a kind heart
    

I asked the kids what they wanted to say to Dad for his birthday and here are their responses:

Graham: Happy Birthday Dad. I love you Dad because you teach me about Jesus and play with me.

Carmen: Happy Birthday Dad. I love you because you're so nice to me and you're my Dad.

Morgan: I love you Dad. I draw this for you. An Alien.

Hope your 33rd Birthday is GREAT!! We love you!!

Here's Proof....

....that kids really don't need a lot to keep themselves entertained. I went into the girl's room to find this. It's the cardboard lid to our box of oranges, you know the ones with all the square holes in the top. With a stuffed animal poking it's head out of each hole. Who knows where their imaginations went from here.

Glimpse Into The Past

Every once in a while, my sweet friend/neighbor invites the girls over in the afternoon to play, make cookies, watch movies, etc, so I can get a little rest. It's so sweet of her and the girls love her to death.
The other day I sent them across the street to play. While I was standing in the door, I watched as they held hands and ran with excitement to Megan's and I had a glimpse into the past. I thought of how much my two little girls are just like my sister and I growing up. I was the older, more bossy, tomboy of the two, where Becky was the sweet, motherly, willing to play whatever I told her to type. That is exactly how Carmen and Morgan are. I can't wait to see their friendship continue the way that ours has. It was one of those special moments that make being a mother so rewarding.

Update

Went to the doctor today. Dilated to 1 cm. Babies head is down, but not engaged at all. My doctor talked about how we can't get too antsy and do something that we would regret and get a damaged baby. If he is just floating around, there are too many risks. Hopefully gravity will pull him down and things will look better next week.
I then headed over for my non-stress test. They measured my fluid. Last week it was 30 (in fluid measuring terms) and this week it was 26.4. I asked the nurse if that is pretty normal and she said it was actually really high. So not only do I have a big baby, he also has a ton of fluid to float around in. After the stress test, the nurse took the results to the doctor that is there to check them out. The doctor said, "Looks like a healthy happy baby in there, with a lot of fluid to float around in." And I was sent home.
I know that I will have a baby sometime soon and I realize that he's going to come when he's ready. Hopefully, for my sake, it's just a few more weeks. :) I would love any kind of advice as to how to get a baby to drop.

Uncomfortable

I've been having some hard contractions. Nothing consistent, but some are low and deep. I really hope they are doing something. I see my doctor tomorrow and he's going to check to see if I've been dilating. Everytime I feel one coming on it just think, "Bring it on!"

**As most of you know, we have been struggling with names this whole time. At the beginning we wanted Truman John (middle name John after David's dad), but I have been second guessing it. Maybe it's just fun to look at all of our options. A name is a big deal! I had a list of like 50 names, but just narrowed it down quite a bit. I would love to hear your opinion. Make sure to add your vote! ------------>

Happy Valentine's Day To Me!

I have never been into texting. I have never really even been into carrying a cell phone on me at all times. And it drives David crazy. He can't ever get ahold of me if I'm out running errands or just not by my phone. I think the last straw was when I came home from a lunch date with my friends and I told him how they were all using their phones to program in contact numbers for each other and I didn't even know how to do that on my pay-as-you-go phone. (All the girls thought it was hilarious that I whipped out my planner to jot down the information). So for Valentine's Day he surprised me with a used (new for me!) Blackberry Curve. I had so much fun on it last night texting him, even though he was in the bed right next to me! And he had so much fun laughing at how I make sure I don't forget the ., ?, -, and ! I still have to learn all the texting tricks and abbreviations. Out of the blue, Sarah texted me too! (she knew I was getting a new phone). Who knew texting could be so much fun? I am now trying to learn all the ins and outs of this cool little machine. I guess it's time that I get with the times. :) Thanks for the fun Valentine gift, Babe!

Beautiful Bride

My sweet friend Marcy has been through a lot the past few years and I am so happy to say that she has found a great guy and they are getting hitched in June! They will be combining their families making the kid's ages: 8,7,6,5,4, and 3. Three boys and three girls. Reminds me of the tune: "There's a story, of a man named Brady....." :) She is truly amazing and I'm so excited for her.
So we had book club last night and thought it would be fun for her to try on our wedding dresses, since she is looking for one. Here she is in mine. Who's that standing next to her? That's ME! Yikes!! I'm looking (and feeling) quite ripe and ready to have this baby. It was fun to have her try on my dress and feeling a flood of memories from that awesome day. It's crazy to think it was almost 9 years ago.
Love you Marc! This is such an exciting time for you and your family! I hope you enjoy every minute of it.

Slumber Party

It's amazing how something as simple as sleeping in the basement all together can bring so much joy. The kids thought it was the best thing ever that they could have a sleepover in the basement over the weekend. So easy to please, and I love it!

My First Patchwork Quilt

K, so it's really simple and basic, but it won't be my last. I had so much fun making this for my friend who is also having a boy, I think I am going to have to make one for me too. :) I got the pattern here. I have always kind of been afraid of quilting. David gave me a rotary cutter and mat for Christmas and it made the process soo easy. I had so much fun picking out material and putting it together! I think I got a glimpse of why some women are crazy for quilting.