Introducing...

Kaylee Merrill

Kaylee was born on Saturday, Feb 12th at 9:53 am.  I had a feeling all along that she wasn't going to make it to her scheduled c-section date on the 21st (let alone her actual due date which was the 24th).  Curtis and I left for the hospital around 6:20 am.

 Once they determined that i was in fact in labor they scheduled the c-section for 9:30.  While we waited they gave me some drug to help with the contractions.  I am pretty sure that it did absolutely nothing other than make me a bit loopy and a lot sleepy.  I kept telling Curtis that I didn't want to have the c-section so soon, I just wanted to sleep.  A little after 9:30 I was rolled into the OR and Kaylee was officially born at 9:53.  The experience this time around was much much better than it was with Nathan, probably because I knew more of what to expect.  I was able to give Kaylee a few kisses before they carted her off to the nursery.  I think that is the worst part is only being able to see her for a minute before they take her away and make me lay there for another 30 minutes while they sew me back up. Such a tease. Here is my beautiful girl just minutes after being born, weighing in at 7 lb 11 oz and 19.5 inches long:

About an hour after she was born I was finally able to hold and feed her.  She was a good little eater from the start and has continued to eat fabulously.

My friend Randi was a saint and was able to babysit Nathan for us on such short notice.  She brought Nathan to the hospital to meet his new baby sister that afternoon.  He was very cute with her for the first few minutes, wanting to hold and touch her, he especially loved her little toes.  He soon, however, got bored and wanted to run down the hospital halls.

Curtis' mom arrived that evening and took over babysitting duties for the remainder of our hospital stay. She was able to stay until Friday and help out with Nathan and Kaylee as well as cook some amazing dinners for us!

My parents made the 14 hour drive from Utah on Sunday and arrived at the hospital just 30 minutes before visiting hours ended.  It was a short visit but at least they were able to see Kaylee that night, which held them over until we were released from the hospital on Monday morning.  Just like the c-section, everything about this experience was so different than when I had Nathan.  With Nathan I was very weary about getting out of bed once I was given the ok, this time I was begging the nurse to let me get up and get moving from the second that I could feel my legs again.  They made me wait longer than I wanted but once I was given the green light I got up as much as I could, spending most of the second day on the couch or walking down the halls rather than in my bed.  Another big difference this time was my eagerness to get home.  With Nathan I was scared to death to go home because I wasn't sure that Curtis and I were ready to take care of him all by ourselves.  This time I just wanted to get the heck out of that place and get back to Nathan.  I wasn't nervous at all about my ability to take care of a newborn, it was old hat.  

I think my eagerness to get out of that dang bed and out of the hospital have really helped speed my recovery.  I am recovering so much faster this time around, thank goodness!  There are still some things that I can't do yet, like pick up Nathan, but I am at least to the point where I can take care of Kaylee on my own without too much pain.  Having the grandparents here has been a huge help.  My dad, bless his heart, spent the whole week putting in a sprinkler system in our backyard.  Our yard has been nothing but dirt, weeds, and rocks ever since we moved in, but we didn't have the money, time, or knowhow to do anything about it until now.  I never really let Nathan play in the backyard because I didn't want him to get super dirty plus it was full of stickers and thorns.  However, once the weeds were removed Nathan was free to go out and "help" Grandpa in the yard, and boy oh boy did he love it!

He played outside for hours every day, and usually ended up taking at least a bath or two each day as well.  I'm not sure which he like more, playing outside or taking a bath, all I know is that this kid was in heaven!  He  had a blast while Kaylee and I sat around and watched TV all week, it was great! My mom, of course, busied herself with laundry, ironing, cleaning, and grocery shopping.  She also spent plenty of time taking Nathan on walks or playing with him outside.  I am so lucky to have such helpful and wonderful parents and in-laws!

Curtis decided to go back to work while we had help here, and is going to take the next 8 days off now that everyone has left.  I feel bad that he hasn't been able to spend much time with Kaylee since we left the hospital.  I feel even worse that the time that he is home and is able to hold her happens to be her fussy time of the night where she is pretty inconsolable for about 30 minutes.  I hope this fussiness is just a phase because it's not too fun.  However, her fussy period seems to get shorter and shorter each day, so hopefully she will be over it in a few days!

Nathan loves having Kaylee around.  He still demands to hold her a few times a day.  In the mornings he runs out of his room the second he hears Kaylee cry and burts into Kaylee's room shouting "Hi Kaylee!!" (or more like "Hi Tay-nee"), it is so stinkin cute!  He also will stand on his tip toes and try to peek into her bassinet anytime he hears her make a sound.  He is going to make a great big brother, but I am still pretty nervous that he might just "love her to death", we have had to stop him from throwing balls and other toys into her bassinet several times, I guess he is just very anxious to play with her.  These two cuties are such a blessing, I can't wait until they are old enough to be best friends!

Musically Talented

Singer/Pianist/Dancer in the making

Christmas

Our Christmas this year turned out a little different than planned.  Curtis was scheduled to work on Christmas day and several days surrounding it, so we decided that we would do Christmas on the 27th, Curtis' day off.  Plans changed, however, when we received the news of Curtis' paternal grandmother's passing just a few days before Christmas.  Curtis took a few days off of work and we decided that we would head up to New Mexico on Christmas day for the funeral on the following Monday.  Curtis got home from work on Christmas morning and we all gathered around the tree to open presents. Nathan, of course, has no concept of Christmas but he could sense the excitement as we sat down by the tree.  

Nathan was completely puzzled when we handed him his first gift, but after a little tutorial from Curtis he became a pro at unwrapping.

It was fun to watch him unwrap his gifts mostly because he would let out an appreciative "ooooooooooooo" as he caught a glimpse of what was inside the wrapping paper.  

Instead of overwhelming him with present after present we let him sit and play with each new toy until he seemed ready for the next.  He got a kick out of carrying around this mat that came in a backpack from his Grandma and Grandpa Ashton for a good while...

but he had even more fun once he realized that the mat and trucks came out!!

As super cool as all his new toys were, he seemed to have the most fun with this:

Nobody believed me when I told them that all I was getting for Nathan were some empty boxes.  In fact, I think a lot of my friends felt bad for the poor little guy and wondered if I was fit to be a mother when I wouldn't go out and buy him a decent Christmas gift. What can I say?  I'm cheap, and Nathan LOVED the boxes!  So there!

After we finished cleaning up our Christmas mess we packed and loaded up the car to head to Ramah.  However, about 30 minutes into our trip our car decided to do some crazy things, causing us to turn back around.  We switched all of our luggage into my good 'ol reliable Ford Explorer, but decided that it was getting too late to make the 7-8 hour trip, especially considering the fact that Curtis had worked all night, and that we would try again in the morning.  Having not anticipated cooking a Christmas dinner, we feasted on some not so delicious spaghetti and meatballs and called it good.

The drive to Ramah was much more successful the next day and we were able to spend 3 days with family before heading back home. Now I must say that traveling in the third trimester is not necessarily something to look forward to, but with this little man as a fellow passenger, how can I complain?

Update on Nathan's Nap

If you recall, I recently switched Nathan to a new room and a new bed.  I posted this about how Nathan's first nap in his new bed went.  Fortunately, Nathan only spent the first two naps in his new room on the floor by the door.  Since then he has been great about staying in his bed and calling out to me when he wakes up.  In fact, he is even great about going down for a nap.  Here is what his nap time routine looks like:

First, I say "Nathan, it's time for a nap, let's go upstairs." He immediately stops whatever he is doing and heads for the stairs.

He then heads straight into his room:

He picks out a book to look at while I change his diaper (this is to keep his little hands occupied during the diaper change to avoid wandering hands in a dirty diaper).  After I change his diaper he throws it away in the diaper champ:

He then puts the book away:

After which I tell him to "hop in bed", which he happily does without any complaint:

He lays himself down and waits for me to tuck him in:

I hand him his baby and cover him with the blanket.  His response once I do this is "Na Night." Then, just like that he is out for 2 hours.

Not too shabby!

Christmas

(I just realized that I started this post almost a month ago and never finished!)  

I love love love decorating for Christmas!  I wasn't able to decorate last year because we moved into our new house on the 23rd of Dec, however, I did manage to at least put up our tree.  I then spent the day after Christmas shopping for cheap decorations for future years.  

Growing up, we always decorated the day after Thanksgiving while playing Christmas music on full blast.  I love this tradition and want to keep it going with my family.  The Friday after Thanksgiving wasn't a very convenient time to decorate, but you better believe that the first possible chance I got (Saturday) I pulled out the Christmas boxes.  It was just me and Nathan at home and I wanted to surprise Curtis when he got back from sightseeing with his parents.  In retrospect I probably should have waited for him to come home to get down the three large bins of decorations that were on the very top shelf in the garage.  Pregnancy, ladders, and carrying heavy boxes shouldn't really mix...but I was just too excited!  

I spent several hours decorating (which is always more fun at the beginning).  I still have a ways to go before I have enough decorations to really do up the whole house nicely, but I am happy with what I have.  I managed to save decorating the tree for when Curtis got home.  Nathan had a blast "hanging" ornaments. (I say "hanging" because most of his ornaments ended up just sitting on a branch or else on the ground.  Thank goodness for shatterproof ornaments!)

He would cheer everytime he actually got one to stay on the tree

Along with our inside decorations, Curtis volunteered to put lights up outside.  I am soooooo glad he did!  I just LOVE Christmas lights and this is the first year we have had the opportunity to hang them.  Putting Christmas lights on our home seems like such a "grown-up" thing to do, it seemed a little strange doing it.  Having a kid, buying a house, and being pregnant with our second child for some reason never warranted this reaction...but putting up our own Christmas lights...now THATS grown-up!  

We also took Nathan to see Santa at the ward Christmas party (in which he showed absolutely no interest),

and baked (and ate) lots and lots of goodies!

I have made sugar cookies once before with Nathan and it was a big hit, so I was excited to repeat the experience.  He helped me pour in all the ingredients and danced to the rhythm of the mixer.  I set up two stations (one for each of us) at the kitchen table to roll out the dough and cut out the cookies.  I made sure we both had aprons on.  I sat Nathan up at the table and showed him how to roll out the dough and cut out the cookies.  I handed him some cookie cutters of his very own and then finally a small ball of dough.  I watched in anticipation, ready to praise him for all his dough creations.  Without any hesitation he grabbed the entire ball of dough and shoved it in his mouth.  It took him quite a while to finish eating his dough and when he was done I had finished cutting out all the cookies.  So much for that idea.

I also made TONS of cream cheese mints, thanks to my inability to read directions I added 8 oz of cream cheese instead of the 3 that the recipe called for, and so I had to adjust the other amounts accordingly.  250 mints later I went to the bathroom to clean up and came back to find that Nathan had pulled a chair up to the counter and was shoveling mints into his mouth as fast as he could.  I think he had about 3 in by the time I found him, with another couple in each hand.  Needless to say Nathan had A LOT of sugar that day...

I am so excited for the Christmas season!  Like most, it is my favorite time of the year!  I hope we can all share in the joy that this season brings and remember the true meaning of the holiday.  Being pregnant during this time really has helped me to remember the tremendous sacrifice it took for Mary to bring such a precious gift into the world.  I feel a little silly complaining about back pain or doing housework when I think of the young, selfless woman traveling on a donkey and giving birth in a stable.  Mary must have been a very special woman to be entrusted with such a special son.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!  The birth of our Savior Jesus Christ is truly worth celebrating!!!