Lorenzo

I have been really really bad at writing on this family blog! So sorry! I really wanted to document the details of Lorenzo's birth before I forget, so here goes!

DECEMBER 31, 2012

"There is NO WAY you will make it to your [January 21st] due date," said my doctor at my 37-week visit. I was skeptical. Although I was dilated to a 1 and 60% effaced, I had been the same (if not more effaced) with Olive at the same point--and I was induced with her a week late. This was my second child, though, so maybe he was right...

The only problem was that I needed to have some idea about when I should book my mom's plane ticket to come help. Thankfully, when I mentioned the dilemma to my doctor, he offered an induction date of Jan 15th. I had told myself all along that I would not be induced this time around, but I felt like it was more important to have the help. I immediately accepted the offer.

JANUARY 7, 2013

I woke up at 2 a.m with excruciating back pain. I had heard the term "back labor" before and knew I was having it. It was too intense to ignore (I definitely couldn't go back to sleep) so I decided to take a shower and see how I felt before waking up Kevin (and Olive). I found the back pain intensifying, so I got my bag together and reluctantly woke up Kevin at 3 a.m. **We didn't really have anyone to watch Olive in an event like this, so we decided we would just take her with us. This was also assuming she could be in the room...**

We all drove to The Baby Place (my hospital of choice) and were told that Olive could not be in the room. Um...okay...I guess I should have checked ahead of time on that one, but what now?

While Kevin and Olive hung out in the lobby, I went to triage so they could figure out if I was indeed in labor. I was dilated to a 2 and still only about 60% effaced. The nurse said she would check again in an hour to see if anything had changed. There was no point making Kevin and Olive sit around, so I sent them home and told him I would call if anything changed.

For a few minutes the back pain totally went away. I felt like an idiot...until about five minutes later when it came back and was so strong that I almost threw up. It was so bad that I thought FOR SURE I was going to be admitted. After an hour, the nurse checked me again and nothing had changed. She decided to keep me another hour, also believing I would be admitted because of the amount of pain I was in. I was happy to stay another hour (hoping Kevin and Olive could sleep a little) and really hoping things would progress. Well, an hour later, nothing had changed and I was sent home.  I was so disappointed! I had a doctor's appointment scheduled later that morning and hoped maybe something would have changed by then.

As soon as I got home, the back pain got worse. (Didn't think it was possible but boy was I wrong.) I think it was 6 or 7 a.m. by now. Kevin had never seen me in so much pain, I don't think he knew what to do. I could not get comfortable, was throwing up, crying, etc. By now I was really tired too. Finally, a hot bath finally made me feel a little better--better enough that I could at least kind of sleep. A few hours later, I went to my doctor's appointment and STILL no progress. Arg. I was instructed to take some tylenol and drink lots of water.

THANKFULLY, the pain eventually went away. It showed up again the next day, but only for an hour.

JANUARY 15, 2013

Luckily, there wasn't anything else "eventful" for the next week, and so I made it to my induction date. Kevin picked up my mom from the airport the night before (very late) so I only saw her for a quick second to say hello and go back to bed.

Kevin and I arrived at the St Pete General Hospital (I found out that I could not be induced The Baby Place until two more weeks) just before 7 am. It was so quiet and the nursery was completely empty, much to my surprise! I got changed into the lovely muumuu they had for me and waited while they finalized all the registration details. While we waited, we watched a couple episodes of Boy Meets World (apropos name for the day, right?) and I was feeling nervous and excited all at once.

Finally registration was complete but the nurse was having some issues with the machinery in my room, so I got switched over to another (bigger and better!) room. Finally IVs were in and the pitocin was pumping through my body. Kevin decided to run home and pick up my mom and Olive and have them come hang out for a little bit (Olive was allowed in this hospital, wahoo!)

I brought along some hexies to sew while the waiting game began. 

I started feeling a little uncomfortable at noon, so I let the nurse know and she ordered the epidural. It was not the greatest experience though I was glad to have the drugs. Rather than tell me what he was about to do, the anesthesiologist kept telling me what he had just done... So he'd stab me with the needle and then tell me I would feel a pinch. Bleck.

I immediately started feeling extremely drowsy and a little queasy. Then a lot queasy. Then, I started to feel what I can only describe as "shaky." I felt my blood pressure drop, my breathing became shallow, and I started to wonder if my body was going into shock. I expressed some alarm at what was happening so the anesthesiologist and nurse dropped what they were doing to help move me onto my side. It actually helped, and after a few minutes I began to feel better. I was still really drowsy, so I decided to take a nap and crossed my fingers it would help me get some energy back. My mom took Olive home and they napped too.

I slept for probably 1-1/2 hours and felt more rested, though very queasy. Hate that! By about 4 pm I think I was only dilated to about 4, everything seemed to go very slowly. I was close to a 5 at 4:30 and still feeling really queasy. I wished I'd arranged to have a priesthood blessing but had totally forgotten to arrange it. I asked Kevin if he could give me a blessing. He did, and the queasiness went away almost immediately. My mom came to pick up Kevin around 5 so they could grab a bite to eat. I swear as soon as he left things picked up. Before too long I was calling the nurse to let her know I was starting to have the urge to push. She checked me and said I'd better get Kevin back right away. I was afraid he would miss it, but he got back rather quickly with my mom and Olive in tow. The doctor came in and the pushing began! Lorenzo's head came out on the 5th push and he was completely out on the sixth! I couldn't believe how easy it was! (Especially after pushing for three awful hours with Olive.)

Oh and yes, Olive was in the room but she was on the iPad the entire time. My mom kept her pretty distracted!

We were surprised at how much hair he had!

 

I knew within minutes what a good baby he was. His little cry was like a lamb. The nurses had me do skin-to-skin for about half an hour. He started to cry, and I automatically started humming "I Am a Child of God" (one of Olive's favorites that we sing a lot) and he quieted down right away. What a sweet moment that was.

Then they whisked him away for a bath, and I devoured a steak burrito from Chipotle (Kevin gets a medal for bringing it to me)

 I'm so grateful for how well things went and for my beautiful little boy. He melts my heart and I am so glad I get to be his mom.

 

Merry Christmas

Santa came to visit and brought a few nice things for Miss Olive.

Olive won't wear the hat.  Clearly, it was meant for her Jessie doll.

In her stocking, Olive found some figurines from Cinderella.  Look, Dad! It's Drisilla!

The only thing missing was snow (and family). Love all the handmade things from Grammy. We will be looking for reasons to wear them lots.

Lorenzo got some beautiful items from Grammy as well, but we've got to wait for the handsome little fella to show up to model them.

Back in FL

I've neglected the family blog all summer long! Sorry! It might be a challenge for me to get back in the habit, but here goes.

Olive turned 2 over the summer. I posted a little about her party on Lella Boutique here, but here are some more pictures of the little stinker.

 

We totally lucked out with this photo. She doesn't dance around like this, it was just a wonderful surprise to see her holding her skirt and pointing her stubby little toe.

This next little outfit really makes me want to start making her clothes.  I love all the colorful layers.  And that necklace! It belongs to the photographer, I think she said it was from J Crew Kids.

Here is a little bit about Olive lately:

• She loves singing (no big surprise there given her gene pool).  Her latest favorites include songs from "Annie," "I Am a Child of God," and (kill me) "Call Me Maybe."  It's a cute age since she is learning new words every day.
• She is coming along in her decorum! She is pretty good at saying "please," and "thank you welcome" although sometimes she will add, "sucka!" to the end (Thanks, Dad!) Since she started watching "Annie" a few weeks ago, she also looooves saying "goodness" over and over again. If nudged a little, she will say a prayer before she goes to bed.  It usually sounds like this, "Heh lee father, day, mom dad olive, sleep, (muffled) amen."
• Kevin was putting her to bed the other night and was reading her a storyand accidentally pressed Tickle-Me Elmo.  It started laughing, so Kevin said, "Be quiet, Elmo!" Olive joined in and started yelling, "Elmo, SHUT UP! STOP IT!"
• She is much more effectionate than she has ever been.  Lots of kisses (I love the scrunchy little fish face she makes) and good hugs.

We are all very happy to be home and in our own beds. It's been really humid--even more to us since we've been in such a dry climate all summer. We were supposed to have a hurricane, then it was downgraded to a tropical storm.  We were told to be prepared for power outages and lots of wind and rain.  What we ended up with was barely a sprinkle.  Talk about anti-climactic.  Still, I am very grateful for the lack of excitement!

Kevin is busy with classes and just found out that the film short he wrote for the Stetson Arts Society (an organization he started) was accepted into the Fordham Forum on the Law Film Festival in NYC.  We are crossing our fingers he can attend in October since he loves NY so much and would love to be there for it. Here's the film short "Public Nuisance," in case you haven't seen it.

I'm busy as usual and should have a Christmas stocking pattern ready to be released at the end of this week! 

I'm 20 weeks along now so hopefully I can get into the doc soon for the gender ultrasound.  We've got names picked out and are ready to go! Not to mention, I am dying to make this baby a quilt and crib bumpers! I'm feeling pretty good--though I just discovered that I am lactose intolerant since arriving in FL.  What a horrible thing.  I can't help but wonder if it has something to do about coming across the country since there was no problem in Utah.  Oh well.  There's always lactaid.

Well, that's all I can think of! 

Living in Utah!

Well, we finally made it to Utah last week! I can't even begin to say how nice it is to be in cooler weather.  Actually, it was a bit chilly over the weekend and rained Friday morning.  Olive (who wants to go outside about six times per hour) has been enjoying having a nice backyard, thanks to Grandpa Gourley.

 

 

She wasn't very friendly towards people at first, but all Grandpa had to do was take her outside and let her help water the flowers.  Don't know how Grandpa would get his watering done without her!

We are so glad to be back with lots of family around. We had a really nice, stress-free week but Kevin begins his internship tomorrow so he will start to be busy for the next bit.

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

Olive is such a happy girl.  We do enjoy her.

On Friday, a few of us church primary leaders decided to go to Busch Gardens with the babies. It was a total blast.  We hung out in Sesame Street land all morning and also played in the kid splash area.  Olive was in heaven! I think some of the pictures say it all, and the video is even better!

We are moving to Utah for the summer in 1-1/2 weeks and I feel like I have soooooo much to do before we leave.  I was really glad to give Olive a nice fun day before we are trapped in a car for four straight days!

Cookie Monster Copycat

For some reason, Olive has been such a messy eater.  She takes fistfuls of food and just throws them at her mouth.  I finally realized that she is just doing what she has been taught from her idol, Cookie Monster.

Easter

We had such a great Easter weekend! On Saturday, we found that there was a little Easter egg hunt over at the local rec center.  We were sure to be there early (to get one of the limited parking spaces) and Olive played on the playground for a few minutes.

 

Once the hunt started, Olive picked up lots of eggs, but looked a little bored about it.  Like she was picking up her toys or something.

She got a ton of eggs.  Then again, there wasn't much competition in her age group (0-2 years). Once she discovered candy in them, she was a lot happier!

When we got home, she played with that bucket of eggs all day!

I was crazy and decided to make her Easter dress the week before!  It turned out pretty cute, and I'm glad I did it.  It ended up being more expensive than if I had bought a dress, I think. I have more pictures of her in the dress on the other blog.

Olive's Haircut

Recently, I found myself constantly thinking about Olive's hair and how it was becoming a shaggy mullet. I decided that it might be okay for me to give a little trim.  After all, her hair seemed to be nothing but a million layers; surely my lack of training would hardly be noticed, right? This is what it looked like after I cut it.  I had this idea that if it flipped out, it would be sort of cute...

And then I found reasons to keep cutting.  Basically, my lack of skill was showing.  So what did I do?  Take her to a professional?  Um no, I figured I could keep trying! 

Then later that night, in the bath, I noticed several areas that were uneven. With Olive's back to me, I figured I could do a quick snip here and there to even it up even more.  Worst decision ever. It quickly became a "boy" haircut, according to Kevin. And it still looked uneven.  I was so sad.  No more cute pigtails. What had I done?!

Luckily, my sweet friend, Tiffany, agreed to come over and help fix it.  It's still obviously short, but at least it looks even! And then my nephew, Jace, decided to provide some consolation for me.

Luckily, hair grows.  And as Jace reminds us all, it could have been worse. 

Olive is sick today (we all got hit with hay fever) and so she is a leaky faucet. Hopefully she will feel better soon.  I hate having a sick child, though I am glad to say that she is still very pleasant.  She colored and played while we watched conference! (General Conference was especially good, wasn't it?)

Pat-a-Cake singing

Olive is such a cute little singer. She's at the age (just about 21 months) where the language really explodes. There are new words every day. It's great because what she can't communicate she has been better at helping us by showing us what she needs.

Anyway, this video is a couple of weeks old, but she is really good at singing Pat-a-Cake.  After I pull her out of the tub, I sit her on my lap and dry her with a towel.  While she's sitting there, she likes to take my hands and do the actions while she sings.  I love it!  Anyway, I got her to sing and do the actions while she was eating her lunch.  It's one of my favorite things to see her do.

Children at Play

Olive and her buddy, Evan, have been playing a couple of times a week. Here they are, having fun in the Florida room aka the rec room. I thought this was too good to not share.

"I Love You"

Olive is quite the little singer and it is awesome to see her vocabulary expand! She sings [most of] Pat-a-Cake, Winnie the Pooh, Elmo's World (and many other Sesame Street songs), and Skinamarinky Dinky Doo (sp?).  Here is a video of her singing it while she ate her lunch:

Little Fish

It has been really warm already, so we have hit the pool a few times. It's so fun now that Olive is more of a toddler.  We bought her this little flotation device and she has to keep her balance to stay afloat.  She learned how to do it really quickly, but didn't mind when she fell off-kilter. She loves the pool so much. She actually threw a huge tantrum when we had to leave. 

I took a little video on my phone.  It's so fun to see her laughing all the time.