Michelle's World

My last post was all about Tina and what a cutie she is becoming so I thought it only fair to dedicate this post to Miss Michelle.

Michelle is a GREAT helper! She loves to help with Tina, in any way she can. She also insists on helping in the Kitchen. She loves to help cook and bake, and actually does a really good job with both!

Making Trail Mix to send to Daniel.

Remember how I said that Tina hated to be in her car seat? Well, just in case you were wondering, Michelle isn't excited about Tina's car seat issues either.

Since Michelle was a little girl (littler then she is now) she has LOVED to read. She usually likes for Bryan or I to read to her, but on occasion we'll walk into the room to see her "reading" to herself.

I can't believe she is almost 3! She's such a sweet little girl. I dread the day that I have to send her off to Kindergarten. It's all down hill from there- sleepovers, dating boys, going to college, getting married... *sigh* No matter how old she gets, she'll always be my baby girl!

Falling in Love

Tina is getting so big so fast! She's starting to do so many fun things! And, while this may sound totally cliche, I am finding that I love her more and more every day. Now, let me explain why that isn't nearly as cheesy as it sounds. When Michelle was born I immediately fell in love with her. There was a HUGE emotional connection the instant I saw her. With Tina... I didn't get that. Don't get me wrong, I loved (and still do) my daughter! But it wasn't the same as it was with Michelle. I had a hard time with Tina at first, but now... I really am falling in love with little miss Tina more and more each day! Her personality is really starting to come out, and I am so excited about it!

She's such a booger! She hates to be in her car seat and has no problem letting you know it! (While the picture is comical, she really does hate her car seat... it's not as comical in real life.)

Tina is starting to grow out of the new born phase and into the baby phase. She's lifting her head, playing with toys, and "talking" to anyone who will listen.
Her smile completely lights up her face! And when she gives a little giggle... oh man, I could just die!
I can't believe she's already 3 months old! I just love this little girl!

Stolen Pictures

So my sister just posted on her blog and I pretty much fell in love with a bunch of pictures she posted. ...So I stole them!

We went to the park on Friday with Clayton and Cam and had a great time!

One year on Thanksgiving my dad snapped a picture of us girls goofing around, and the picture atually came out really good. From that Thanksgiving on it's been kind of a tradition to get a picture together. ...Jess and Katie forget to include me in their "let's wear matching outfits" plan...

Daniel is in Arizona serving on his mission right now. Unfortunately that means that we won't get to see or even talk to him for two years. The only exception to that rule is on Christmas and Mothers day when he gets to make a phone call home. This year was pretty cool because he was able to call us through Skype!

This is probably the first family picture where someone isn't picking their nose, looking in the wrong direction, crying, or making some sort of funny face! And look- Daniel's there too!!

I saved the best for last. I LOVE this picture. And I think I'll end this post with it, just to make sure you leave my blog with that "oh...that's cool..." feeling.

A Name and A Blessing

We finally blessed Tina! On December 18th (I know this post is SUPER late) Bryan, Ben and my dad blessed Tina in the Melissa ward. Tina was too cute in her blessing dress. Speaking of her blessing dress, I have to say thank you to Jessica for cheering me on and helping me figgure out how to make it. I was so nervous and honestly had major doubt about making Tina's dress, but Jessica kept telling me I could do it, and after a few days and a lot of mistakes- it came out pretty cute. And my favorite part? It only cost me $10!! The whole dress, lining, satin, sash, all of it- ten bucks! I wish I would have gotten a better picture of it on her, but... well, I'm sure you know how busy blessing days can be.

Tina cried through the whole thing so we didn't get to hear the actual blessing very well. Ben was a good Uncle and blew in her face to make her stop crying for a little bit. But, by the time Bryan finished her blessing she was exhausted.

Michelle was there too! lol! She pretty much steals the show anytime we're with the grand parents. To be fair though, she is pretty cute.

After the blessing we all came back to the house, had lunch, and spent the afternoon visiting. It was a good day.

Tina Marie Grant

Tina Marie Grant was born on October 13, 2011. She arrived at 10:20pm, was 7lbs 0 oz, and 21 inches long.

We woke up at 5:30am Thursday morning, got dressed grabbed Michelle and headed down to the hospital. We stopped at Chick-fil-A for some breakfast on the way. When we got to the hospital we found out that they were doing construction in the labor and delivery wing so we had to take the longest way possible to get to our room. The nurses finally got me all hooked up and strapped down by 7:30am. (If you've ever had a baby you know that there are a million little strappy-thingys that go around you stomach, arm. wrist... everywhere!) I had a regular nurse and an intern who were both going to be "helping" me. The nurse was great! The intern... not so much. She was putting my IV in and couldn't find the vein so she ended up sticking me 4 times before the regular nurse came over and got it on the first try. Needless to say my arm had a very pretty blue and purple area for the next few days. Dr. Mos came in to check on me almost right away and made sure that they started pitocin immediately (they didn't get that message when I was having Michelle and wasted a few hours before giving it to me). She was also really nice and told the nurses to give me whatever pain meds I wanted as soon as I wanted them. This made me do a little happy dance! My dad and Daniel came up around noon and took Michelle home for a nap. Bryan was trying to be supportive by not eating as long as I couldn't eat, but as soon as the offer of subway was made he caved in! Daniel was really great and got him some lunch and took care of Michelle for a good part of the rest of the day. Anyway, we hung out and did the whole labor and contractions thing (SO fun...not) for a few hours and decided that an epidural was in order around 3:00pm. At this point I was only 4 cm dilated, but it had been a long day so far. Unfortunately my anesthesiology sucked big time and ended up making my already long day even longer. To make a long story short the guy stuck me 7 times, hitting my sciatic nerve 4 times and left my back bruised and swollen. I didn't even know your back could be swollen!! The worst part is, even after he got the needle placed right, he didn't give me a high enough dosage so I could still feel every contraction, but couldn't feel my legs. And when I called him back in (about an hour later) to tell him it wasn't working, he tried to argue with me and tell me that I just didn't know what it was supposed to feel like. SERIOUSLY?! Bryan was a good husband though and stepped in. After Bryan said something that guy upped the drugs. I labored for a while longer and around 7 Dr. Mos came in and checked me again to find that I was only dilated to a 6... not cool. At that point we had the "c-section is a possibility" talk. She said that She would give me until 10:00 and then she would check me again. If I wasn't fully dilated by that time then we would start prep for a c-section. This is also about the time that my epidural started to wear off again. So now I was super tired, stressed, and in pain. My family came to visit around 9:30pm. My mom kept asking me if I wanted a blessing, and I kept refusing. My thinking was that blessings are meant to heal and comfort... and what I really needed was for my body to get in gear and get this baby out! Eventually my brother, Daniel, told me that if I wasn't going to let them give me a blessing that we should at least say a prayer. So Daniel prayed for me to have a good, natural delivery. After they left I got another dose of drugs and then, literally 30 minutes after Daniel's prayer, I was fully dilated and pushing! By 10:20 Tina was here and we were a family of four!

Eviction Notice

To the Current Resident of 40 Weeks in Mommy's Tummy ,

This is your final notice to vacate the premises on or before October 13, 2011. Your lease contract has ended and is officially overdue! If you have not cleared out before the 13th at 7:00am we will be forced to help you evacuate. If you have not done so by late that evening you will be forcibly removed!

Thank you for your future cooperation,

The Landlord (aka your Mother!)

That's right. I'm still pregnant. Baby girl's due date came and went with no sign or indication that she is making any effort to come meet the world. I had an appointment with Dr.Mos yesterday where I found out that she is in the right position, and I am slightly dilated, but nothing exciting was going on. So we agreed to meet again Thursday morning at 7:00am in the labor and delivery section of the hospital. Yep, we're going to get this little girl out one way or another! lol! We'll start pitocin as soon as I get there and keep our fingers crossed that my body takes the hint and finishes out the process on it's own. I fully expect to have a new beautiful baby girl to show off to the world by Thursday evening. I'm not sure why, but my children seem to think they are allowed to stay in me as long as they want. This whole 40 weeks thing doesn't seem to register with them. lol! Michelle was 5 days late, and this little one, if she doesn't come today, will be 3 days late. Seriously, what's wrong with my children?! GET OUT! *deep breath* Well, at least I'll get one more night with it being just Bryan, Michelle and I. No crying baby, no new born poopy diapers, and no nursing every 2 hours for one more night.

I love Fall

Don't you just love fall?! I do! I don't know why, but I can never figgure out how to decorate my house during the summer. I mean, there are specific months that you can decorate for. July- red white and patriotic all over. But other then that... how are you supposed to decorate for mothers day, or fathers day, or school starting (especially when none of your kiddos go to school yet!)? So, for me, October starts the best time of the year! I can break out my pumpkins and wreaths and all the fun fall colors! Then in December you get to switch to Christmas! It's just sad that it only lasts a few months. Spring is ok to decorate for, but it's just not the same.

So here's what I have going this year- I don't have a fire place in my house, which makes me very sad, so I had to get creative when it came to decoration. With Bryan's permission, I decked out the top of his desk with my previous fall decor. Here's what it looks like right now:

Don't judge my lousy picture. My camera is about 50 years old and has been broken numerous times by my lovely daughter. That, and I forgot to turn on some back light to even out the light coming in from the window in our back door! Oops! Anyway, I'm thinking something is missing. I want to add some sort of focal point right there in that big empty space in the middle. My first thought was an oversize framed quote. Then I had a hard time picking a quote, so I moved on to the big chunky framed mirror idea. But that just seems too boring. SO- I've decided to try and get the mirror, but I want to hang a wreath on it. Something like one of these...

And I can put a framed quote off to the side if I think it still needs something. What do you think?

Then, I'm going to do something very similar to this in from of my house...

I just have to go buy the pumpkins and get Bryan to help me with a few of the carving techniques. I'm going to buy the pumpkins on Thursday though, so I hope to have something up and ready to go by this weekend! I'm so excited!! Don't you love fall?!