/** Page structure tweaks for layout editor wireframe */ body#layout #header { margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; } .separator { background-image: url("http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/juliet969/zpearn-notetoself-blog-separator-1.png");
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: center center;
height: 40px;
padding: 20px;
}
 -->

Monday, January 31, 2011

Mini Vacay {how to have a baby}

I told Jeremiah the night before my induction that I felt kind of bad that I hadn't gone into labor on my own. He said, "What? Like you're a failure as a child-bearer?" Yeah, something like that. But let me just say, being induced is totally the way to do it! It was like a mini vacay because I got to relax, I never felt a single labor contraction, the nurses were awesome, I was waited on hand & foot, and there was some alone time with my hubby! :)

I got up just after 5am on Friday morning to get ready to go to the hospital. We had to be there at 6. Here's the final belly shot (39 wks 1 day):



After I got all checked in at the hospital my Dr. came in to check me & break my water. I was still only dilated to 1.5 & the baby was still -3 (pretty high). Oh & I was only 60% effaced! So I could have easily not gone into labor for another week!

At 6:45a my Dr. tried but wasn't able to break my water since baby was still too high & my cervix wasn't thinned enough, and it hurt like heck while he tried twice! He'd told me at my appt that I wouldn't get my epidural until after he'd broken my water, but at 7:15 the Dr. who is said to give the best epidurals was in my room! He was quick & getting the epidural was only a little uncomfortable & 10 mins later I was on my way to numb! :) It was a little more than an hour later I think that I got hooked up to Pitocin. I hung out & relaxed while Jeremiah went to get some breakfast (and go to work! - he didn't tell me that till later). At 10:10a my Dr. came in to check me. I was dilated to 3 & he was able to break my water. He went back to work (building next door) to see patients, & my nurse didn't come & check me for 2 hours! I was pretty surprised that she let me go so long w/out being checked since with Ellie I'd dilated so quickly. Of course with Ellie I'd gone into labor so my body was more ready. Anyway, during those 2 hours I napped, played Angry Birds on my iPhone, watched part of an episode of The Bachelor on the iPad, and just relaxed. It was awesome! When my nurse checked me around 12:15 she was pretty surprised to find that I was complete. Who knows how long I'd been done! The baby was still high so she called my Dr. to let him know I was fully dilated but that there was no hurry since the baby was still high. He came right over anyway. He came in & chatted w/Jeremiah & I while he put his booties on & I finished my Italian ice :) and then he checked me & said I was ready. It seemed kind of casual so I didn't take it that seriously. Jeremiah & I have talked about how the whole thing was pretty anti-climatic! The nurse got everything ready & 3 pushes later we had ourselves a baby! Okay, so actually the first push was pretty half-hearted since like I said it seemed kinda casual. But after the 2nd one the baby's heartrate was dropping (it was down to 50) & my Dr. had his game face on. He said I had to get the baby out on the next push (or he was getting the forceps). I did it!

When I heard "it's a girl!" I teared up. I could feel the spirit with the birth of this sweet new baby. They cleaned her a little bit & set her on me & kept working on cleaning her up. It was a great experience!
Official data:
born at 12:38pm
8 lbs 2 oz
20" long

This is about 10 mins later after they took APGAR scores, weighed & measured her (from Jer's iPhone b/c he wouldn't get the real camera out...)



(...until I got annoyed & insisted)




So my mom had the kids in the morning & Jack had been giving her a hard time (as in he was being a total punk) & had just had a time out. When he heard the news that it was a girl he was completely undone & bawled! I know bud, your dad was a little bummed at first too. That's why I LOVE this picture. It's sad & sweet to me. My 2 guys looking at this sweet little baby GIRL a little unsure since they badly wanted her to be a BOY. :( Thankfully they've both come to terms. Of course Jeremiah absolutely adores our daughter, but he's still bummed for Jack to not have a little brother. And Jack is already fine I think with having a sister. He's very sweet to her & loves to hold her.


Callie was at school when the baby was born so as soon as I could I called the school & they announced over the speaker in her class that it was a girl! Callie loved that! She said everyone in her class cheered & gave her hugs & high-5's. Totally cool! She said she was a little disappointed it was a girl because she was hoping Jack would also have a little brother, but she was still happy it was a girl.



And sweet Ellie! She has been SO excited to be a big sister! She loved coming to see us at the hospital & see her new sister! In fact when Jeremiah's mom took her home afterwards she threw a huge fit because she'd wanted to go back to the hospital & be with us.



We gave the kids a gift bag of movies & treats when they came to see us at the hospital. We hoped it would help them to not be sad at home. Ellie, who we'd thought would have the hardest time was so excited about the goodies! :)



So last but not least, her name. It was a big decision! I was pretty sure her name would be Quinn but Jeremiah was just not a lover. He didn't have any better suggestions so I told him to get online & look at names. When we went to sleep Friday night he called her Amelia (which I loved) & so I thought that was it. Then on Saturday morning we went back & forth between Quinn, Amelia & Adelyn. After a call from his sister he was suddenly pretty much decided on Olivia, which I thought was humorous since I'd LOVED that name when I was pg w/Ellie, and he hated the name. If he'd liked the name then, Ellie probably would've been named Olivia. Anyway, the final choice was down to Adelyn & Olivia. I finally just told him to choose since he seemed pretty set on Olivia even though I wasn't loving it. I'd learn to love it. He left to go switch cars & get the infant seat & when he got back he said we should both write down our choice & then we'd show each other. He looked at mine first. I wrote "you choose." He threw his choice in the garbage since I wasn't playing fair. I finally got out of him that he'd written Adelyn. So that was it. That's how to choose a name Divis-style! :)

Adelyn Jeanne Divis

Adelyn (pronounced Add-a-lin) because we like it. Jeanne (pronounced Jean) after my middle name. Jeremiah pretty much insisted (I've never really liked my middle name). It's sweet of him.

We love our sweet baby girl!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

31

I had a great birthday this year! Summer wanted to take me to lunch but she had to work on my actual birthday so she took me the day before. Abby joined us too & they totally spoiled me! Abby brought the cute cake platter & together they got me a custom return address stamp that Abby has that I love!






On my birthday (Jan 26 - TWO days before Addy was born!) Jeremiah made me french toast - my favorite - for breakfast. The kids had all made me sweet cards.






Callie took this picture of Jer & me :)






My friend Katie arranged a birthday lunch for me some other friends at pizza hut. I got some gifts & we had cupcakes & chatted while all our kids tore the place apart! :) That evening Jer's & my parents & Jonny, Ann & Whitley came over for chicken fettuccine alfredo & cupcakes. It was a great day!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Fireplace


Just before Thanksgiving our fireplace got finished & I never shared pictures. We absolutely LOVE how it turned out! I think the transformation is amazing & I love the way it changes the look of our living room. You see it right away when you walk in our home.

(The inspiration fireplace is from a PB catalog)

Before



After



Jackson-isms

Doesn't he look like a little Hugh Hefner? He LOVES the robe that Jeremiah & I got him for Christmas & wears it around the house often in the morning & evening when he's in his pjs.



12/15/10:
Jack was drinking a Starbuck's Vanilla Bean Frappaccino for the first time & he said, "This drink is sooo good. I would say so darn good, but I'm not allowed to say darn, am I?"
Me: Yeah you can say darn.
Jack: Oh yeah, i forgot. It's frickin i can't say.
Me: Nope you can't say frickin.
Jack: But maybe if nobody was around & it was just you & me & you said that it was okay then I would say 'hey mom, this drink is so frickin good.'
Me: Jack, you can't say that.
Jack: Is it cause I'm not old enough?

12/15/10:
Jack was asking about the chocolate bunny on the Nestle Quik container & I said, "That's the Quik bunny." He said, "And the other one, the pink one, is the slow bunny."

12/15/10:
We were listening to I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. The song says "I like hippopotamus's & hippopotamus's like me too."
Jack said, "Hippopotamus's don't like any people, right?" I said yep. He said, "Except for people with big fat butts!"

9/16/10:
A friend of ours passed away & I was talking to my kids about it. Callie & Jack pointed out sadly that the children won't be able to see their dad again or even call him.
Jack said, "When I'm a grown-up & I know somebody who's a loved one who dies, I'm gonna call their number & see who answers. Mom? Do you know Jesus' number?"

our Tiny Dancer


Ellie had her first dance class on Friday morning! She was SOOO excited about going to it. A family in our ward gives dance lessons out of their garage to younger kids, starting at age 3. Since Ellie will be 3 in just over a month I asked if they'd let her join them for their spring session. The girl dances & prances around our house all day long. One of her very favorite things to do is put on her princess dresses or tutus & dance along to our Bella Dancerella DVD! My only concern for the dance class was how well Ellie would follow directions.




When I picked Ellie up afterwards, the dance class mom said that Ellie did a great job & that she's totally ready for dance. Okay, this mom is an extremely positive person so she may have made it sound like Ellie did better than she actually did :), but I do think Ellie probably follows directions from other people much better than she does from me!

On our way home from dance class we called Jeremiah so she could tell him about it. This is what she said:

"I learned about fruit snacks, and I learned about goodies, and about pretzels, and about water, and about marshmallows, and I made a new friend, ...and I learned about dancing! And I got a stamp!"

She did show us her new moves though - very cute! She can also do her butterfly stretches perfectly!

Way to go tiny dancer! :)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Lame


Had a Dr appt this am. I was so sure/hopeful that I'd be getting my membranes stripped and having a baby in the next day or so, but nope, baby is still just as high up as last week. It's just not meant to be. Bummer! Baby, you'd better be adorable to make me wait & suffer! :) My Dr scheduled an induction for next Friday morning. If this baby waits that long maybe I should hold out for a few more days so that we can have a Feb birthday!

Monday, January 17, 2011

GroopDealz


One of my favorite little breaks during a day is going down my blog reader to see who's posted. Today I am STOKED because one of the craft blogs I like (Make It and Love It) talked about today's GroopDealz offering! I've bought something before off of GroopDealz & I think it's a pretty cool site. So for today's deal: dah dah dah dahhhhh......

Capture My Heart Hand Stamped Necklace!



I'm super excited about this because a necklace this type was on my Christmas/birthday (next week!) list. I know Jeremiah didn't really know where to start b/c if you look at hand stamped necklaces on etsy it's overwhelming! There's a huge range of prices & styles. And if you look on non-etsy sites they're pretty pricey. Plus since we don't yet know what our last little name on the necklace will be that made options difficult. So the awesome thing about this is that a] it's 1/2 priced & b] if I understand correctly, what I'm buying is a 1/2 priced coupon that I have to redeem by a certain date, so I can order the necklace in a few days (crossing my fingers) when I have this baby! :) Yay!!!

Go buy one!


Saturday, January 15, 2011

this week


Today I'm once again a hunting widow. Boo. Normally I'm totally fine with it because it's one of Jeremiah's loves & so I fully support that. And also he works hard & has stressful weeks all the time so I realize he needs a break & it's nice for him to get out & do something he enjoys. But I need a break today too. I need them a lot more lately than I usually do. Hmmm, could it be something to do with all the pregnancy hormones? :) Luckily tonight I'll get one. Hopefully Thai food (or something equally delicious) and a movie.

It's been a stressful & sort of crazy week. Wednesday was the only day I didn't have something in particular to do so Jeremiah's mom, my sil Ann & I (along w/Jack & Ellie) went to Bullhead to go to Target & a couple other places. One thing I was looking forward to shopping for at Target was some Valentine's decor. Amazingly enough, there was none! They're not putting it out for another couple of weeks I was told. What?! Christmas stuff was out before Halloween! WalMart has had a teeny tiny little section with some Valentine's candy in it since before Christmas, but now that Valentine's Day is actually a month away neither WalMart or Target have their main stuff out! It was disappointing.

I cooked breakfast for the first time in weeks for my kids this morning (if you count pancakes as cooking!). Today we had snowman pancakes. They wanted faces so after I smeared some peanut butter on the snowmen I gave the kids each a little handful of m&m's to create their masterpieces. It's the simple things that make life great! :)



Oh, Ellie just came up to me with a play necklace on & said, "Mom, do I look like a jerk or do I look pretty?" Where does she come up with this stuff? Time to go referee the hooligans & try not to yell too much when I see the mess they've managed to make even though their rooms were all clean when they got up this morning.

Baby stuff


I'm 37 wks now & I can't wait to have this baby! Except I'm super nervous to go through the pain of labor. I don't know what's scarier - having your first baby & not knowing what to expect or having your 4th baby (or any baby after #1) & knowing exactly what to expect! I'm not into being a hero & doing natural childbirth, but I didn't get an epidural with Ellie because she came too fast after my water was broken. I hated every second of it & it was a terrible birthing experience. I'm so nervous that's going to happen again!

I was talking to a girl yesterday who's due in a couple weeks. She told me that she wasn't going to any of the weekly checks this month basically because it's emotionally stressful & it's not like it makes a difference whether or not you're checked. Amen! At 36 weeks I hadn't dilated at all. At this week's appt (Thurs) I was 1.5, 70% effaced, but the baby's at -3 station so too high up to have my membranes stripped. I would almost bet money that next week it'll be about the same, but maybe the baby will have moved down to a 0 & then at least I'll be able to have my membranes stripped. That's about how it's gone in the past for me anyway. So yes, it's emotionally stressful because you show up for these appointments hoping to hear that you're about to have a baby and then nothing. And even if you did hear that you were about to have the baby it's no guarantee that your body will change much in the next week. This waiting game is a killer!

On a great note my belly has stopped growing! I finally don't feel insanely huge anymore! At least not any bigger than I should be at this point in a prenancy. I'm normal-ish (I think anyway)! And oddly enough people have stopped commenting about my size! It's weird, because it's not like anybody knows how far along I am. But I haven't been assaulted by rude comments in a couple of weeks. It's been great! :)

Friday, January 14, 2011

My 1st Blurb Book!


I'd wanted to turn my blog into a book for a long time & I'm so excited that I finally did some of it! It took HOURS & HOURS but it's totally worth it! I'm so glad to 1] Have my blog backed up. It's unlikely that it would happen, but I have heard of people losing their entire blogs! That would be devastating to me since the MAIN reason I blog is so that my family has a history (don't get me wrong - I love the social aspect of it). 2] My family will be able to look at this book years down the road & be able to enjoy this "scrapbook" chocked full of memories & pictures. I haven't printed copies for my kids yet, but sometime I will. That's one thing that's awesome about Blurb (the printer I used). You can go back & order additional copies of your book at any time. I highly recommend Blurb to anybody who is thinking about printing your blog. But like I said it took me a really, really long time to make a book. If you're into a simpler look (and I mean MUCH simpler) check out
Blog2Print. I think you could probably get your book done in a matter of minutes! Here's my 1st book:


Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Embellished Tee: with Multi-Layered Flowers {I made it!}


A blog I follow is Make It & Love It. I look at a lot of crafty blogs & keep all the good posts in my reader, but I rarely end up actually making the stuff that I love. I saw
this shirt a little bit ago on MI-LI & when I saw it again the other day I decided I was going to do it! I'm so excited about how mine turned out! It's such an awesome feeling to end up with something that looks good that you've made yourself! The only bad thing about it is that I would normally wear a M but I got an XL to cover my gigantic belly, so the top/armpit area doesn't fit like it should. I have to do more adjusting than I would ever do if I were wearing a normal fitting shirt. Ah, the joys of pregnancy!







Monday, January 03, 2011

Blog Comments tip


My sister had this on her blog & I think it's a great tip so I'm reposting her repost. Basically I'm saying you should all change your blog settings because we all ask each other questions from time to time in comments or say things that the blog owner would love to comment back to just us on & it would be nice for the person you're asking to be able to just hit reply. I know I'd respond to people's questions if I could do that. But since I haven't been able to I usually just ignore them.

You can see the original post
here:

Do you all receive notification to your email when someone comments on your blog? Did you know you can just hit reply to that comment? If the email address is not connected it will show the address of noreply-comment@blogger.com. If they do choose to show their email address you can reply directly to their comment!

Here's how to do it: (if you're using the blogger platform)
Go to Dashboard
You should see your profile on the left hand side.
Click Edit Profile
Under Privacy go to the 3rd choice down from the top
Check the box that says 'Show my email address'

You got all that? Now please go change your settings!

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Happy New Year!


When our tentative New Year's Eve plans got cancelled we decided to have a family game night at home with the kids. To start the evening off we made pizza. All the kids got to help put the cheese & toppings on. Unfortunately the pizza was disgusting, due to a last minute pizza sauce I threw together! LOL Not a good recipe. We had sparkling lemonade with it since that's what we had in the fridge & I'd forgotten to get Martinelli's, even though Jeremiah had been at the store & had Welch's sparkling stuff in hand (the Martinellie's was sold out at WalMart) & I'd said I'd get the Martinelli's from Target! LOL Oops! We also had Cool Ranch Doritos - Callie's request! I'd told each of the kids they could choose an appetizer for us to have on New Year's Eve & that was Callie's! :)

While the pizza was baking Jeremiah lit a bunch of fireworks outside with the kids. Fireworks have just recently become legal in AZ so this was a first. The kids LOVED it!

Onto the game portion of our evening. First up, Trouble.



Jeremiah & Ellie were on a team. I love how Ellie has to lay on the bubble to pop it!



Unfortunately there was a lot of crying during the game. Callie was being a major poor sport & would cry if she got sent home or do a mean laugh if she sent someone else home. She spent part of the game in time out. It was a test of patience for Jeremiah & I.

Next we played Toy Story Yahtzee. That went much better than Trouble had & no tears were shed.

For a treat we did fondue with the kids. We dipped gummy bears (Jack's appetizer request), pretzels, marshmallows, bananas, & PB Oreos.





At 9 we did our countdown with noisemakers & the little bottle confetti poppers. Callie mouthed off & was acting especially bratty & the evening ended in tears. Callie's. And mine. Because I was so frustrated with my 6 year old.

We put the kids to bed & Jeremiah & I watched tv together. We watched stuff like Myth Busters, American Pickers & Pawn Stars (Jeremiah was driving). A show ended & I happened to see that it was exactly midnight. We said Happy New Year to each other, did a quick kiss, & watched another show before going to bed. I hope your New Year's Eve was as exciting as ours! LOL

It was really sweet of Jeremiah when he thanked me for planning a fun family night. I thought he was joking in light of all the tears & time-outs, but he wasn't. That stuff just happens in a family & there are still plenty of good things to cancel out the sadder or angrier moments. I just have to remember that. I love my children & my husband so much!

Happy New Year!