19 October 2007

Sophia had a Birthday!

Two, she's now two years old and I can't believe it. Her behavior shows it though... let me recall her actual birthday.

We woke up early on Monday just so everything would be perfect. I was dressed and blown dry by 8am, and Sophia cooperated with me in getting her clean and in her super cute corduroy dress that I had picked out several days before to be her birthday outfit. Papa made us a healthy breakfast, and when we were finished, I went upstairs to get Jennie ready for the day.

In the meantime, Soph decided she wanted to destroy the pantry. She started with some simple re-arrangement, and continued with the tearing open, and dumping of, a boxed cake mix, making sure to get as much of the powder as possible on her dress, all over her face, and in her freshly cleaned and styled hair.

Outfit #2 that day lasted through her birthday party at least. We did a simple celebration up at our park with the immediate neighbors. The girls swung, slid, and waited very impatiently for their cupcakes. Everyone sang Sophia's favorite song, (the Happy Birthday song of course), the wind and all of the little girls helped Soph blow out her candle, we all ate Mac&Cheese, Tuna&Peas, and then Papa cleaned up. While walking home, headed for a full bellied nap, she found the only source of standing water, and splashed happily soaking her second dress, tights, and even drenching her shoes. I dressed her in outfit #3 a darling matching sweat suit, warmed her little hands, and put her to sleep... or so I thought.

I didn't hear a thing for quite a while, and dozed with Jennie on the couch. Papa heard her first, and went to keep her company in her room only to find that the little two year old decided NOT to take a nap. Instead she had spent the hour and a half emptying out ALL of the contents in 3 of her drawers including all one million of those dang tiny hair elastics, every one of Jennie's onesies size 0-9 months out, dozens of socks unfolded and spread all over, each blanket strewn over the entire room. And she was naked. Papa found her diaper in the corner just wet (thank goodness), and her pants in another corner also wet. We counted our blessings that there was no poop in sight, put on outfit #4, and she and Papa cleaned her room.

The boys came home and started in on their homework, and then I went up to her room to read her a book. Soph brought me a book that she had torn 5 of the pages out of, and I lost it. I took her little hands, and walked over to the garbage and made her throw her book away. I was so sad to be mean on her birthday, but what else could I have done?

Papa took us to the Heritage Center Cafeteria for dinner, FHE, and her family birthday celebration. We all ate what we wanted, sang Happy Birthday for the umpteenth time, and she tore into her big birthday gift. I knew she liked playing pretend, and I knew she liked "the girls" aisle in the store, but I was not prepared for how much she LOVED her princess tea set! She carried it almost all the way home all by herself, and was even more excited when we took all of the pieces out of the box and placed them on her table. It was seriously the best $7.99 I've ever spent. We did scriptures, song, and prayer, tucked the boys in, and then I played tea with her till 8:30pm. I had to pack up her whole set and take them out of the room for her to get any sleep, but she finally crashed. A perfect ending to a not-so-perfect day.

After she was good and out, I went back in her room and set up 2 of the place settings on her table to play with when she woke up. I fell asleep, absolutely in love with my sometimes terrible, mostly adorable two-year-old little princess.

10 October 2007

Jennie Crawford

Jennie Crawford was born October 4th, 2007 at 1:16pm. She is the smallest of her siblings weighing 8 lbs. and measuring a long, 20 1/2 inches at birth. My first reaction was, "She's so beautiful!" She has long skinny fingers, long skinny legs, and long skinny toes. Jennie has been a good eater from day one, and she doesn't seem bothered by the noises of the Crawford home. She smiled on her first day of life, and loves being held by many awkward young arms.

Oh, the name... I'm sure you want to hear about her name. A big thank you to everyone who voted. Corinne won the poll outright, but the name we were leaning towards was Annie. When we saw her though, we knew it was something different, Doug asked "Annie?", and I just wasn't sure.

Hours later, after we were settled in the recovery room, I asked Doug, "what about Jennie?" and a peaceful warmth came over both of us confirming that we were indeed holding Jennie Crawford. Telling Doug's mom (the original Jennie Crawford) was Doug's privilege, and met with stunned silence. We are honored to name our baby girl after her grandma, and gratefully we also have many good friends who share the same name, and only add more depth and love to our association.

Welcome home Jennie, we are so happy to have you in our family!

The Glorious Gown

Finally in labor! Contractions started at 3am, just a few hours before the induction, still 15 or so minutes apart. We arrived at Cottonwood Hospital at 7:45 the scheduled induction time. Julie broke my water at 8:30am and, my labor progressed all morning. Lewis (Doug's brother) and Yvonne (my sister) arrived to visit and help around 11am. Lew left around noon and things got intense from there, when the contractions went from a slow 7-10 minutes apart to 1-3 minutes apart. Doug was my counter pressure HERO! Yvonne kept me from hyperventilating, and overheating. I demanded Julie (my midwife) and the nurse come in at 1pm and was delighted to hear that it was indeed time, and I could push with the next contraction. At 1:16pm and with one "Olympic weight lifting grunt" Jennie was out of my body and then resting on top of my belly, safe, happy, and I can't overemphasize OUT! Her labor and delivery were perfect, I got everything I wanted, most importantly a beautiful healthy baby girl.

03 October 2007

Still Inside

Dalton came 1 day early, Joe came 2 days early, Sophia came 1 day early, and at 4 days late, (and counting) I'm feeling like I'll be eternally pregnant with this last baby. I don't know how women patiently go all the way to 42 weeks. I've done my best to choose patience, love, and at my weaker moments indifference. I've broken down on Doug at least once a day since last Wednesday, but to no avail. She is still inside.

Gratefully, I've had my sister Yvonne here to keep me company, help with Sophia's pooping episodes, and distract me from my enormous belly. She's been a life saver.

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday the 1st, and was ready and waiting for the call at 6:45am, but 7 other women came in during the night with natural labor, and took my bed. The day ended up being crazy busy at the hospital with the full moon and impending storm pulling everyone elses baby out of them. By 1:30 that afternoon, they let me know that I wasn't going to fit into their day's schedule, and I could go ahead and eat some real food. I chose spicy Curry-in-a-Hurry with the hopes of bringing on some serious contractions, and it worked.

I had also been drinking my red-raspberry leaf tea, taking black cohosh, walking a ton more than I have the entire pregnancy, and doing all "other" home methods of labor inducement. So when we settled down that evening to a movie and the contractions came, I was not at all surprised, more excited to get this show going! Yvonne timed them for 3 hours till they were about 7-9 minutes apart, and I was moaning through most of them. We called in my neighbor Kimbur to sleep with our kids, and headed for the Hospital.

At Cottonwood Hospital, I was admitted, checked, and monitored for 3 and a half more hours with regular contractions only to find that my body refused to progress. My midwife Julie Jones sent me home with some heavy meds and a promised birth-date of Thursday, October 4th. Induction is tomorrow morning, and they will NOT bump me this time.

I loved Sophia's fully natural labor, and wished for this one to be the same, but again... this baby's still inside, and my patience has been tested to its limits. I'll be praying to go into natural labor tonight, and you'll hear the rest of the story soon after we live it.