And Now We Are Four!

On this past Sunday, January 10th, we welcomed our new little Audrey into the world at 4:08 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces, 20 3/4 inches long, and is perfectly healthy and happy! She has already been so fun to have in our home. James and I were at our dinner table this past week thinking, "Wow, so THIS is what it is like to bring home a baby." When we brought Grant home, our circumstances were different, and we didn't get into a routine until Grant was two weeks old when all of the drama had ended. With Audrey, we get to ENJOY her more. She definitely looks like her brother, but I can also tell how much she looks like a little girl. So crazy. Her birth experience was also worlds different than from Grant's and I am a huge advocate for C-sections, which you don't hear often, but it's true. If I can have a healthy baby, and take all the recovery for my myself, than that is what will have to be. No thank you to blood transfusions, NICUs, hemorraging, and passing out. I am done. I hope all my kids can be born in the same way, and skip the drama. But anyway, I can't believe how small she is, and how fast she is going to grow up! Looking at Grant, he is still a baby, yet he is soooo big. Grant doesn't quite know what to expect with the new baby around the house. At first, he would cry whenever Audrey would cry, but, thankfully, that has stopped. Today he actually touched her, and we signed "baby" together, so hopefully he will come around.

The Saturday before she arrived was a long day. I had just started to have contractions at 4:40 in the morning. They would be 5, 15, and 30 minutes apart, and they kept coming all day. I stayed home the whole day ( we usually go grocery shopping), and I tried to keep my mind off the contractions by playing Word Mole on James' phone. I know it sounds silly, but it worked! I started to have heavy contractions after about 5:00. I was afraid to eat anything, but thought I should eat something so I had some garlic bread. James made spaghetti for dinner that night. I was thinking that we were going to go to the hospital that night, so I had James and our friend Greg Daly give me blessing. Can I just say how terrified I was? Our last experience was not the most pleasant, and even the thought of going through that same scenario was too much to even think about.

So after the blessing, the Daly's took Grant to their house, and James and I went to the hospital where I was hooked up to the machines and checked out. Only dilated to a 2 and not even close to being admitted. Funny since my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. We left the hospital at 7:00 with the hopes of coming back in a half an hour to be checked out again. We left, and James took me around town, contracting and all, to Arby's and told me I should eat. Eating and contractions do not go well together. I managed to get down half of a roast beef sandwich. We drove home, where I tried to lay down and "forget" about the contractions. Didn't work. The Daly's brought over their exercise ball for me to sit on, and that actually helped out a lot. We left again for the hospital at about 9:30. Thankfully, when I was checked out again, I had made some progress and they admitted me at 10:40. Hallelujah! No fun being sent home. First thing, they did in the hospital was give me pain medicane. By this time, I was so tired! I usually go to bed by 9 or 10 and this was too late for me. After the pain medicane, came the epidural and after that it was smooth sailing! James and I managed to watch a little TV and catch some sleep. Around 3 0'clock in the morning our doctor came in and told us that the baby wasn't tolerating labor like she should-her heart rate was going down, and it was time for a c-section. All during this pregnancy I had been getting comfortable with the idea of a c-section. Grant's birth was so traumatic for me and the baby that repeating everything wasn't an option. We completely welcomed the idea of a c-section. So when the doctor said it was time, I was relieved! Audrey was born perfectly healthy, and I can remember James saying, "There she is!" I must have really been tired, because I fell asleep after that and woke up in the recovery room where there was just me and a nurse. I finally got to see Audrey at about 5:30 in the morning.

Grant got to come in and see Audrey on Monday. He wasn't sure what to think of his sister, and to this day, I don't know what he thinks! All I can hope is that he will warm up to her some day!My two sweet kids! I love that I now have two!Isn't she so pretty? I see Grant in her, but it's hard to tell who she looks like.

Proud new Dad!This kind of says it all about how Grant feels about Audrey.

Christmas 2009

James and I have truly loved this holiday season with our little baby boy. We were most excited this year thinking about our little Grant waking up on Christmas morning. For me, Christmas Eve seemed to just crawl by. I kept looking at the clock and thinking how it never seemed to change. I can't wait till Grant is old enough to do this too! We were missing St. George, so James went online and found a Cafe Rio recipe for their pork salad. My goodness, what and involved recipe! It took us all day to make them-we even went to Wal-Mart and found the tins to serve them in, because it just wouldn't be the same! The pork and the house dressing turned out exactly, but the recipe we found needs some tweaking as far as the beans and rice are concerned. It was a good meal though, and I am thinking this might be a tradition for us. We decided this year, that we could open one present on Christmas Eve. For Grant, we opened up Green Eggs and Ham the DVD, since this is one of Grant's favorite books, we thought he might enjoy watching it on TV. Well, not so much. Grant has never been one to sit in front of the TV (thank goodness). He wasn't that interested, needless to say, so hopefully when he's older he will enjoy it more, but I also think right now that he is getting that the book is always better than the movie anyway! :)

Grant still hasn't gotten the hang of opening gifts. I think we would still be sitting here waiting for Grant to open them, if we weren't right there to help him. I remember being the same way when I was little, so it will probably be awhile before he just tears into them!

Grant has a new favorite story to read. Twas the Night Before Christmas has been read so many times at our house, I think James and I both have the entire thing memorized. Grant loves it! Sad that it has to go back in our Christmas box till next year. I don't want Grant to get tired of it!

This was the first present from Santa on Christmas morn:ing. I think James had more fun showing Grant how to play with it, than Grant had learning about it! Grant finally did take a few shots right up close to the basket!

With all the toys Grant received on Christmas morning, he most played with the Hot Wheels cars that were left in his stocking. My boy loves his cars!

One of the first presents we opened was from Grandma and Grandpa Killpack-a glow in the dark shirt!

Grant loved his fire truck that he got from Grandma Jeanne, he didn't even wait for us to take it out of the box before he started playing with it!

Grant got a Mr. Potato Head kit from Santa.

Something kind of funny-we had to stop everything after a little bit to let Grant eat breakfast! This is probably the only year that this will happen! Grant had a waffle for his Christmas breakfast. James and I made crepes-well I made the crepes, James and I wolfed them down. James gave me a great gift-mixing bowls (we desperately needed some) and some new pans. My mom will appreciate this, because you have to have a really good pan to make the crepes in, and I was a little concerned about what I was going to use to make them in, so I got to use James' present on Christmas morning. Can I just say, too, that I am a wonderful crepe maker? They all turned out perfectly golden brown, and were positively delicious with my strawberries and whipped cream. What a great Christmas tradition. I'm glad that I got to make them and keep this tradition alive in my own home. When I was growing up and even today, crepes are a tradtion on Christmas morning with my family.

We had a great Christmas with just us up here in Wyoming. I can't wait for next Christmas, when our new little one joins us! How fun will that be?! :)

Our Holiday Season (so far!)

Our holiday season so far has been wonderful. We spent a few days in St. George for Thanksgiving, and we had such a good time. James didn't get off of work till 4:00 in the afternoon, so I had Grant jammied up, and the car packed and ready to go when he came home, so we could just leave. We arrived in St. George at 3:30 in the morning. It was a long car ride, and Grant did surprisingly well. He slept off and on till we got there, and then was lulled to sleep by the lullabies he listens too before going to bed. (Actually, it lulled everyone to sleep. We weren't the most quiet when we arrived! :)) We spent Thanksgiving day with the Killpack's. Dinner was wonderful, and as always, the conversation very interesting! :) Grant did well on this Thankful day, and we did take a few pics. He is in this stage where, he can't just smile any more, he has to try to smile, and the result is just funny. See for yourself:

We got to spend some time with both of our families, and even got to squeeze in a movie, New Moon, which we didn't find as intriguing as Twilight. We left Grant at home with my parents and he had a good time with them!
This month my friends Lyndi and Kelsey threw me a baby shower. It was so fun, and they did such a cute job. It was on December 12th, and we invited people from our ward to come. We got a lot of little baby girl things, and I feel so much more ready for her to come. Here are some pics of the shower, including the adorable cake made by a very creative lady in our ward. Her name is Katrina and she is an amazing cake decorator!



My friends Lyndi and Kelsey who threw me the shower.

Loving the snow just before Christmas! I am home with Grant, and I am totally loving this time that I get to spend with him before our new little one comes. We have had a good time. Grant loves to read. He will sit and listen to books any hour of the day. One day last week, I grabbed a stack of books from his room, and pulled him into my lap, and watched the clock. My 20 month old sat and listened to stories from 1:00 to 1:55. And not just any book either. He is loving The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss' ABC, and a new favorite 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

James and I are most excited about this Christmas more than any other Christmas we have shared! We are both excited to wake up Christmas morning and see Grant open his gifts. It will be a fun Christmas this year. James bought Grant a much needed toy chest this week. I think Grant likes it. What do you think?

We brought it in the house and he spent at least 45 minutes playing climbing on it. Even a few days later, the novelty still hasn't worn off and he will be in his room just climbing all over it.

A few days ago, James and I took Grant to see Santa at the mall. Last year, Grant was thrilled with anyone that held him. This year, he was a little scared of the man in the red suit. It seemed to progressively get worse. Our poor Santa asked, "Did you get one yet?":

The first picture of Grant on Santa's lap.

The last picture of Grant on Santa's lap. I do have to say though, how authentic this Santa looked. It's a shame Grant didn't pose and smile like he usually does. Maybe next year, he will be warmed up to Santa.

This past Tuesday, we had a visitor at our house. Our friends, the Daly's, brought over their little girl McKinley to our house. Grant and McKinley had such a good time together, I had to take some pictures. They loved the wagon ride James gave them, and tried to pull each other around themselves. Too fun!

Still more to come! :)

Home with Grant/James Birthday!

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking care of Grant by myself for a few days. James had to go to Vegas to find some cars to repossess and planned a whole road trip that lasted from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday night. I have one little baby to take care of and honestly he was a piece of cake! We had so much together. I had to find a sitter for Thursday morning, and my friend Lyndi said she would do it. For which I am very grateful. We had a small playdate on Thursday afternoon and then we went home. I didn't have school on Friday because of a fall break, so I just go to be home with Grant! He is such a good baby. So easy to take care of. It was fun eating with him, and bathing him, and taking him shopping. I do have to say though, that I am so eternally grateful for James! He really does a lot to lighten the load around the house. Not only with helping to take care of Grant, but with household stuff. Since he left on the weekend, I was in charge of laundry, dishes, grocery shopping-things that James and I do together (well, James is actually better at laundry than me :)) Unfortunately, this was also a weekend where I had tons of church obligations. I had to be at the church on Saturday at 9:45 for our Primary program practice and I had to set up for the quarterly activity afterwards. It was crazy keeping up with Grant in the cultural hall. And I have to say there was this not so nice lady who was setting up the gym for a dance that they were going to have later. She didn't reserve it (well, neither did we) and she was a bitty about sharing it for a half an hour. She was a peach to work with. But we ended up having our activity amidst the chaos of all that. I was super happy to get it over with! Then on Sunday we had our actual Primary Program. Since James was gone I had to find someone to watch Grant, while I was up on the stand. Lucky for me, a cute lady in my ward volunteered last minute to do that. Kind of a busy week to have James be gone. But all in all, Grant and I had a good time, and he honestly was such an easy baby to take care of. We are truly blessed to have little Grant in our home.

James' birthday was on a Saturday this year. A few of my birthday plans got foiled, but I think it was a special day for James. He wanted pumpkin layer cheesecake for his birthday cake, and he wanted his presents in the morning which was kind of good, since both gifts could be used throughout the day. Grant gave him a new toaster (James loves toast, and our old one was on the fritz), and I gave him two new shirts. I wanted to do something special for dinner. James and I had a conversation once about comfort food. I seem to have a lot of recipes that remind me of home (my mom's date bread, red chicken, peach cobbler etc. The list goes on...) James couldn't really think of any, until he mentioned his mom's chicken noodle soup. Unfortunately, they were out of town so I couldn't get the recipe in time. I guess James' comfort food will have to be our Christmas Eve dinner since we will be here in Casper this year. We went out to dinner instead, and I have to say, James and I have such a good time together! He can make me laugh like nobody else can. So fun. Grant was great at dinner, and the food was delicious. We went to a place called Old Chicago which is an Italian food restaurant. It was way fun. When we got home we had our pumpkin cheesecake. James wanted to know if I was really going to put 32 candles on it ("It'll get ruined!") so instead I put them on in the shape of 32. I think he appreciated that! :)

Funny Things and Halloween

Some funny things about Grant:

He loves Wheat Thins. He will eat Wheat Thins all day everyday if we let him. I'm not complaining. What a good thing for him to like! James has him at work all morning, and he tells me how he just chows down on them all morning long. He's even gotten a few stuck in that mouth of his! Too funny!

Grant also loves Dr. Seuss. We got the ABC book for him, which he loved, and then we decided to move on to Green Eggs and Ham. He will sit and listen to them three or four times through. And when he reads I love that he has to have his arms tucked behind his head. Every time we read he will do this! It's like he's totally relaxed and ready for anything. Honestly, does it get any cuter than this?

Our Halloween was pretty mellow this year. I was too tired to even carve the pumpkin we bought, and on Halloween night, we cozied up in our house and handed out treats to the trick-or-treaters. I was told by a lot of parents to enjoy this while we can, because next year and years to come, it will be different. We did go to our wards Halloween carnival and chili cookoff. We had a good time. Grant loves chili and ate pretty well. He was a Red Sox player and James and I were his fans. He looked pretty darn cute in his costume:

The pants are actually baseball pajamas that we bought a long time ago that still fit him. We lucked out and he was a pretty cute baseball player (it seems like I can't say that enough :))

Missionaries, Music boxes, and Home

Well, our week started off with feeding the missionaries on Monday night. What a great Family Home Evening to have. Although, I have to say, I was monsterously tired by the time I was finished! I made oven fried chicken with cream gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, and and garlic zucchini and squash, and rolls. We served cheesecake for dessert. And I have to say, I made so much that we ended up having leftovers this week. I loved the spirit that the missionaries brought into our home, and I love our ward for always providing this opportunity. We never had the pleasure of doing this when we lived in Utah.







One thing that Grant has enjoyed himself doing is leading me down the hallway to his room so he can play with this music box we got when he was born. He is enthralled with this! As soon as we get to his room he is looking up and reaching for the music box on his bookcase. I sit in the glider rocker, wind it up, and let it play for him, and he loves it. I think he really likes music. It seems to calm him down a lot. (Well, he's pretty mellow to begin with :) )





This week was a short week for me work wise. I ended up staying home with a sore throat on Thursday. I don't know what it is, but when I am pregnant the sore throats come in droves. I think someday the day may come where I need to get the ol' tonsils out. So annoying. Anyway, Grant and I enjoyed our morning together by taking a walk, and then later on visiting Daddy while I went and had the throat culture done. All is well, and today (Saturday) I think it is finally gone. I wonder how many more of these I will get before the end of the year?

Cuddling and more...

I love that Grant is such a cuddler. He is not really attached to just one stuffed animal, but he will take whatever one is in the toy box, and just snuggle with it! I caught Grant with this teddy bear just this morning:

On Friday, we were invited to a friend's house for a get-together. It was at seven in the evening, and I was sure Grant wouldn't be able to wait that long for dinner, so I made him a grilled cheese sandwich. I cut a few pieces of it for him to stab and eat with a fork, but I left most of it whole so Grant could take some bites out of it. I gave him one bite of his sandwich, before I turned and went back in the kitchen to get me drink. Honestly, it took me twenty seconds. When I came back to Grant's side, I was met with Grant's empty plate and a VERY happy looking Cooper.