adjustments

Jerome has been invited into an airplane group at work. They go after work on Friday and fly airplanes in spanish fork. Jerome has really turned into a super dork since starting at Novatek. He's surrounded people that love the same things he does, so he's made a lot of friends. Story likes it when he works on his air plane, she wanted to take a picture of them with their planes. Jerome lets her play with his little plane when he works on the big one.

Gaugers is doing great. His gross belly button cord hasn't fallen out yet. I hope it does soon. Its getting all his jammies gross. We are really loving him. Story is very very soft and sweet to him. She calls him "baby brudder" and give him lots of love. He's keeping Jerome up at night. He wakes up every two hours to eat. He's getting pretty tired, but wont let me help until i'm doing a little better. I'm still in lots of pain and am really really tired. My mom has been awesome and watches the kids while i sit on my butt and while i take long naps.

Story is adjusting okay. She really loves Gauge, but is going stir crazy. She is used to being out and about and having other kids to play with every day and its been really hard for her to be stuck in the house watching TV all day. She's been throwing lots of fits and isn't being very reasonable. Granted she's 2 and that's what 2 year olds do, but i think a lot of it is adjusting to staying home. I feel really bad for her and the fact that i can't take her to do fun things just yet. Maybe in a week or two.

I pulled this picture off my phone, I really like it. This was my last day in the hospital.

Gauge's Birth

WARNING: This is pretty bloody and gross, but a lot of people asked to see it, so here it is! There's no nudity or anything, just lots of blood.

I figure if you don't want to watch it you don't have to push play. :)

Gauge Henry Miles

Gauge is finally here!!

We left Sunday morning at 5 AM. We had to get there 2 hours early for the IVs and epidural and stuff. This is the before picture when we first arrived and I was admitted.

We had to get oxygen on me right away, because the nurse put the IV in and I hadn't eaten since the night before and passed out. :) oops. They had to stick this salt stuff under my nose a couple times to make me come to. Getting the epidural was pretty rough and painful. I cried at that part. They had me lay down for it. When I was having Story i got to sit up for it and it was a lot easier.

Then they wheeled me into the O.R. for surgery. I started shaking out of control at this point from the epidural, kind of freaked Jerome out. They put that tube over my arms and chest and filled it with hot air to warm me up and keep me from shaking, it felt super good. They raised the sheet in front of my face, had me take some deep breaths and started to get baby Gauge out. Jerome video'd him coming out, but from watching some people's faces while watching it I will only show it to those who want to see it. there's no nudity or anything, just lots of blood, but its pretty cool.

After i felt the doctors push on my tummy i felt a big relief of pressure and felt all empty inside and heard my little boy cry!

This was his first bath way later in the day, they had to rush him up to the NICU all dirty, because he had swallowed some blood down his lungs on the way out and couldn't work the fluid out on his own, so he had to be on breathing machines and ate with feeding tubes and stuff. Luckily he came down to see me after a while. It was hard being patient, because i wanted to see him so bad.

This is when he was first born and they were sewing me up. They let me give him a love before they rushed him off to the NICU. The first time i saw him i thought "oh my goodness, he looks exactly like Story did!"

This is the poor guy with all the tubes down him. So stinkin' sad to see him all tubed up.

This is what little Gauge thinks of the NICU and all the creeps that kept poking him and shoving tubes down his throat. Couldn't agree more. :)

Jerome would run and take pictures up in the NICU and bring me back the camera, so i could "see" him.

This picture looks like so many people! This was Sunday night, i still looked and felt like I got hit by a bus, but it was the first time Story got to see her new brother. The first thing she did was give him a big hug and said, "Baby! I missed you!"

This was Monday morning after feeling MUCH better. He is such a tiny little guy. So sweet and quiet so far.

Baby Gauge and his daddy.

By Tuesday morning i felt totally rockin'! This C-Section was soooo much easier than the first. I have been able to stay ahead of the pain with meds and walking around. I am doing really good, just super sore and tender still. Story doesn't quite understand why i can't pick her up and why I walk so slow, but i'll be getting faster each day.

Story is VERY into saying "baby brother!" and shaking his hand or giving him kisses.

We are home and doing great! Just taking it really slow. Poor Gauge has a really red bum, but is feeling better. My butt's just super sore from sitting on it! I can't describe how great it feels to get up and walk around every half hour. Feels good to get the blood moving through my legs. Anyway, we're loving every moment of Gauge, he's really tiny and quiet so far.

Story's day out

We wanted to take Story out to do something fun today since we wont be giving her all the attention she deserves in the next days and weeks coming. Side note: She FINALLY lets me do her hair now and if you tell her its "so pretty" she wont touch it and leaves it in ALL day! I'm really excited about this. So anyway, we went up to Leisha's new salon and got Jerome's hair cut, then stopped at Cabella's to have lunch and to see the fish. We thought Story would like to see them....

You can see here how she felt about the fish. She was super scared and clung to Jerome with all her might. She doesn't quite get that they are behind glass i guess. We walked through the little cave pretty quick and she was very happy to say goodbye to the fish.

She liked looking at all the stuffed animals as long as we didn't get too close, so we kept our distance and talked about the different sounds they made. She liked lunch, because she got chocolate milk and a few bites of Jerome's buffalo burger. She also had a fry, which means she had a gallon of ketchup on the same fry over and over. She's a big time double dipper. Don't share with her. Then we went and played at Grandpa and Grandma Maida's for a while, so I could get a blessing before the big day tomorrow. I haven't been sleeping, because i'm quite nervous that something will go wrong, but I feel considerably better now and have a lot more confidence.

Story is having a sleep over tonight with Felix. Not sure how she's going to like it, but hopefully it will go smoothly for everyone. We have to leave our house pretty early to make it in time for the surgery and i didn't want to wake her or Kelli and Kyle up quite so early, so she's spending the night. I told her they have a Diego dvd and she seemed pretty excited. :)

We were going to take her to do more fun things, but i've been getting wiped out REALLY easy the last couple days, so we're taking it easy the rest of the day. Anyway, there's our last post until Gauge is here! If you have a spare sec pray for us that things will go well!

counting

Its kind of dark and i'm sure mom will be mad that she's in it and that i posted it, but its really for my documentation. I tried getting a video of Story dancing at story time at the library, but i hit the wrong button and didn't capture it, so you get this video that will probably be boring for most of you. :) The last 3 numbers are kind of a joke, she hasn't quite figured out how to pronounce them, but i love how she says eleven. She sure LOVES watching this video though. She mouths the words as she watches it.

skip in my step

I decorated my bathroom wall this morning while in the shower. I had to get creative as we only have 1 of every letter and number. I'm a little excited for today to be over. My new boss starts today, so its a hello see you in 12 weeks situation.

Let me explain the picture below. I saw it on a movie with a male individual in my family that i wont share his name (no it wasn't Jerome) that they traced her belly on the wall every couple weeks and i thought it was funny and i thought it might make me feel better after i have the baby to see how huge i am/was. The reason i wont share his name is because he'd be embarrassed, because it was that really dumb cheerleader movie where they rob the grocery store bank. Anyway, we started tracing at 14 weeks and did our last trace 2 days ago at 38. Kind of lame and dorky, but i thought it would be interesting.

count down

Not much news on our end this week. Our count down for Gauge's arrival is getting serious. We're down to 6 days.... Its incredibly nerve wracking, yet i'm soooo ready to see him and have my body back. I've been having some very threatening contractions the past few days, Jerome has instructed me to cross my legs until Sunday, so cross i shall! I've only got 3 more work days left and 2 days of cleaning and shopping to do before he comes.

I've kind of turned into a work monster lately, so having only 3 more days left is a good thing. I am really mean to my coworkers lately and i can't tolerate their annoying habits and such. Like i said, i'm really mean lately. I know i've got a zillion annoying habits, but they don't bother me! :) Plus I'm 9 months pregnant and am totally allowed to be B*t@hy right? Lets just say its going to be a long 3 days, but i'm sure i'll survive it.

My last Drs appointment is on Tuesday and Saturday we have a fun day with Story planned, plus we're celebrating valentines that day, because i really don't want to worry about packing presents in my hospital bag for Jerome and Story. So we're having a special dinner and cake that night after going to see the fish at cabellas and some other fun things.

I don't find out until Saturday night what time we head into the hospital Sunday, but i will do my best to send a text out to my brother's and sisters once i get to hold him and rest for a bit. I plan on taking FULL advantage of resting in the hospital, because once i am out the guilt of sleeping while others are taking care of my kids sets in! Anyway, happy 3 days of work to me!

PS, this is Story wearing grandma Kristi's glasses. She put them on and kept saying "take a picture!" I think she actually looks really cute in them!

on my mind

I've got nothing to blog about, but i know that Kelli is sitting at home bored out of her mind and needs something to take 5 minutes of her time, so i am just going to write about the thing that has been consuming my mind the past couple days and it starts with a big F. Fear! Before I start into that here is a picture of Story. She loves putting on my boots and walking around. Its funny that they go up to her thighs, because they pretty much do that to me too, because my legs are so short. I actually hate this game, because she falls and cries after about 2 seconds and wants help putting them on again and getting up from helping her on the floor is a challenge these days. She is pretty proud of her shoes though, she even turned around for a picture.

So I asked Jerome to film my C-section, because i felt really ripped off that i didn't get to see Story be born and I didn't get to see her for like 5 minutes after she came out, because she wasn't breathing or crying. They whisked her away and a handful of people got to see her before I did and lets face it, I put a lot more work into that baby than they did. Jerome said, "i don't think you can handle watching it, so why should i film it?" So to prove him wrong we watched a C-section on you tube Sunday night. Lets just say he was 100% right and I was bawling half way through saying "i can't do that! how do i get out of it? you do it for me!" Before you judge me for bursting into tears you have to realize they slice through like 6 layers of muscles and skin and fat and stuff. Some of which they use their hands to separate! Yes i've done it before, but now i KNOW what it looks like. Now not only am i afraid of the C-section, i am afraid of being so out of it i wont be able to take care of my new baby and i wont be able to function enough to take care of him once i am home, so that of course puts on the "mom guilt" as Rainey calls it of wanting him to stay in for longer.

Yes i understand i'm completely crazy and that this time will be easier than the last, but i'm pretty nervous. Part of me wants to go in and do it today to get it over with, so i can see that its not so bad and so i can get better sooner, but part of me is glad its not for a few more days.

Going through Story's hospital pictures gives me very mixed feelings. It makes me feel/think A- that one of those is currently inside me and how WEIRD that is! He's a tiny little REAL person. B-that i can do this and i will get to know and love our Gauge and C-crap what have i done, not sure i can do this all over again and D-I'm so glad my mom is coming to take care of us for the first week! but also E- I'm so excited to hold this tiny person and give him lots and lots of love.

I am nervous too to have a baby in February, seems like everyone on the planet is sick right now and its so scary when babies get sick. Its so much more comforting when they are bigger and can tell you that they have boogars. Anyway, these are the things that are consuming my brain on my 1hr drive to and from work every day and as i fall asleep at night. Don't get me wrong, a very large part of me is excited to have Gauge and to meet him and fall in love. I'm excited to get to finally hold him and kiss him and to be his only mommy and to overuse my camera by taking millions of pictures of him when all he did was open his eyes. I just get a little panicked thinking about a giant needle going into my back when i'm not screaming in pain from being in labor. Maybe i'll get lucky and go into labor that morning. :) I'm crazy i know, but i'm terrified of needles! Sorry if i've bored most of you to tears or have convinced anyone that i'm ridiculous or crazy. Just putting my thoughts out there.

New things

Story has been pretty sweet lately. Probably because she feels like crap and doesn't quite have enough energy to throw as many fits as usual. Either way i'm enjoying hanging out with her more. This is her new hang out spot. She takes all the magnets off the magnet board tastes them and says "ah-wish-us" (delicious), puts it on the table then puts them all back telling me how great they taste again. She probably spent the better part of an hour doing this on Monday and again last night.

She's also very into coloring lately. She will use a crayon, then say the color and thank that color. So polite. Sometimes she just breaks them and then gets mad that they are broken too, she's not a complete angel lets face it. I really like this picture of her though. Makes me happy.

I started making her a quiet book for church. I got one page almost done yesterday. I have to sew on one set of fish then sew on the velcro to all the fish. Trust me its not centered for a reason, but its crooked on accident. :) This is a huge project for me and will probably take a really long time to make, but i'm excited that i've got 1 page almost done!

Sorry nothing more exciting is happening to post about. We've all been sick and are taking it pretty slow for the most part. Crossing our fingers we're all healthy in 2 weeks for the big day!

hit by a train.

Yes i realize i look like i've been hit by a train. Jerome has been sweet enough to inform me of that this week. He swears its out of concern only, but to be honest he's right. We all got slammed with a wicked cold this week and haven't felt too awesome. Jerome and I stayed home from work today because of it. Jerome has taken 2 other sick days since we've been married, so I know he feels pretty awful. But i wanted to at least get 1 picture of me and Story with my huge belly. Its a lot easier to hold her now that he's hanging out a bit lower and ready to come greet the world. Some days it still wears me out pretty fast, but i know she needs her mom whether i feel up to it or not. When i first got pregnant i was walking out of a restaurant with some coworkers and I saw this girl with a huge pregnant belly and carrying her two year old and i thought, i will never do that, i will never have enough energy to carry Story like that and I was glad i didn't have to for a long time, but now its here and its really not that hard.

(yeah i know Christmas pants and stripes are a bad idea, but i'm not leaving the house tonight).

Story has started to show signs that she's a girl. Its very exciting for me, because i thought for sure she was going to be a full on tom boy despite my best efforts. I went to check on her today and she had put her tutu on and informed me that she's a "princess!" she walks very carefully in her tutu like she's going to ruin it or something. its pretty cute.

Story insists on always wearing "eh shoe sees" lately. I like that she's turning into quite the girl lately. I've had to realized she is very much her own person and wont change for anyone.

I think our next adventure after the baby will be potty training. She now brings me diapers and says "a Poopy!" and insists on being changed. I'm pretty nervous about that whole thing, but its gotta happen sometime!

Singin in the car

Sometimes this is the best part of my day.

Mess

Story's room may look like a complete disaster (this picture is actually on a GOOD day), but my living room now looks like this:

Moving her TV and toys into her room and out of my living room was the best decision we've made in a while! I can't tell you how much stress it has relieved in my life. We no longer have toys strewn completely across the house from the living room to the kitchen and EVERYWHERE in between, they now stay in her little tornado of a room. Jerome and I are so much happier. I get REALLY stressed out if the house is messy. Now if we could only keep our kitchen clean! This room has actually become Jerome's bedroom for the last 2 weeks... okay maybe 3. Our bed is super squishy and when he is in it with me the baby drops towards him because of gravity and it just got too painful to sleep, so he has graciously taken the couch for the remainder of my pregnancy. Once the baby comes out i have to sleep on the couch, because its easier to sleep sitting up while my stitches heal from the C-Section. Oh fun!

Random

Almost all of these picture are from Amy, Story spends a lot of time with Amy and Axel, so I get lots of great pictures. This one is from last week. We recently took Story's binki away and apparently she's having withdraws. She was a complete champ about letting it go. She didn't even say a word about it until a week later she woke up one morning and asked for it, but when she was told she was too big for it that was it. But she found a plastic mushroom at Amy's house and decided to hang on to it for a few minutes. She's so good about change.

This is how we know Story is awake in the morning. We see a tiny little chubby hand under the door. We always step on her fingers (lightly) and hear "Gotcha!" from the other side of the door. Jerome snuck up on her once and grabbed her hand and made her scream pretty loud. She usually knows we're coming, because she can see under the door if she sticks her head on the floor, she must not have been looking that time.

Amy sent me this gem this morning and I couldn't help but share it. They went to her stake aerobics class and Story insisted on being front and center leading the class. She is for sure not shy. That is one huge bonus for me having to work is that she gets all sorts of exposure to new people and places, so nothing holds her back. I hate having to work and be away from my Story and soon to be both my babies, but you do what you have to do and are grateful for those who can help you raise well rounded kids.

I am SOO excited to get to stay home with Story and Gauge in just a couple weeks (only 4 more until my maternity leave starts!). This time Jerome and i have really prepared, so that I can take a full 12 weeks off to spend time with them as they grow and get to know each other. I am really looking forward to pretending i'm a stay at home mom for a couple months until the real thing can happen for us. We are working really hard to achieve that goal, but we still have a ways to go.

We've got a lot going on right now, we are currently getting our house ready to be put up for sale and hopefully we can get some bites on it soon! (not really holding my breath though, don't want to get my hopes up). Jerome is going to start school this fall (another preparation for me to stay home with the kids one day). Our lives used to be south, we both worked in Spanish Fork, so living in Payson made sense, but since my work moved to South Jordan and Jerome's moved to Provo and school is in Orem, we decided its best we move a little bit farther North for now. We still have a lot to do before our house is ready. Tons of odds and ends we never finished, but its coming along great! Wish us luck!

Gauge's Room

Its nothing terribly special, but we like it. and YES that is a pink rocking chair, it was in Story's room, but its light enough that its not the end of the world. Jerome cut out his name for me and i covered it in a brown/white hounds tooth paper and the hippo is a brown/white polka dot paper. His bedding is all hippos, it was the cheapest/cutest bedding at target. I really like it. I am all ready to go, i've got all the clothes we need for up to 6 months and he's got a zillion blankets and thanks to felix growing fast, we have a ton of diapers! Anyway, thought i'd share how i've done his room. Enjoy.

Turning of the year

I am pretty sad to see 2010 come to a close. We had such a great year. We had a lot of blessings come our way this past year and i have very strange feelings towards 2011. Last year at this time i posted about how 2010 was my year and so many good things were going to happen, i just had a great feeling about it. This year i feel like we are going to have a lot of really huge changes and challenges, but that the rewards will be huge, just a lot of work to get that awesome pay off. We have a lot of major changes planned for 2011 and i'm a bit nervous, but also very excited about all of them. In 2010 we really didn't have many down moments. Maybe a couple, but overall it was a fantastic year. We were blessed with my company selling and getting a bonus, we were blessed with Jerome landing a pretty awesome job that he actually loves and for the first time in our marriage he is home on Saturdays which is pretty fun! We've had a ton of other really killer things happen in 2010, but i wont bore you with them. Well, here's to 2011. I will try to dive in and keep my head up through it!