farm country

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Farm Country for their Tuesday $2 deal. This was my first major outing with just me and the kiddos. I was a little worried about how it would go.

 Abbie loved looking at the animals.

 

We rode on the wagon ride

Abbie wanted to go on the pony ride soo bad. We had to wait in a super long line. Luckily it was worth it, she totally loved it.

Luke slept the entire time, except for a quick feeding. I would say that this outing was a success. The only thing I wished was that I had a double stroller. But, don't worry we have taken care of that, so now we are ready for some fun new adventures.

Luke - 1 month

At 1 month Luke can:

 smile :)
follow things with his eyes
hold his head up for short periods of time
roll from tummy to back 

Luke is a great sleeper. He sleeps most of the day and night with small wake up breaks throughout. He can sleep anywhere- his crib, car seat, or being held. He loves to cuddle.

He also never cries, unless he is really hungry. He is seriously such a good, calm baby. We are so lucky to have him in our family!

After the hospital

Basically here is the last month summed up...

Later in the evening after we got home from the hospital, both families came to visit. 

Luke- 1 day old

2 days old

First bath at home- 4 days old

My mom and sisters came over every day that first week. They were a HUGE help. I seriously couldn't have made it through that week without their help.

 

 

We went to one of my high school best friends' wedding up at snowbird. We kept Luke with us- he was only 1 week old. My parents, sisters, and grandparents met us up there and took Abbie with them. She loved the alpine slide.

10 days old

11 days old

Luke's first walk around the block- 13 days old.

Abbie insisted on pushing the stroller. :)

We had a surprise 50th birthday party for my mom :)

16 days old

Sometimes Abbie likes to pretend to be a baby too.

17 days old

Most days I am lucky if we get ready by lunch time

19 days old

Sorting colors

23 days old

My 2 little burritos. Luke at 24 days old.

25 days old

Sleepover at grandma's. She has handled this transition fairly well. But, I still need a break from her whining every once in awhile.

Luke usually falls asleep during tummy time. :)

27 days old

 

Bath time is a great way to keep her entertained

 Trafalga

Luke is our little cuddle bunny. He loves to be held.

29 days old

We finally took Abbie to her 2 year old check up (had to get insurance figured out).

She is a healthy girl. She weighs 33lbs (90th percentile) and is 38 inches tall (95th percentile).

* From the beginning we had a hard time nursing. This was one of my biggest fears. I couldn't get Luke to latch very well, and he started just sleeping all the time and never waking up to eat. My mom talked me into supplementing with a bottle. I was afraid that he would end up liking the bottle and then not ever be able to nurse. At Luke's check up at 5 days old, he had lost a lot of weight and had jaundice. With using the bottle, he started gaining weight again, but it made nursing harder.  Then, when he was a week old, I got pretty sick, and didn't feel good. During that time we pretty much strictly bottle fed him (pumped milk) because it was so much easier for me. By this point he certainly liked the bottle better and so did I. We did this for about a week and a half. I was ready to just switch to formula because I hated nursing and it wasn't realistic to pump. Brandon was hesitantly willing to do this, but after looking into how much formula costs, he urged me try one more time. So, when Luke was 3 weeks old I decided to give it one more try. It was rocky for another week, but there was improvement, so we kept at it. And here we are, 1 month later, and we are doing it. We are still not pros by any means but now we don't supplement with the bottle at all. We have finally figured out the technique.  It was a very emotionally draining, long process, but I have to say that I am quite proud of myself, and Luke. Now, I am pretty comfortable with nursing wherever I am. We do give Luke a bottle of pumped milk in the night. I love that he can do both.

5 years!

Brandon and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary last Wednesday. He surprised me with flowers, a new game, and a bag full of 60 chocolates. Each chocolate (There were 60, because we have been married 60 months) had a reason he loved me on it. Abbie was very happy to help me eat the chocolates.
We met my grandparents for lunch at Arctic Circle. I took Brandon to get his wedding ring cleaned- that he the only thing he wanted. Then we went to the Temple to do some Sealings. For dinner, we went to Flemmings, at the Gateway. It was really good but way overpriced- good thing we had a gift card. Thanks to Syd, and grandma Karen for watching the kiddos.

So, in honor of 5 years, here are 5 things I love about Brandon:

1. He is a wonderful dad. Abbie adores him, and loves to play with him. I'm sure Luke will feel the same way.
2. He is a hard worker and always does his best work.
3. He is so committed to the gospel.
4. He loves me for me. He doesn't try to change me, but helps me be better.
5. He fits me perfectly.

Another missionary

Last Tuesday night Dallin was set apart as an LDS missionary. Beforehand the whole family went out to dinner to celebrate. Then he went down to the MTC on Wednesday.  The Georgia Atlanta mission is lucky to be getting him soon. We are excited for him, and know that he will be a great missionary. 

It's crazy to think that when he gets back in 2 years, these cute kids will be so much bigger. :)

 

Fireworks

We had our family over for fireworks on the 24th of July. Brandon and Eli put on a pretty entertaining show, We also had a bunch of sparklers. Abbie couldn't get enough of them. As soon as the 2 she was holding finished she was back for more.

Welcome Lucas!

Thursday, July 18th, Abbie went up to Cherry Hill with Grandma Karen and the gang for the annual Nielsen camp out. Then, Friday afternoon Brandon and I met them up there. It was SOOO HOT! We all thought we were going to die. We even took a trip to a nearby library just to cool down for a bit. By the evening it was feeling better and we were able to enjoy chillin' with everyone.  As we were getting Abbie ready for bedtime, my water broke. I didn't realize it at first, I thought I might have peed my pants. But it kept leaking and I quickly realized that my water did indeed break. I was kind of panicky and not sure what to do. Luckily my mom-in-law was there and was calm and told me that we should go to the hospital. So, we quickly gathered up most of our stuff and jumped into the car. We checked in at the hospital around 9 pm, they confirmed that my water had broken, and got me all hooked up. My mom-in-law took Abbie home and put her to bed. Eventually my mom went and got her and took her to her house. 

I was still only dilated to a 2, with very minimal contractions. It took 5 tries to get an IV in me (boy did those hurt and leave impressive bruises) and then I got my epidural. I wasn't really progressing on my own, so they started pitocin. It was a really long night. The nurse came in about every hour to check on me. Around 3am, when the nurse checked me she said I had a blood clot, and that baby's heart beat was dropping at the wrong time during contractions, etc. and that it was a possibility that maybe the doctor might decided to do a c-section. That freaked me out. So, they stopped the pitocin, which helped baby's heartbeat get back to normal, but also stopped labor progression. Anyway, like I said, it was a long night, I only slept for about an hour.

 Sometime in the early morning they put me back on a lower dose of pitocin, because seriously my body wasn't doing anything on its own. My mom, dad, sisters, and Abbie came by in the morning to see us. At that point I was probably dilated to a 7. A few minutes after they left, I called the nurse in because I suddenly felt like I needed to push (probably around 10am). She confirmed that I was at a 10 and ready to go. The on-call doctor (because of course my doctor was out of town) came shortly after and I pushed for like 5-10 minutes before Luke was born. The doctor immediately handed him to me.

 

 He didn't cry until a couple of minutes after he was born. The nurse got him cleaned up, and then I held him skin to skin.  He was born at 10:38 am, weighing 7lbs. 6oz, and was 21 inches long.

Abbie, my family, and Brandon's mom and dad came and saw Luke when he was only a few minutes old.

First, and I think only, family photo

About an hour after delivery, I was moved into another room. We were able to relax/sleep for a little while.

The rest of the day was filled with visitors :)

Abbie holding Luke for the first time

First bath- around 10pm

It was a long night once again, but at least I got more than an hour of sleep. The pediatrician and on-call doctor said we were doing great and approved us to be able to go home that day.

First try in the car seat. He looked way too little in it.

Welcome home!